SCIENCE & TECHNOLOGYCREATING ANINNOVATIONECOSYSTEM
IN OKINAWAOIST is located in Onna Village on the main island ofOkinawa, one of the most popular resort destinationsin Japan. The campus is designed to blend in with its
surroundings, with stone walls that reflect thetraditional architecture of Okinawan castles.

Ranked top by the Nature Index for its renowned research excellence, the Okinawa Okinawa
Institute of Science and Technology Graduate University is giving comprehensive
and hands-on support to researchers and early-stage startups to spur economic growth.
In the rolling hills of Onna Village on Okinawa
Island, a collection of curved buildings nestles in thesubtropical rainforest. It is easy to mistake it for oneof the resorts dotting the white-sand beaches nearby.
The campus, however, is the Okinawa Institute ofScience and Technology Graduate University, known
as OIST for short, a unique hub of scientific researchand innovation in Japan.
Founded in 2011 with support from the Governmentof Japan, OIST has two objectives: to help the promotion
and self-sustainable development of Okinawa,
Japan’s southernmost prefecture and to contribute tointernational science and technology development.
To achieve these objectives, OIST will nucleate aknowledge cluster that will catalyze technology transferin Okinawa. The institution is a university like no otherin Japan. Its five-year Ph.D. program in science has beendrawing world-class researchers, students, and staff fromabroad as well as from within the country.
Among them is Gil Granot-Mayer. After a career inlaw, he led Yeda Research and Development Company,
the technology transfer arm of the prestigious

OIST is an interdisciplinary graduate school that attracts leading researchers
from around the world. Courses and research are conducted entirely inEnglish. OIST has also been selected by the government as one of theresearch centers for quantum technology innovation. Photo shows theQuantum Materials Science Unit.

Onna Village

Weizmann Institute of Science in Israel. In 2021, hejoined the team at OIST as Executive Vice President
for Technology Development and Innovation.
Granot-Mayer shared some insights about what makes
OIST a unique innovation driver and how it has beencollaborating with various players to support research,
startups, and the Okinawan economy.
“In December last year, the Nature Index looked atseveral universities in terms of research output normalized
to size and OIST was ranked top,” says Granot-Mayer,
referring to an analysis measuring high-quality articles
as a proportion of an institute’s overall research output.
“We are small number-wise. But on average, we aremuch more impactful in leading Japan and the world.
This is a testament to our research quality. For a young
university of 10 years in a remote location, this is an
extraordinary achievement. In my opinion, this has
been a tremendous return on investment for Japan.”Granot-Mayer points to several factors thatare enabling OIST to outperform. The focus isinternational, with English as the main language, andthe structure is flat and interdisciplinary. To encourage
collaboration, there are no departments, and eachresearch group has secure, long-term funding,which allows researchers to be bold and take risks,maximizing the odds of generating breakthroughs. In
addition, OIST has dedicated to housing and other
Gil Granot-Mayer, an executive
vice president at OIST, led thecommercial arm of Israel’s
Weizmann Institute of Science.
He says OIST will help establish afund to invest in high-growthstartups that can sow the seeds ofan innovation ecosystem.

facilities and services to attract foreign students andstaff. In early 2022, OIST had 255 Ph.D. students
from 50 countries and territories.
One of the greatest public health threats in recent
decades has been COVID-19, which has been aserious challenge on many levels for OIST, as it has forother academic institutions.
In this battle against the virus, one of most important
assets is mRNA, which was co-discovered by one ofOIST’s own founding scientists, Nobel Prize laureate
Sydney Brenner. Noting that it took 60 years ofcontinuous efforts in basic research for this discovery
to finally mature into the form of a coronavirus
vaccine, Granot-Mayer emphasized the importanceof basic scientific research and compounded upon
how it can benefit society. That is exactly what theTechnology Development and Innovation Center,
TDIC, is working toward.
OIST’s Innovation Square Startup Accelerator
program is dedicated to fostering and commercializing
new technology to support economic growth. The
prefectural government sponsored its establishment in2018 as the first global accelerator in Okinawa. Eachyear, OIST chooses two global startups to receivea residency program and 10 million yen in funding.
In addition to scientific expertise, they can receive
useful feedback from OIST’s community of venture
capitalists. By catalyzing startups in Okinawa, OIST
aims to strengthen the innovation ecosystem aroundthe university and contribute to self-sustaining

Output inNature Indexand Dimensions
Normalizing the output tracked by
the Nature Index makes it possible
to compare OIST on a level playing
field with much larger institutions.
The results were published in theDecember 9 issue of Nature as asponsored article in Nature Index
2021 Young Universities.

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economic development in the region. Meanwhile,
OIST is helping create a 40-50-million-dollar fund forearly-stage support of startups from OIST, Okinawa,
and around the world.
“As of May 2022, we expect five companies from theAccelerator Program to have established a presence inOkinawa,” notes Granot-Mayer. “While this is a small
program, it is proof of concept of a good thing we cando to encourage startups and innovation to come here.”
Looking to the future, Granot-Mayer sees great potential
in OIST’s research and innovation due to continued
support from the central government and Okinawa.
“I see great value in diversification and openness inJapan,” says Granot-Mayer. “The more Japan can bring intalent from abroad, do everything in English and selecttop researchers and funding according to international
standards, the better for Japan’s competitiveness.
Putting more money into supporting basic researchand students is the right direction for Japan.”
Chosen as one of the institutions in Japan that willdevelop quantum technology—one of the crucial
areas for implementing the New Form of Capitalism
proposed by the Kishida administration—OIST is an
example of success in prioritizing high-level research.
To reinforce Japan’s renowned science and technology
infrastructure, the government has announced a fundof 10 trillion yen to create top-class universities. As ascience powerhouse as well as a hub for innovation,
OIST is acting as a launchpad for new ideas in Japanand around the world.

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