History Overview

1991
  • Administration Office of Donation opened.
    Determination made to relocate College of Science and Engineering from the Kinugasa Campus to Biwako-Kusatsu Campus (BKC). "Project 60" Administration Office of Donation opened to introduce extensive and varied funding.
    Team of faculty and Administration Office of Donation staff formed to start visiting companies in order to call for joint research with companies and pursue their cooperation in constructing the research building that was to become a hub for such research.
1994
  • Biwako-Kusatsu Campus (BKC) opened. College of Science and Engineering expanded and relocated.
    Department of Biological Engineering and Department of Environmental Systems Engineering added to College of Science and Engineering. Department of Information Engineering reorganized and expanded. Department of Information established. College of Science and Engineering expanded to a total of eight departments.
  • Research Organization of Science and Engineering and six research centers established.
  • Robotics FA Research Center
  • Software Research Center
  • Environment Research Center
  • Electronics Research Center
  • Materials and Industrial Science Research Center
  • Construction Management Research Center
    Research Organization of Science and Engineering established as a research organization independent of the college and faculty. The organization oversees research centers that take in contracted research and joint research. Faculty are free to participate in the research centers and may participate in multiple research centers.
  • "Robotics/FA Center" building completed.
    "Robotics FA Research Center" building (total floor area: 2,400 ㎡) built, funded by donations from companies as a site for research exchange with companies.
  • College of Policy Science opened at Kinugasa Campus.
1995
  • Industry-Academia-Government Exchange Project Promotion Office, BKC Liaison Office, and Kinugasa Liaison Office established.
    Administration Office of Donation renamed "Liaison Office." Development of system to have university intellectual property utilized by society and bring in research topics and funding from society.
  • Osaka Office established.
1996
  • Synchrotron Radiation Center completed (BKC).
    Department of Optical Engineering and Department of Robotics added to College of Science and Engineering.

    "Synchrotron Radiation Center" building (total floor area: 1,900 ㎡) completed as a basic facility for the Department of Optical Engineering and research facility for advanced technology.
  • "Industry-Academia Collaboration Laboratory" building completed.
    "Industry-Academia Collaboration Laboratory" building (total floor area: 760 ㎡), consisting of 10 rental laboratories, built through utilization of the Private Participation Promotion Act by the former Ministry of International Trade and Industry.
1997
  • "High-Tech Research Center" building completed (BKC).
    "High-Tech Research Center" building (total floor area: 3,000 ㎡) constructed utilizing a subsidy from the former Ministry of Education's High-Tech Research Center Project.
  • Seventh research center established in the Research Organization of Science and Engineering.
1998
  • College of Economics and College of Business Administration relocated to BKC.
    New opening of an interdisciplinary campus, including the launch of a comprehensive humanities and sciences institute through cooperation of the three colleges at BKC.
  • BKC Research Organization of Social Sciences and two research centers established.
  • Business Strategy Research Center
  • Finance Research Center
    New industry-academia-government collaboration developed for mutually supported research systems between science/engineering and social sciences.
  • Kinugasa Research Organization and one research center established.
  • Art Research Center
    Promotion of research at the Kinugasa campus focused on the humanities and social sciences based on the knowledge accumulated in the old capital of Kyoto.
  • Kansai TLO Co., Ltd. founded.
    Kansai TLO Co., Ltd. founded with funding from Kyoto Research Park Co., Ltd., individual instructors from Ritsumeikan and national universities, and the Osaka Small Business Investment Company.
1999
  • Tokyo Office opened.
    Kinugasa Research Organization - New center founded.
    Regional Information Research Center
2000
  • Rohm Plaza completed (BKC).
    VLSI Research Center established. "Rohm Plaza" (total floor area: 6,300 ㎡) constructed utilizing a subsidy from the Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology's High-Tech Research Center Project and with support from Rohm Co., Ltd. in order to enhance the education and research related to design architecture and circuit design of very-large-scale integration (VLSI)
  • Eighth research center established in the Research Organization of Science and Engineering
    Micro System Technology and Research Center
2001
  • "Ritsumeikan University Liaison Office" Awarded the Japan Institute of Design Promotion's Good Design Award.
