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2025

New Year’s Greetings (January 1, 2025)

I would like to offer everyone my best wishes for the New Year.

Last year, we had another sweltering summer, making the drastic change of Japan's climate toward a subtropical one all the more apparent. There has also been rapid progress in generative AI after the emergence of ChatGPT two years ago, and it has gained a growing presence in our daily lives through myriad new online services. Our living environment, which is becoming a fusion of the real and virtual, is bringing about major transformation to government elections and other decision-making systems throughout society.
As we face these substantial changes to natural and human environments, RIKEN reaffirms its mission to contribute to society through science, and we will continue moving forward to confront these new challenges.

The Start of the Fifth Mid- to Long-Term Plan

From April 2025, RIKEN will enter its fifth Mid- to Long-Term Plan period.
When I assumed the position of President in April 2022, I shared the following message with everyone:
"I believe that the ideal situation is one where the science that scientists themselves choose to pursue will naturally overlap with the research that is necessary for the future of all, and that mutual trust between science and society deepens and becomes ever more interconnected."

My belief remains unchanged. However, in the short time since I delivered that message just three years ago, the challenges faced by humankind have grown all the more severe, and society is becoming increasingly expectant for science to overcome those challenges. In order to properly respond to these demands, RIKEN must continue to grow by developing new measures. Together with all of RIKEN's personnel, I have designed new measures and furthered reform to carry out this mission.

Promoting the TRIP Concept and Science that Connects

RIKEN carries out high-level cutting-edge research in a wide range of natural science fields. Physics is my area of expertise, and through speaking with RIKEN researchers from various fields, I felt firsthand that truly advanced research arises from the excitement and empathy that cuts across disciplines. Through these exchanges, it became clear to me that when talented scientists hold discussions and directly inspire each other, it leads to research that could only be done at RIKEN. With these ideas in mind, I set out to create the concept of "TRIP" - Transformative Research Innovation Platform of RIKEN platforms.

This concept aims to create a grand platform that organically links RIKEN's cutting-edge platforms in various fields to create new knowledge.

Researchers worldwide compete fiercely in their respective fields. While we support them steadfastly in these noble efforts, we also need a way to connect them naturally with researchers in other fields.

The key to providing this is the advanced utilization of data. Fortunately, RIKEN has several interdisciplinary initiatives centered on data already underway. The concept of TRIP has permeated throughout RIKEN far faster than I expected thanks to the results of these initiatives.

The second TRIP Project Retreat was held at RIKEN's Kobe campus on November 26 and 27 last year, attended by about 200 people on-site and online. Presenters explained their initiatives for "Science that Connects" under the concept of TRIP, and discussions were held about the further expansion of the concept. I heard numerous reports where cutting-edge research that had previously been done in individual labs and centers flourished with a new depth and growth as it came in contact with research in adjacent fields, and with advanced data science research. Furthermore, I felt reassured as I started to see the potential of this project to address global challenges, bringing about social change with the power of science.

Over the 7 years of the fifth Mid- to Long-Term Plan, I would like to develop that potential even further using the concept of TRIP as a base. To this end, RIKEN will adopt a new system of research "domains" that take a cross-cutting perspective of science, encouraging chemistry between researchers of different fields and creating more opportunities for RIKEN's unique research to arise. With researchers' natural curiosity as our driving force, we will continue creating the wisdom needed to overcome humanity's collective challenges.

Global Commons

A new structure will be organized to dynamically link all of RIKEN including the TRIP Headquarters, creating four domains: physical science, life science, mathematical/computational/information science, and environmental science, along with the pioneering science that carries on the tradition held since RIKEN's establishment. Environmental science, in particular, is a vital field that pursues the knowledge and systematic technologies indispensable to conserving our Global Commons, the one and only Earth that humanity calls home.

In October 2024, RIKEN, the University of Tokyo, and the University of Tokyo Center for Global Commons (CGC) held a joint event called the Global Commons Forum. We invited Dr. Johan Rockström, Director of the Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research (PIK) in Germany, who proposed the concept of "planetary boundaries," to give the keynote speech. He reported on a health check of Earth's systems based on scientific data, which revealed that our planet is in a dangerous state past the point of recovery. The forum brought together leaders from the frontlines of economics and academia worldwide and saw them discuss how we as humans can bring about changes in our collective behavior, and strategies to keep the Global Commons from collapsing.

