Multinational research

Japan Science and Technology Agency (JST) president Michiharu Nakamura highlights the importance of collaboration between countries for the development of science. “No country can do research alone,” he says.

By Heitor Shimizu

Agência FAPESP – No country has the luxury of doing science alone, not even those that for many years were the world’s largest economies, such as the United States or Japan. For Michiharu Nakamura, president of the Japan Science and Technology Agency (JST), international collaborations are increasingly more important and necessary for scientific and technological development.

In the quest for potential partners in scientific exchange, Nakamura led a delegation that visited FAPESP, the Butantan Institute, Universidade de São Paulo, the Brazilian Synchrotron Light Laboratory (LNLS) and other institutions in São Paulo State from July 15 to 17.

At FAPESP, JST executives met with Celso Lafer (president), José Arana Varela (chair of the Executive Board) and Carlos Henrique de Brito Cruz (scientific director).

“We consider FAPESP to be an important partner with whom we want to work jointly,” explained Nakamura. In March of this year, Lafer led a delegation to Tokyo where he met with the directors of JST. Nakamura’s visit continues this partnership between the agencies. FAPESP and JST will hold meetings about intellectual property in 2013.

“Research is an activity that demands a lot of time and risk. It does not always give the expected results or even a significant result. Countries have to band together to do joint research, and this is one of JST’s main objectives: creating a global ecosystem for innovation. We want to globalize R&D (research and development),” commented Nakamura.

“In Japan, we have high number of high-level researchers, but it is still an insufficient number. Furthermore, we consider the ‘circulation of brains’ and the building of professional networks to be fundamental. That’s why we encourage Japanese scientists to work with colleagues from other countries,” he said.

“Brazil is a very important country to Japan. It is also, despite the geographical distance, a very close country because of the Japanese immigration to Brazil in the twentieth century and the historical relations between the two countries. We have joint research programs with CNPq (National Council for Scientific and Technological Development), and we came here to better understand the system of science, technology and innovation in São Paulo in the search for potential partners,” he elaborated.

Nakamura explained that, in addition to bilateral cooperation, JST has recently begun to support multilateral research programs involving researchers from three or more countries.

“One example is the E-ASIA program, which would bring together 18 countries to deal with global questions such as climate change, infectious disease, nanotechnology and others. We will also participate in the Belmont Forum, where we will joined by FAPESP.”

The JST is a governmental agency to encourage scientific and technological research, established in 1996 from the merger of the Japan Information Center of Science and Technology (JICST), created in 1957, with the Research Development Corporation of Japan (JRDC – created in 1961).

Subordinated to the Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology (MEXT), JST is one of the agencies responsible for the implementation of science and technology policies. With an annual budget of 116 billion yen (in 2012, equivalent to R$ 2.6 billion), JST finances the development of basic and applied research, the transfer of technology and innovation, the dissemination of information on science and technology and the promotion of the public understanding of science and technology.

JST funds projects in all scientific and technological areas. One example of these projects is a study led by professor Shinya Yamanaka at the University of Kyoto. Yamanaka and his team managed to generate induced pluripotent stem cells with characteristics that, until then, could only be obtained in embryonic stem cells. The discovery won him the 2012 Nobel Prize in Medicine.

During his visit to FAPESP, Nakamura was accompanied by Takashi Ohama, director of JST in Washington, and by Soichi Kubota, deputy manager of JST’s Department of International Affairs. 

Education and communication

Communication is one of JST’s pillars, investing 7% of its annual budget in programmes to support science education and dissemination.

Among JST’s initiatives to promote science communication is the Science Channel (http://sc-smn.jst.go.jp), a platform that offers more than 3,900 videos on science in the form of news reports, interviews, documentaries and cartoons.

Another of JST’s successful initiatives in science communication is Miraikan, a museum founded in 2001 that receives nearly 1 million visitors per year, although the number dropped temporarily following the 2011 earthquake. At Miraikan, guides have been replaced by dozens of science communicators, all researchers from different areas who speak to the public about the attractions.

The greatest attraction at the museum is the Tsunagaria, an installation made up of the Geo-Cosmos, a terrestrial globe that is 6 meters in diameter formed by 10,362 organic LED panels of 96 millimeters each. The Geo-Cosmos exhibits images and data collected by satellites, which together comprise the surface and atmosphere of the planet. The result is a virtual globe that changes every minute. By 2016, FAPESP will partner with Miraikan to conduct a joint science dissemination activity.

Nakamura also stressed that promoting science at various levels of the educational system is a fundamental activity for JST. “To stimulate the new generation of industrial leaders, we create opportunities for initiatives such as Super Science High Schools, science camps, national competitions in science and mathematics and several others,” he noted.

The Super Science High Schools program currently has 201 high school education establishments selected. Through the program, JST earmarks about US$ 29 million a year for schools to organize activities that allow their students to conduct research projects. The program is focused on schools that offer their students high levels of science learning through creative activities.