    Awarded the 2001 Good Design Award in recognition of the development of system to have university intellectual property utilized by society and bring in research topics and funding from society.
  • BKC Incubation Promotion Office established.
    Office established within the Liaison Office to plan and propose venture promotional measures in the university and community and support various ventures from the university.
2002
  • "Micro System Center" building completed (in the BKC Techno-Complex).
    "Micro System Center" building (total floor area: 1,400 ㎡tructed utilizing a subsidy from the Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology's Open Research Center Project.
  • Ninth research center established in the Research Organization of Science and Engineering.
  • Research Center for Sports and Health Industry
2003
  • Selected for the Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology's "University Board for Intellectual Property Development Project - International Industry-Academia-Government Collaboration Promotion System Development."
  • Board for Intellectual Property established.
  • Strategic Promotion Office for Intellectual Property established.
    Board for Intellectual Property established as a university-wide organization to oversee the creation, protection, management, and utilization of intellectual property within the university. Strategic Promotion Office for Intellectual Property established within the Liaison Office as an implementation system.
2004
  • College of Information Science and Engineering opened.
    College of Information Science and Engineering, composed of the Department of Information System, Department of Information Communication, Department of Media Technology, Department of Human and Computer Intelligence and Department of Bioinformatics, opened.
  • College of Science and Engineering reorganized and expanded.
    Department of VLSI System Design, Department of Micro System Technology, and Department of Architecture and Urban Design established, bringing the College of Information Science and Engineering to 13 departments.
  • "Ritsumeikan University BKC Incubator" building completed (in the BKC Techno-Complex).
    "Ritsumeikan University BKC Incubator" building (total floor area: 2,200 ㎡) completed by the Japan Regional Development Corp. as a facility to foster entrepreneurs in cooperation with the university. Operated jointly by regional corporations, Shiga Prefecture, Kusatsu City, and the university.
  • Research Organization of Science and Engineering - New center founded.
    Six research centers established in 1995 eliminated and the following new centers founded.
  • Advanced Robotics Research Center
  • Advanced Material Technology Research Center
  • Research Center for Glycobiotechnology
  • Biwako Environment Research Center
  • Semiconductor Nano Electronics Research Center
  • Function Materials Chemistry Research Center
  • Super Human Intelligence System Research Center
  • Disaster Mitigation System Research Center
2005
  • Tsuneshichi Tanaka, Advisor to the Chancellor, awarded the Cabinet Office's "Minister of Economy, Trade and Industry Award" for Meritorious Service in Industry-Academia-Government Collaboration.
  • Ranked #1 in the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry's Industry-Academia Cooperation rankings.
    Ranked #1 from the perspective of industry as an industry-academia partner for the "University Activity Evaluation Method Research Project."
  • Received a grade of "A" on the intermediate evaluation of the Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology's "University Board for Intellectual Property Development Project."
    (A = An excellent system has been developed and initiatives are being made that are more effective than planned.)
  • Graduate School of Technology Management established.
    "Disaster Mitigation Research Center" building completed (BKC).

    "Disaster Mitigation Research Center" building opened utilizing a subsidy from the Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology's High-Tech Research Center Development Project.
2006
  • "Fuel Cell Center" building completed (BKC).
    "Fuel Cell Center" opened as a research site selected for the New Energy and Industrial Technology Development Organization (NEDO)'s 2005 "Fuel Cell Evaluation Research Project."
  • Research Office of Science and Engineering and Research Office of Humanities established.
    BKC Liaison Office and BKC Office of Research Promotion merged into the "Research Office of Science and Engineering." Kinugasa Liaison Office and Kinugasa Research Support Center merged into "Research Office of Humanities."
  • Suzaku Campus opened.
    "Research Center for Disaster Mitigation of Urban Cultural Heritage" building completed.
2007
  • Selected for the Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology's "University Board for Intellectual Property Development Project - International Industry-Academia-Government Collaboration Promotion System Development."