Collaborative research between RIKEN, the University of Tokyo CGC, and PIK has also begun. By combining the basic science undertaken by RIKEN with PIK's focus on systems science, this research will bring the world guidelines for humanity, encouraging behavioral transformation in economic and social spheres. This research also calls on the basic science community worldwide, aiming to transform the latent power of basic science into an immense power capable of solving global problems.

The universality of scientific research and the trust it evokes create solidarity, and I am confident that this will be a driving force for behavioral change rooted in passion and empathy across national borders.

The Rapid Development of AI and Cutting-edge Semiconductor Research

The Nobel Prizes in physics and chemistry last year were both awarded for research that is deeply connected to AI. In the last several years, generative AI based on deep learning and large language models has spread worldwide in the blink of an eye, effecting major changes to the modalities of global economics, government, and culture. At the same time, the problem of electricity consumption to support these technologies is growing more severe. As the use of large language models spreads dramatically, servers for AI learning, said to be six times the size of conventional servers, have been created, and the energy consumption rate is surging.

It has been forecast that by 2027, the electric power used by data centers worldwide will grow to exceed 8 percent of all power supply capacity. This is due to increases in the amount of data handled and transferred and to the explosive growth in the number of calculations. To effectively reduce power consumption, we need revolutionary technological innovations that will almost fully disrupt the status quo, and as scientists, we face the challenge of creating the new knowledge needed for these innovations.

In addition to the rapid advances in large-scale computational science and quantum computational science underway at RIKEN, innovations in semiconductor devices are also essential. To pursue this, we are promoting new cutting-edge semiconductor science aiming to drastically lower energy consumption, including research to pioneer energy-conserving memory and quantum functional devices based on new principles.

An event called SEMICON Japan 2024 was held in December last year. As the Japanese government continues making large-scale investments in the cutting-edge semiconductor industry, the event saw a major increase in exhibits for semiconductor manufacturing equipment and from adjacent industries, with the number of exhibitors and visitors both growing to almost two times that of two years ago. Over the three days of the event, there were exhibitions by 1,100 companies and organizations and 100,000 visitors. I gave a keynote speech at the opening session, asserting that in order for the Japanese government's investments to lead reliably to economic growth and bring us to victory, we must draw up a vision for a new era and ascertain what technologies are needed to attain that vision.

Physical Intelligence

I have no doubt that computational technologies will expand even further thanks to varied innovative technologies such as high-performance semiconductor chips for inference computing, quantum-classical hybrid computing, and a fusion of photonic and electronic devices. More accurate and larger-scale digital twins will also become a reality.

As we pursue energy use optimization for overall systems, the inference calculations by generative AI that now take place entirely on Cloud servers will likely be distributed to other sites for calculation, using Edge computing, Cloud computing, or something between the two. In particular, as the development of high-speed and low-energy chips specialized for inference calculations proceeds, they will become able to be installed in Edge devices, which will allow machines equipped with advanced sensors to communicate with the Cloud, obtaining extremely high-level knowledge and carrying out independent actions. As a result, advanced cyber-physical systems that combine physical and cyber spaces in real time could be built, allowing the full automation of self-driving cars or complex systems such as manufacturing sites for semiconductor back-end processes, and bringing significant changes to the form of society and industry. To prepare for this kind of future, I want RIKEN as a whole to take the lead in carrying out the leading-edge science called "Physical Intelligence" that we will need.

Expansion of Computational Capabilities

We are also working on expanding humanity's computational abilities even further. A crucial research theme for this is hybrid computational science, which links quantum computing with high-performance computing (HPC).

