"A dance of water droplets coming together "
Event Report: OIST-KEIO Showcase Talk Series 5
OIST-KEIO JOINT SYMPOSIUM
by Hiroyo Clemente and Mari Bergsvåg
Introduction
A symposium titled "Science Meets Society: Exploring the Nexus of Planetary Well-being for a Sustainable Future" was hosted at OIST in November 2023. A delegation of 23 members from Keio University, including President Kohei Itoh, gathered with a diverse group of participants from OIST, led by OIST President Karin Markides. The distinguished presence of top leadership from both institutions underscores the paramount importance attached to this meeting, serving as a catalyst for strengthening collaborations. The symposium's tone was set by the enthusiastic speeches of both Presidents, conveying a shared commitment to intensify collaborative efforts for exceptional breakthroughs, not only in basic research but also in future innovation.
Historical Collaboration
The inception of the OIST-KEIO partnership traces back to a collaboration with the Keio School of Medicine. In 2020, OIST and KEIO School of Medicine initiated a pilot program for short-term research internships. Both institutes have persevered in promoting collaboration despite the challenges posed by the pandemic, developing and implementing a Showcase Talk series and the International Research Summer Camps at OIST for Keio School of Medicine students[1]. The Summer Camps have proven to be resounding successes, leading to a transformative long-term research internship program, complemented by curriculum changes at KEIO to award appropriate academic credit for participation. In recent years, the two universities have jointly hosted the "OIST-Keio Showcase Talk" series, initially virtual for the first three sessions and subsequently onsite at Keio's Yagami Campus. This event at OIST was an extension of that series to celebrate a milestone in strategic collaborations and an expansion to include other disciplines within Keio. The impact of such joint activities were poetically envisioned by Masayuki Amagai, Keio's Vice President for Research, as a “dance of water droplets coming together.”
Keio Vice President Masayuki and Dr. Kae Nemoto Amagai
Diverse Approaches, Shared Goals
Founded in 1858 by Yukichi Fukuzawa, a pioneer in Japan's modernization, Keio University boasts nine faculties, a medical school, and a university hospital. In contrast, OIST is a relatively new institute without disciplinary boundaries or departments. While both Keio University and OIST are esteemed institutions in Japan, their divergent focuses, structures, and missions present a fertile ground for collaborations based on complementarities. This synergy was vividly exemplified by the participants' comments, underscoring the vast opportunities created by these institutional differences.
Keio President Kohei Itoh, OIST Dean of Graduate School Thomas Busch, and OIST President Karin Markides during coffee break
Symposium Highlights
The joint symposium featured distinguished speakers from various Keio University faculties, including President Kohei Itoh’s keynote talk about Quantum Computing, researchers from the School of Medicine, the faculties of Science and Technology, Law, and Economics, along with KGRI (Keio Global Research Institute). OIST contributed experts from the Quantum Information Science and Technology Unit, Complexity Science and Evolution Unit, Marine Climate Change Unit, and Marine eco-evo-devo Unit. The program was quite unique for OIST, as Dr. Shunichi Kasahara from the OIST-SONY Computer Science Laboratories (CSL) captivated the audience as he presented compelling evidence of the fruitful partnership with a top player in the industrial sector.
Exciting experiments in Dr. Shunichi Kasahara's Lab Tour
For participants who had not previously collaborated with Keio University, such as economist Yuliya Kulikova from OIST, the meeting proved both enjoyable and fruitful. Kulikova had encouraging conversations with a dozen Keio researchers and recognized the potential to not only enhance her current projects but also initiate new ones based on complementary expertise. Several participants echoed similar sentiments, emphasizing the symposium's success and a promising future for both institutions, as Nick Luscombe, the OIST’s Dean of Research and the main organizer, highlighted in his concluding remarks.
Collaborative Visions with New Horizons
President Kohei Itoh of KEIO, in his opening remarks, pointed to the more recent research summer camps as a very popular program with a very visible impact: “this initial success has had a snowball effect, and it is now materializing as a number of new initiatives.” Such bottom-up initiatives have been supported by strategic guidance from a steering committee consisting of both presidents and executives from both institutions under a memorandum of understanding signed in 2022[2]. The snowball effect is based on the harmonization of top-down and bottom-up strategic collaboration, which has borne fruit, with both institutions' proposals being selected for major grants by the Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology’s (MEXT) "Program for Promoting the Enhancement of Research Universities with a Regional Core and Distinctive Characteristics"[3]. The awards were announced right after this joint symposium. OIST and KEIO will keep rolling bigger snowballs together, as they move toward their mutual goals. As OIST President Karin Markides said in her opening remarks, we have to maximize our bonds and leverage the strengths, creating a synergistic platform for facilitating the collective exploration of the world's biggest challenges.
Keynote Talk by President Kohei Itoh