    Ritsumeikan International Networking Collaboration Unit (RINC-UNIT) established in the Research Office of Science and Engineering to respond to internationalization.
  • Two sites selected for the Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology's 2007 "Global COE Program."
  • Japanese Culture Digital Humanities Site
  • Ars Vivendi Creative Site
  • College of Image Arts and Sciences established.
  • Research Organization of Science and Engineering - New center founded.
    Nano Machine System Technology Research Center (Formerly Micro System Technology and Research Center until 2006)
2008
  • One site selected for the Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology's 2008 "Global COE Program" (a total of three sites).
  • "Disaster Mitigation of Urban Cultural Heritage" promotion site founded to protect the historical city.
  • Selected for the Ministry of Education, Culture Sports, Science and Technology's "Industry-Academia-Government Collaboration Strategic Development Project (Strategic Development Program)."
    Industry-Academia-Government Collaboration Strategy Board established in October and chaired by the Chairperson and Vice President. Research Office functions as the executive organization for the various measures promoted by the Industry-Academia-Government Collaboration Strategy Board.
  • College of Life Sciences and College of Pharmaceutical Sciences established.
  • Kinugasa Research Organization - New center founded.
  • Research Center for Ars Vivendi
  • BKC Research Organization of Social Sciences - New center founded.
  • Innovation Management Research Center (Formerly Business Strategy Research Center until 2007)
  • Ritsumeikan Global Innovation Research Organization founded.
    In order to form a global state-of-the-art research center, R-GIRO founded as a research organization reporting directly to the President to promote interdisciplinary research.
2009
  • Selected as a 2009 "Industry-Academia-Government Collaboration Site" jointly implemented by the Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology and the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry.
    "Shiga Advanced Biomedical Engineering Industry-Academia-Government Site," made through the collaboration of seven organizations in the prefecture including Ritsumeikan University, Shiga Prefecture, and Shiga University of Medical Sciences, selected as a "Regional Core Industry-Academia-Government Collaboration Site."
  • Kinugasa Research Organization - New center founded.
  • Research Center for Intercultural Phenomenology
  • BKC Research Organization of Social Sciences - New center founded.
  • Research Center for Medical and Healthcare Management
  • Research Organization of Science and Engineering - New centers founded.
  • Bio Simulation Research Center
  • Frontier Research Center for Natural Disaster Mitigation (Formerly Disaster Mitigation System Research Center until 2008)
2010
  • Research Organization of Science and Engineering - New centers founded.
  • Research Center for BIWAKO Σ
  • The Bio Medical Devices Center
  • Advanced Micro/Nano System Technology Research Center (Formerly Nano Machine System Technology Research Center until December 31st, 2010)
2011
  • Research Office (Kinugasa) and Research Office (BKC) reorganized.
    Research Office changed to conduct research support and industry-academia-government collaboration promotional projects at each campus.
  • Kinugasa Research Organization - New center founded.
  • Ritsumeikan Center for Game Studies
  • Research Organization of Science and Engineering - New centers founded.
  • Research Center for Drug Discovery and Development Science
  • Research Center for Sports and Health Science (Formerly Research Center for Sports and Health Industry until 2010)
  • 3,000th Ritsumeikan Saturday Course held.
2012
  • Research Organization of Science and Technology reorganized into Research Organization of Science and Engineering.
2013
  • Kinugasa Research Organization - New institute and new centers founded.
  • Institute of Disaster Mitigation for Urban Cultural Heritage (Formerly Research Center for Disaster Mitigation of Urban Cultural Heritage until 2012)
  • Research Center for the Pan-Pacific Civilization
  • BKC Research Organization of Social Sciences - New centers founded.
  • Research Center for Design Science
  • International Research Center for Gastronomic Science
  • Research Organization of Science and Technology  - New centers founded.
  • Research Center for Soft/Hard Hybrid Functional Materials
  • Vision Science Research Center
  • Two sites selected as trial sites for the Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology's "Innovation and Creativity Program (COI STREAM)."