Along with our domestically produced quantum computer "A," RIKEN is earnestly developing software stacks for hybrid computing by connecting IBM's newest quantum processors and Quantinuum's trapped-ion quantum computer with our supercomputer Fugaku. The results of calculations carried out by linking Fugaku with IBM Q were announced in May 2024. Using the respective strengths of the quantum computer and Fugaku in collaboration, we calculated the electronic states of the cluster structures of iron and sulfur, which play a catalytic role in nitrogen fixation and photosynthesis in microorganisms. As a result, we were the first in the world to demonstrate that quantum chemistry calculations can be performed on cluster structures with numbers of electrons and orbitals at a scale that is difficult to calculate with HPC alone. Until now, quantum computing research has tended to focus on the demonstration of the "quantum advantage," the idea that quantum computers are clearly more advanced than HPC. However, this research showed the world that we have entered an era of vying for "quantum usefulness," the importance of finding which problems we should use quantum computers to solve and how. The results of these research are the subject of global attention, marking the shift to this era.

Basic Quantum Science Research

At the same time, we must not forget that as we have entered the era of full-scale applied quantum computing, it is more important than ever to make efforts to gain a greater understanding of its fundamentals. At RIKEN, we have decided to launch a Fundamental Quantum Science Research program that will reexamine the fundamentals of quantum science, and by delving deeply into its principles and rediscovering them, will allow us to identify new technological trends.

As part of this program, we will return to the fundamentals of quantum science, focusing on aspects such as non-equilibrium and open systems.

We will begin by working on new research topics that lie at the heart of matter, such as elementary particles and nuclear physics, in cooperation with the EIC project led by Brookhaven National Laboratory in the United States. In anticipation of this, we have decided to establish a quantum physics network research base in Japan in collaboration with the University of Tokyo, Osaka University, and other institutions. Furthermore, as a new development in quantum science, I think it would be wonderful if we could also take on the challenge of exploring the principles and functions of quantum science in the life sciences. This is, as of now, a completely unexplored area.

Developing the Life Sciences

Currently, just over half of RIKEN researchers are engaged in life sciences. We are preparing a major project in that area called "Science across the Life Course."

This ambitious project aims to understand life in a more comprehensive and holistic way by grasping it as a series of processes from reproduction, development and regeneration to aging, and incorporating analytical methods from the social sciences. I anticipate that this will lead to a deeper scientific understanding not only of the life of individuals but also of the evolution of life and the changes that occur over generations in the societies and environments that living organisms create.

Sustainable Research Activities

In October 2024, we co-hosted the Global Summit of Research Institute Leaders in conjunction with the annual STS forum in Kyoto. The meeting was attended by leaders of 23 research institutes from around the world. RIKEN served as co-chair with the French National Centre for Scientific Research (CNRS) and as co-host with the National Institute of Advanced Industrial Science and Technology (AIST). The theme of the 13th meeting was "Reducing our ecological footprint without compromising research excellence."
The participants of the summit introduced a variety of initiatives aimed at reducing their environmental impact while maintaining high-level research activities, and a discussion was held on future initiatives. They adopted a joint statement that stated, "As leading research institutions, we recognize that we have an important role to play in performing research that will support and encourage the creation of greener societies. At the same time, the international commitment to achieving net zero emissions means that we must achieve a balance between reducing our own ecological footprints while maintaining high-level research that will help achieve that goal." I was reminded once again of the need for RIKEN to take the lead in addressing sustainability in research activities.

In Closing

I believe that this year will be a crucial one in which we will see the research projects we have been preparing for from 2022 to 2024 come to fruition together. We will proceed full-tilt with the development of Fugaku NEXT, the successor to Fugaku, and the development of SPring-8-II.

I also know that the overlap between "the science that scientists themselves choose to pursue" and "research that is necessary for the future of all" I referenced at the beginning will be realized through our different programs. At the same time, I am eager to see us carry out research that further delves into the depths of science to uncover new aspects of nature.

With a belief in the creativity of science and its power to move people, and with the innovations brought by "Science that Connects," we will strive to achieve a brighter future for everyone. As RIKEN's Fifth Mid- to Long-Term Plan begins this April, we look forward to your support and collaboration.

January 1, 2025
Makoto Gonokami
President, RIKEN

photo of GONOKAMI Makoto

2024

New Year's Greetings (January 4, 2024)

I would like to offer my best wishes for the New Year.

I also would like to express my condolences to those who lost their lives in the Noto Peninsula Earthquake in 2024 and my deepest sympathies to everyone affected by the disaster. I pray that peace will return to everyone in the disaster-stricken area as soon as possible.

