SCIENCE & TECHNOLOGYRESEARCH UNIVERSITIES SEEK TO BE

COMPETITIVE AND
COLLABORATIVE

Inc., a startup that delivers AI solutions. Hirano is also a
selected member of the Forum of Young Global Leaders
2022, organized by the World Economic Forum (WEF).
The two discuss the role of higher education and theprerequisites for a research university to lead the future.

To take a social agenda and convert it into an engine for growth, science, technology, and innovation areindispensable. Japan plans to develop research universities capable of meeting the highest global standards byestablishing the 10-trillion-yen scale University Endowment Fund, which will dramatically enhance the research
power of those universities. In this article, ITOH Kohei, President of Keio University, one of Japan’s top private
schools, and HIRANO Miku, the promising young CEO of an AI startup, Cinnamon, Inc., discuss what it takes tobe counted as a world-class research university.

What are your thoughts on the raison d’être ofinstitutions of higher learning?

Generating innovation through science and technology
is one of the key pillars of the Kishida administration’s
growth strategy. As the race to attract outstanding
human resources escalates among nations, the Japanese
government has announced the creation of the10-trillion-yen (approximately 70 billion dollars) scale
University Endowment Fund to support the buildingof world-class research universities. Universities deemedcapable of achieving research of the highest international
standards will be designated as universities for research
excellence and allocated a share of the fund’s profits. That
will dramatically strengthen the research power of thoseinstitutions by providing long-term and stable financial
support. The fund will additionally boost support foruniversities that have strengths in specific fields, as well as
support for regional universities that play a central role intheir localities and doctoral students of high ability. It will
also assist in creating hubs for research centers and startup
businesses, with the overall goal of placing Japanese
universities at the head of intellectual competition.
ITOH KOHEI
President, Keio University
President of Keio University since May 2021. Awarded a B.E. in
Instrumentation Engineering at the Faculty of Science andTechnology, Keio University, in 1989 and an M.S. and a Ph.D. in
Material Science & Engineering at the University of California,
Berkeley, in 1992 and 1994, respectively. Field of specialization:quantum computers. American Physical Society fellow since 2021.
Belongs to the Cabinet Office Council for Innovation in Quantum
Technology.

This article presents the ideas of ITOH Kohei, aspecialist in quantum computers who currently serves aspresident of Keio University, a top-tier private institution,and HIRANO Miku, CEO and founder of Cinnamon,

Hirano: I think that they are places where people aretrained to create the future. I studied computer scienceand artificial intelligence (AI) all through college andgraduate school, and that is how I came to believe thatAI technology would change the world, and is also whyI launched a startup as a first-year graduate student. I
received help from venture capital awarded to universitybased startups, so you could say that an institution ofhigher learning provided me not only with an academic

education, but also with financial resources.
Itoh: It has been 150 years since the publication of
Gakumon no Susume (An Encouragement of Learning),
which was written by FUKUZAWA Yukichi, Keio’sfounder, with the first edition co-authored by OBATA
Tokujiro, former president of the school. It is a bookthat stresses the importance of education for socialdevelopment. The content of education has evolved sincethen to include strategies to deal with global warming, forexample, but the role of the university has not changed atall. It is still a place to learn how to improve society for thenext hundred or two hundred years.
Japanese universities are said to be less competitivein the global field than they once were. What are thereasons for that? The government has decided toestablish a 10-trillion-yen scale University Endowment
Fund to support world-class research universities.
What are the merits of such a fund for universities?
Itoh: Japanese universities have not been innovative

enough with regard to financial management and havenot taken enough action to create the future. At the sametime, it is clear that Japanese college tuition is generally
lower than in other countries. In the United States, theannual tuition at famous private universities stands at
about 60,000 dollars, more than 16 times costlier thanthat of national universities in Japan, which charge theirstudents only 530,000 yen (approximately 3,670 dollars at144 yen per dollar) per annum. At Keio University, which
is private, the annual tuition for an undergraduate science
major is about 1.7 million yen, equal to just 11,800
dollars. To attract the best students, we need to also
attract the best teachers, but Japanese universities do nothave sufficient funds for that. I have spoken with college
presidents in Europe, where almost all universities areHIRANO MIKU
CEO, Cinnamon, Inc.
Serial entrepreneur. Awarded an M.Sc. from the University ofTokyo. Founded Naked Technology, Inc., while a graduate student.
Following the sale of the firm to mixi. Inc., founded Cinnamon,
Inc. Selected World Economic Forum’s member of the Forum ofYoung Global Leaders (YGL) 2022 class. Appointed as a memberof the Council of New Form of Capitalism Realization, chaired byPrime Minister Kishida. A mother of three children.

