2025 New Year’s greeting by Yujiro Tanaka, president and CAO

Science Tokyo President and Chief Academic Officer (CAO) Yujiro Tanaka
January 1, 2025

Happy New Year!

This is the first New Year for Science Tokyo. I would like to thank all of you for your cooperation and efforts in preparing for and promoting the merger of our universities last year. I would also like to express my sincere gratitude to everyone in our society who has high expectations of us. I wish you all the best.

I would like to ask for your continued support this year as we continue to promote integration toward President and CEO Ohtake's goal of "realizing a better, brighter future."

Science Tokyo’s biggest challenge this year is to apply for the Universities for International Research Excellence program.

I often talk about the term "zero-sum society." This is a society in which the sum of wealth is constant, so that when someone gains, someone else loses. In contrast, in a "positive-sum society," the sum of wealth is positive, so that when someone gains, someone else does not necessarily lose.

Immediately after the merger, we faced inflation for the first time in a long time. Not only utilities, but also construction costs and many other expenses have increased. On the other hand, with revenue growth failing to keep pace, national universities find themselves in a situation that is not only zero-sum, but can even be described as negative-sum. In this environment, external funding, such as from industry-university collaboration and the utilization of real estate, has really saved the university (but even this is not enough to keep up).

The mission of Science Tokyo is "advancing science and human wellbeing to create value for and with society," but in order to realize this mission, more "positive sums" are needed, and becoming a University for International Research Excellence is essential.

What would it look like to become a University for International Research Excellence?

To give just one example (and put it very simply), if our university is designated as a University for International Research Excellence, it will receive subsidies to match its external funding.

Another key point concerns not only the increase in revenues, but also a redistribution of increased wealth under a new university structure as a University for International Research Excellence. Even in the "positive-sum society" described earlier, depending on how increased wealth is redistributed, this can lead to a society with widening inequality, a phenomenon also seen in developing countries.

Through designation as a University for International Research Excellence, we aim to strengthen Science Tokyo’s fundamental infrastructure to fulfill its mission to "create value for and with society." As a result, we hope to generate innovations that will create a "positive-sum society" and pursue our university's mission of "advancing science and human wellbeing."

However, it is not easy to be recognized as a University for International Research Excellence. We will be exposed to comparisons with many leading universities. Nevertheless, we have the potential energy of huge chemical reactions from the integration of science and engineering and medical and dental sciences, each of which has its own tradition and achievements. If the encounters between these fields proceed smoothly going forward, I am confident that this energy will burst forth.

For this purpose, I would like to build and implement a more harmonious system at Science Tokyo through free and flat dialogue. To achieve this, I sincerely ask for the cooperation of our students, faculty, staff, alumni, and all members of society who have high expectations of us.