Last year we had an extremely hot and humid summer, making us painfully aware of how fast global warming is progressing. Although COVID-19 was reclassified in Japan into category 5, the same category used for influenza, the impact on our lives has not disappeared, as we have seen the double spread of the flu and COVID-19. Above all, we have seen a serious deterioration of the international order in recent times, and it is heartbreaking to see the daily news of conflicts that continue to cause enormous civilian damage and unspeakable impoverishment. Unfortunately, the situation around the world is not getting any brighter.

Humanity has long used its wisdom to devise new technologies to overcome the limitations of nature and the disasters that it brings. But on the other hand, there are countless examples of how such technologies themselves have increased the threats to humanity. The global challenges we face today are ultimately the result of our own actions. We must recognize, precisely at this time, that their effects will continue to be felt for generations to come. Therefore, it is our responsibility to solve them, and this will require solidarity and cooperation of all of humanity. It will be difficult to find solutions to these complex and enormous problems in the midst of incessant strife and grave conflicts. However, on a positive note, the spirit of intellectual curiosity and the joy of discovery that is the driving force of scientific research knows no borders. This is why I believe that we must use the empathy that science promotes as a driving force to create "new wisdom" and overcome these difficulties.

From 2025, RIKEN will enter the period of its Fifth Mid- to Long-Term Plan. We are now in the final stages of formulating the framework for what we should aim for and how we should conduct our activities over the next seven years.

I would like to take this opportunity to look back at the beginnings of our institute, RIKEN.

The origins of RIKEN go back about a century ago, when the famed chemist TAKAMINE Jokichi told SHIBUSAWA Eiichi, who is known as the father of Japanese capitalism, that "The future will surely be an era of physical and chemical industry rather than machine industry.” Beginning with the Meiji Restoration, Japan had adopted an industrial development model that was centered on heavy industry. RIKEN was established in 1917, a half century after the Meiji Restoration and in the midst of World War I, which broke out in 1914. At that time, imports of medicines and materials from the West were disrupted and people started to realize that Japan needed to break away from the industrial model predicated on the import of technologies from advanced countries. Japan, as a country with limited natural resources, needed to develop its own industry not through imitation but through originality, and people began to recognize the importance of science and technology in driving that originality. There was a need to support the development of this new stage for Japan as it made the transformation from heavy industry to physical and chemical industry. RIKEN was established as a research institute of pure physics and chemistry, performing fundamental research in physics and chemistry, as well as applied research in these fields.

More than a century later, economic value has shifted from goods to services, and the social economy has undergone another paradigm shift to the next stage of development, from the capital-intensive model that supported rapid economic growth in the 20th century to a knowledge-intensive one.

Within this paradigm shift, there is a need to continue to create new wisdom.
The driving force for creating new wisdom is curiosity and the joy of discovery. I know this well from my own life as a researcher. We must create a system so that RIKEN can both firmly support researchers in their own curiosity and discovery and also contribute to society as a designated national research and development agency, in a balanced manner. In other words, we want to create a secure environment where researchers can engage in the kind of research that they find interesting and that they would like to try, and through this create wisdom for the needs of future humanity that can provide solutions to global problems. Through this we will earn the trust of society, create a virtuous cycle with society, and contribute to further growth for the future.

Our new action guideline "RIKEN's Vision on the 2030 Horizon," which was announced in August 2022, incorporates these sentiments. We began to take actions along these lines last year. And the core of this is the TRIP (Transformative Research Innovation Platform of RIKEN Platforms) initiative, under which we have been working to organically link RIKEN's cutting-edge platforms in various fields.

The final fiscal year of the period of our seven-year Medium- to Long-Term Plan will start this year. Under the current plan, RIKEN has leveraged its strengths to make many important research achievements. However, as I mentioned earlier, there are many instabilities in society today, and the environment surrounding science and technology is changing in dramatic ways. We must conduct a general review of our past efforts and prepare to tackle new challenges to make further progress in the next Mid- to Long-Term Plan period.

We will continue to put our trust in the creativity and empathy of science, and will continue to seek positive outcomes. To this end, we will strive to make RIKEN a place that can continuously generate "new wisdom" that will act as a driving force for creating a better future.

We look forward to your continued support and cooperation in the New Year.

