Message from the President
RIKEN President Ryoji Noyori
As the only fully comprehensive research institute for the natural sciences in Japan, RIKEN plays a central role in shaping this country’s contribution to scientific research. The research conducted here covers a broad range of fields including physics, engineering, biology, chemistry, and medical science, as well as a growing list of new, interdisciplinary subjects at the intersection of these traditional fields. RIKEN’s many unique research centers attract highly talented scientists to pursue well planned but challenging research.
When I became president in 2003, RIKEN had just undergone a transformation into an Independent Administrative Institution (IAI), a change that brought with it greater autonomy, but also greater responsibilities. In the years that followed, RIKEN has increased its visibility on the global stage through greater research output and new collaborative research partnerships with institutions around the world.
Throughout its history, RIKEN has played a leading role in pioneering the uncharted frontiers of science, but today the world demands more. Global-scale problems — the population explosion, climate change, the depletion of natural resources, and the emergence and re-emergence of infectious diseases — threaten the very existence of humankind. Nations, societies and all sectors of human endeavor must join together to find creative solutions of high public value.
The science and technology community, in this context, must change: from science purely for the sake of knowledge, to science in society and for society. It is not enough that we sustain contemporary civilization; we must forge the way to an affluent future society for our descendants. RIKEN is committed to move in this direction, by contributing to innovation that will help to overcome the challenges of our era.
Ryoji Noyori, President