SCIENCE & TECHNOLOGY

nationally funded, and they tell me that they have never
had to worry about finance. To be able to compete withsuch institutions, I think it is a good thing for the Japanese
government to be injecting money into universities on acompetitive basis, even if a condition is attached to theuniversity fund that it must maintain a profit margin ofat least 3%.
Hirano: I, personally, could not have launched a businessas a graduate student without having been selected for a
program spearheaded by the Ministry of Economy, Tradeand Industry (METI) to encourage the developmentof human resources in the IT field. So, I have highexpectations for governmental support of this kind,including this fund.
Itoh: My greatest hope is that universities chosen tobenefit from the fund will explore new waters. If a newframework were established where exceptional faculty
members could receive higher pay, for example, I think it
might be a good practice worthy of emulation by otherJapanese universities.
Recent years have seen an increase in universitylaunched startups. What is behind that trend?
Hirano: At the global level, IoT (the Internet of Things),

robotics and storage batteries are fields expected to groweconomically at a rate of 30% per year. Spearheading

cutting-edge fields such as those is exactly what startups
are good at. I think the environment for Japanese startups
will evolve into an open-innovation ecosystem slightly
different from that of other countries. In Japan, major
corporations play an immense role, backed by financial
power and social trust. Cinnamon, the company I
founded, was chosen to be part of a NEDO (New Energyand Industrial Technology Development Organization)
program that supports university-based startups, and thathas allowed me to develop my business in collaboration
with big companies. While universities conduct thebasic research, startups give the first boost to newtechnologies and also collaborate with major corporations
implementing those technologies across society. Thisis the kind of collaboration we need to generate moreinnovation.
Itoh: I sense a change of atmosphere on campus concerning
startups. Thanks to role-model business leaders like Ms.
Hirano, students are not as averse to risk as they oncewere. Startup communities are being built, which act
as safety nets for when things don’t work out. Faculty
attitudes are also changing, so if students express a desire
to do something practical with the technology they haveon hand, they may be encouraged by their supervisor tolaunch a startup instead of being told that a student’s toppriority is to write a research paper.
Although unrelated to startups, there has also been
more collaboration such as that mentioned by Ms.
Hirano. In my own field, which is quantum computers,
researchers at our university have been reaching acrossdisciplinary boundaries to improve computer systems asa whole. If that kind of collaboration is expanded to theinternational level, it will become a global effort.
Hirano: Back when I was a research student, it seemed
to me that labs were very self-contained, with noMy greatest hope is that
universities chosen to benefit
from the fund will explore
new waters.

Japanese startups
will evolve into an
open-innovation ecosystemslightly different from that ofother countries.

opportunities whatsoever to share ideas with researchersin other fields or disciplines.
Itoh: The Cabinet Office currently assumes a central rolein providing governmental subsidies for collaborativeinterdisciplinary projects. I think that people are learning
to think more cooperatively by applying for such projects.
The government is also promoting the Vision for a
Digital Garden City Nation, which aims to revitalize
rural areas through digital technology, including theestablishment of digital infrastructure. What are yourthoughts on the role of universities in revitalizing therural areas of the country?
Itoh: Keio University has already established the Institutefor Advanced Biosciences in the city of Tsuruoka in
Yamagata Prefecture in northern Japan. Global startups,
such as a biotech firm called Spiber Inc., have beenlaunched at the Institute, and it is local support thatmakes that possible. Above all, it is important for there
to be support from the community and society. It isvery encouraging when an entire city stands behind theuniversity. We utilized our cutting-edge technology andcollaborated with a local brewery to develop a new brandof sake, and we have participated in other efforts to boost
regional development. When I visited Leiden University
in the Netherlands, many local residents told me that theuniversity has been the pride of the city since its founding
four and a half centuries ago. I believe that it is very
important for regional universities to work together withlocal residents to give more life to regions and to attract
young people. In that respect, I believe that the 10-trillionyen scale University Endowment Fund represents strong
backing by the government.

What do you hope to see in Japanese research
universities to make them globally competitive?
Hirano: Personally, it was only after the age of 30 that I

began to think of myself as working for society as a whole.
Today, I consider it my mission to create a better world formy children and grandchildren and for their children as
well, and for generations living in a hundred and perhaps
three hundred years into the future. If the universities that
educate Japan’s future leaders cultivate high aspirations intheir students at an early stage, I am sure that we can create
a wonderful world.
Itoh: There is no doubt that universities must be moreaggressive in pursuing the means to build a better
society. There is much talk about the downturn in Japan’scompetitive power, but if we consider the story of the
tortoise and the hare, I think perhaps the tortoise may
be a good role model for Japan. One sure step at a time
will surely bring us to our goal. We—universities, theprivate sector, and the government in concert—will work,
Japanese-style, to make a better world.