January 4, 2024
GONOKAMI Makoto
President, RIKEN

photo of GONOKAMI Makoto

2023

Greetings at the Start of the New Year (January 4, 2023)

I wish you a happy and prosperous New Year.

For the past three years, our society and economy have responded to the successive waves of new variants of the coronavirus, resisted the pandemic, and adapted to challenges by adopting new approaches and lifestyles. Science has demonstrated its potency to meet these challenges through online conferences and other novel communication tools, as well as by speedily developing new vaccines. Yet on the other hand, to the consternation of us all, global warming is proceeding apace, showing its effects even in our gardens and roadside shrubbery. Changes have clearly reached the point where we can no longer turn our backs on this “inconvenient truth.” Even worse, though we thought history had turned a page on armed conflicts, they are breaking out even between nations with fully developed scientific technologies and cultures. The latest scientific findings are being put to use in weaponry, and mediated by outer-space-based planetary telecommunications systems, amalgams of information and misinformation have turned cyberspace into a new battlefield.

All of these harsh realities result from the activities of homo sapiens; thus it is incumbent upon us to find solutions. It is the responsibility of our generation, living in the present age, not to pass on to succeeding generations the disorder and dilemmas we have created. The 20th century was the great age of science, and scientific advancement and technological innovation are marching onward, even now. And yet can we say that we control and are making good use of our power? Facing the future with our eyes open, we must obtain a comprehensive overall grasp of everything we know, and through analysis, restructure it; we must identify new and promising realms where persistent efforts will enhance our knowledge and enrich our understanding.

RIKEN is Japan's premier scientific research institute with a globally recognized standard of comprehensive scope extending across and beyond the basic sciences. Since its founding, it has channeled scientists’ curiosity and energies into investigations of the unknown, spurning the confines and limitations of established fields, spurring on scientists to engage preferentially in fields destined to make useful contributions to people’s daily lives.

When I became president of RIKEN in April of 2022, I asked myself whether the following wouldn’t be RIKEN’s best stance: “To do research in areas where the researchers themselves want to find answers, research fields overlapping with knowledge creation needed to secure humanity’s future – in other words, research making RIKEN a place where science and society deepen their mutual trust and engagement”; in this spirit, I announced my aspiration to rekindle the RIKEN spirit through closer examination of the organization’s tradition. And in this spirit, to frame an action plan that would, so to speak, fly a new banner and lead us in the right direction, I published, last August, RIKEN’s Vision on the 2030 Horizon. This year, guided by its principles, I hope to embark on this path.

I have encapsulated its key points below.

At COP26 in Glasgow in November 2021, an international agreement was reached to cap the earth’s post-industrial-revolution atmospheric temperature rise at 1.5 degrees Celsius. In November 2022, when COP27 met at Sharm El Sheikh in Egypt, energy and food crises in the wake of war and the COVID-19 pandemic had already aggravated the situation. The 1.5 degree cap was retained, despite heated debate: to some parties, global environmental concerns seem less urgent than sustaining their countries’ current standard of living. The intricacies of this argument exemplify the tremendous difficulty of achieving cooperation among all the constituent parties to protect shared resources, even when everyone is clearly aware that the earth is humanity’s sole and irreplaceable commons.

When the scale of common property is small, so is the number of users, and few attempt to “get a free ride”; the commons can be defended. But the larger the scale, the harder it becomes to establish a system of rules to prevent some users from breaking the rules with impunity and taking “free rides”; the commons falls apart under a brand of economic rationalism where users demand maximum benefits from minimum efforts. This is what is called “the tragedy of the commons” in economic parlance. Does that then mean it is impossible to protect the global commons on a planetary scale? I believe that shared resources can be protected; the solution lies in the latent power of digital innovation coming from cyberspace’s progressive integration with the real world. It is possible to create arrangements that encourage transformations of behavior – provided the manner in which individual behaviors will affect other individuals and the world as a whole can be grasped using realtime data in a climate of scientifically supported trust.

Real-world phenomena and events of all kinds are now, one after another, being instantly converted to digital form and stored as data in cyberspace. In our daily lives ever more situations are arising where, thanks to the Internet, these data subsequently can be used in real time. Would it not be possible to overcome the tragedy of the global commons if any person at any time had access to reliable quality data and could analyze and apply data using advanced computational predictive science, transiting cyberspace and the real world back and forth freely, always fully aware of any action’s effects on other parties?