  • Development of a slow and local innovation community base model for food and agriculture.
  • Health Innovation to Promote Exercise in Life
  • Ranked #1 in the "Number of Contracted Research Projects Implemented from the Private Sector" in the Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology's "2012 State of Industry-Academia Collaboration in Universities, etc."
2014
  • BKC Research Organization of Social Sciences - New center founded.
  • Centre for Global MOT Research (Formerly Business Strategy Research Center until 2013)
  • Research Organization of Science and Technology  - New centers founded.
  • Robotics Research Center (Formerly Advanced Robotics Research Center until 2013)
  • Research Center for Energy-innovation Materials (Formerly Advanced Material Technology Research Center until 2013)
  • Research Centre for Paleoclimatology
  • Research Center of Advanced ICT for Medical and Healthcare
  • Art Research Center approved as a "Joint Use / Joint Research Site" by the Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology.
  • Selected for the Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology's "Innovation and Creativity Program (COI STREAM)" (abbreviated: COI)
    "Bright Future for All Ages with Health Innovation by Daily Exercise ", composed of a unified team at a satellite site, with members from Ritsumeikan University, Juntendo University, and companies and research centers such as Toyobo Co., Ltd. and Omron Healthcare Co., Ltd., selected by COI (First selection for a private university in Kansai).
2015
  • OIC Research Organization established. New institute founded.
  • The Research and Development on Regional Information Institute (Formerly Regional Information Research Center until 2014)
  • Kinugasa Research Organization - New center founded.
  • Research Center for Shuichi Kato and the Japanese Contemporary Thoughts
  • Research Organization of Science and Technology - New center founded.
  • Center for Systems Vision Science (Formerly Vision Science Research Center until 2014)
  • OIC Research Organization - New center founded.
  • Ritsumeikan Inamori Philosophy Research Center
  • Kinugasa Research Organization - New center founded.
  • Center for Cognitive Sciences
  • Research Organization of Science and Technology - New center founded.
  • Research Center for Biological Resources
  • Ritsumeikan Global Asia Research Organization and Ritsumeikan Asia Japan Research Institute founded.
2016
  • OIC Research Organization - New center founded.
  • Research Center for Sustainability Science (Formerly Ritsumeikan Research Center for Sustainability Science until 2015)
  • Kinugasa Research Organization - New center founded.
  • Reseach Center for Financial Gerontology and Finance/Legal Education (Formerly Center for Finance, Law and Taxation until 2015)
2017
  • Kinugasa Research Organization - New center founded.
  • Research Center for Social Studies of Health and Community
  • Research Organization of Science and Technology - New center founded.
  • Ecological Technology & Management Research Center for the Energy and Environment Field
2019
  • Kinugasa Research Organization - New institute and new centers founded.
  • Institute of Ars Vivendi (Formerly Research Center for Ars Vivendi until 2018)
  • Creative Media Research Center
  • Center for Middle Eastern and Islamic Studies
  • Center for East Asian Peace and Cooperation Studies
  • OIC Research Organization - New center founded.
  • Research Center for Medical and Long-Term Care Management (Formerly Research Center for Medical and Healthcare Management until 2018)
  • Center for MONODZUKURI Qualitative Research
2020
  • Research Organization of Science and Technology - New center founded.
  • The Bio Medical Engineering Research Center (The Bio Medical Devices Center until 2019)
  • Research Center for Lake BIWA & Environmental innovation (Research Center for BIWAKO Σ until 2019)
  • Research Center for Computational Research on Designing Sustainable Society
  • Research Center for IoT Security
2022
  • Kinugasa Research Organization - New center founded.
    • Research Center for Legal and Political Infrastructure(Formerly Reseach Center for Financial Gerontology and Finance/Legal Education  until  2021)
  • Research Organization of Science and Technology - New institute founded.
    • Institute of Advanced Research for Sport and Health Science( Formerly Research Center for Sports and Health Science until 2021)
  • Research Organization of Open Innovation & Collaboration- New center founded.
    • Japan Biochar Research Center

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