Research Organization of Science and Technology
Senior Executive Director,

Hisaaki MIHARA

The Research Organization of Science and Technology, formerly called the Research Organization of Science and Engineering, was established in 1994 when the College of Science and Engineering expanded and relocated to the Biwako-Kusatsu campus. Since then, with the establishment of the College of Information Science and Engineering in 2004, the College of Life Sciences and the College of Pharmaceutical Sciences in 2008, and the College of Sport and Health Science in 2010, Ritsumeikan University has developed into one of Japan’s leading private universities. In 2012 it was renamed the Research Organization of Science and Technology, with the aim of developing new research covering a wide range of fields of humanities and sociology.

Through promotion of collaboration between industry, government and academia by expanding social networks, the Organization aims to develop science and technology and contribute to the local community. Furthermore, through social collaborative projects such as industry/government/academia partnerships and local community contribution, it is involved in training young researchers, in cooperation with university departments and graduate schools.

Ever since it was founded, the Organization has been helping researchers to start up independent research projects and functioning as a cross-departmental organization enabling collaboration between researchers from all departments, including fields of humanities and sociology. This is one of its strengths, and it exists as a research organization that truly embodies Ritsumeikan University’s school spirit of “freedom and innovation”.

Currently, around 20 research establishments and research centers are involved in industry/government/academia collaborations. We will feed the results of these projects back into society and try to represent private universities as a global research university.

We hope that new research collaborations will emerge with visitors to this website.