Such an open environment might also accelerate the pace of the most advanced R&D. An important first step is to collect and properly organize reliable, high-quality data. We hope both to build the world’s very best facilities and measuring instruments, those that generate our signature unparalleled and irreplaceable datasets, and to systematically set up sharing arrangements for their widest possible use. To make further progress in artificial intelligence (AI) and its underlying mathematical sciences in order to analyze data inductively will be of crucial importance. Fugaku, RIKEN’s computational science platform boasting the world’s highest computation speeds, has made it possible to perform calculations that were hitherto impossible as well as to work out solutions to complicated problems on larger scales than ever before. Its successor, Fugaku NEXT, has taken up the challenge of further computable range expansion; in the development of quantum computing, which has drawn so much attention in recent years, RIKEN has also taken on a central role by bringing Japan’s first made-in-Japan quantum computer very close to completion. RIKEN has even moved to achieve leadership in the rapidly advancing frontier zone of quantum-classical hybrid computing by creating linkages at multiple levels between quantum computers and supercomputers. Through ever-higher-level computational science and realtime big data analysis and prediction, feedback with updated data will permit control of future events and open new horizons.

The concept styled “TRIP” – Transformative Research Innovation Platform of RIKEN platforms – engages to the full all of RIKEN’s synergistic capabilities, linking its every subunit to pursue research at unprecedented levels. The TRIP plan is to construct a “platform of platforms” as only RIKEN can: by marshaling its globally renowned lineup of state-of-the-art research resources with the aim of transcending existing fields and paradigms to unify the sciences and open the door to new spheres of knowledge; by so doing it will generate advanced data, pioneer novel analytical methods in the most advanced AI and mathematical sciences, and create linkages across the twin axes of supercomputing and quantum computing in advanced computational science.

In order to ensure continuous advancement in basic sciences research, the most fundamental consideration is to train young researchers to take on this task. RIKEN has consistently fostered researchers’ careers at all levels, whether they be undergraduate students, graduate students, post-docs, or young principal investigators. RIKEN Hakubi Fellows Program for young principal investigators is part of RIKEN’s “brains without borders” support for international exchange among exceptionally talented individuals, whether Japanese or of other nationalities. We are further upgrading this program to make it a key artery for global exchange in research talent and ideas. We want RIKEN fellows to feel secure in their research environment, so that their talents as researchers will blossom and as colleagues they will forge tight post-fellowship ties, making RIKEN a worldwide web of lasting research alliances. To this end, we intend to make our human resources and researcher support programs ever better and stronger. By brightening researchers’ lives and career prospects, we hope to attract and retain worthy next-generation research experts.

Using pioneering research digital transformation (“DX”) to protect Earth as a global commons means motivating people to be broad-mindedly active in ways that will produce new growth opportunities. RIKEN wants to encourage supportive arrangements of this type. RIKEN is planning to unveil a made-in-Japan gate-based superconducting quantum computer in March 2023. Recently, in the context of semiconductor industry joint Japan-US policy discussions aimed at reviving Japan’s semiconductor industry, a basis was established for mass production and R&D of next-generation semiconductors “beyond 2 nm.” RIKEN is a driver of this R&D campaign and is marked to provide cutting-edge solutions needed to make next-generation semiconductors.

Our desire to contribute to making our planet’s and humanity’s futures brighter is renewed in our New Year’s resolution: to do everything that RIKEN and only RIKEN can do to carry out outstanding research whose excellence will give science and technology a new birth of progress.

As Japan’s premier incorporated national research and development agency, we intend to continue our best efforts to assist Japan in playing a solid and steadfast role in international society. We hope to enlist your strong support for RIKEN in the New Year.

January 4, 2023
Makoto Gonokami
President, RIKEN

Image of the President

2022

My plans as the President of RIKEN (April 1, 2022)

Image of President Gonokami

RIKEN was established in 1917, at a time when there was global recognition that it was science and technology that was the foundation of industrial development and the source of national power, based on the vision for a "national research institute” proposed by Eiichi Shibusawa, Jokichi Takamine and others. It is well known that with the background of ample research funds brought in thanks to the development of a method to make highly pure vitamin A by Umetaro Suzuki and others, RIKEN became well known for its ideal research environment, described as "a paradise for scientists," where researchers could engage in discussions freely and without reserve. Of course, we must not forget that RIKEN's path over the past century was not always a smooth one, and there were times when the institute was tossed by changes in society and faced adversities. Despite these challenges, the "RIKEN spirit" has been steadily passed on by researchers, and has become the foundation for RIKEN as a global institution today.

I myself entered university in 1976, and for the past 46 years my work has been devoted to university research and educational activities. I am an experimental physicist, and as a young researcher, when research funding was scarce, I remember being forced to build my own experimental apparatuses reusing discarded equipment, and seeing RIKEN as a place graced with a dazzling research environment. I am very proud to be able to join many outstanding researchers as the president of the institute and work toward the creation of new knowledge, pooling our strength together, but am also humbled by the heavy responsibility that comes with leading a research institute with such a long tradition.

For the past 10,000 years or so, we have been blessed to live in a time with exceptionally warm and stable climatic conditions, known as the Holocene epoch. With this stability as a foundation, civilization has evolved from hunting society to agricultural society, industrial society, and an information society. However, human society is now facing a major turning point as we confront global challenges that threaten our daily lives and future, such as the COVID-19 pandemic and climate change caused by global warming. What these challenges have in common is that the magnification of human activities by science and technology is a factor that cannot be separated from their occurrence. Collaboration on a world-scale, crossing borders, is essential for resolving them. However, as highlighted by the COP26 meeting held in Glasgow last November, the path to international cooperation is a steep and twisting one, and solving the challenges will not be easy. In addition, the world is now witnessing extremely alarming military interventions. These inexcusable events expose us to the reality that human civilization is still immature and unstable. What is particularly serious for scientists is that leading-edge technology is being used on the front lines of such conflicts, leading to unbearable destruction and misery on a wide scale. As scientists, we cannot turn a blind eye to this fact.

Nevertheless, I believe in the power of science to continue the quest to find universal truths. I say this because during my life as a researcher, I have experienced the joy of discovery that comes from looking at nature and encountering its essence. New wisdom creates arts for overcoming difficulties, and I believe that the excitement and empathy that emerge at the moment of creation can be a source of power for collaboration that transcends national borders. I believe that the creation of new knowledge, driven by the joy of discovery, will allow us to overcome difficulties and provide sustenance that will lead the earth and humankind toward sustainable development. However, we cannot achieve these results simply by waiting. The outcome will depend on whether or not we are aware of the impact of our research on the Earth and humankind from a broader perspective.

At RIKEN, I will dedicate myself to supporting the earnest activities of such researchers. I believe that collaboration across traditional academic disciplines—the very point of departure for RIKEN—is once again becoming critical. Collaboration should not be limited to natural sciences and engineering. Rather, it should extend to fundamental questions for humanity, such as what a person is and what society is. Advanced research is sophisticated and cutting-edge, but truly outstanding researchers should be able to inspire and empathize with one another, even if they are in different research fields. During my own career I have seen a number of times where this has happened. I would like to create places at the forefront of research at RIKEN where chemistry between outstanding researchers from different fields can lead to the creation of new knowledge that will contribute to the future of the earth and humankind. I will encourage scientists here to pursue the things that nobody but RIKEN can do, or things that RIKEN can do precisely because it is RIKEN.

I believe that the ideal situation is one where the science that scientists themselves choose to pursue will naturally overlap with the research that is necessary for the future of all, and that mutual trust between science and society deepens and becomes ever more interconnected. Through RIKEN’s activities, I hope to be able to convey to the world that building knowledge that leads to the creation of something out of nothing is a light that will bring about future growth for the earth and humankind. I hope to work with together to create new mechanisms to encourage a movement that is propelled by the joy of such discoveries. My ideal is that RIKEN will continue to be a world center of excellence, attracting outstanding researchers from around the world and developing into a place where we can nurture future generations of researchers, who are our future.

I look forward to working together to build a new chapter in RIKEN's history.

April 1, 2022
Makoto Gonokami
President, RIKEN

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