MESSAGE

Greetings from the Senior Executive Director of the Ritsumeikan Global Innovation Research Organization

The Ritsumeikan Global Innovation Research Organization (R-GIRO) was established in April 2008 under the leadership of the Universiry President as part of a strategic initiative to enhance research outcomes, by fostering interdisciplinary collaborations across the institution to fulfill the university’s duty of contributing to society through research. Our guiding principle is to pursue a sustainable and prosperous society, a pressing concern for Japan.

Under the First Phase R-GIRO Research Program, we aimed to lay the foundation for cutting-edge research centers of global repute at our university, and to nurture young researchers capable of making significant contributions on a global scale. We took on challenges in specific areas, such as the environment, materials/resources, and healthcare, among ten identified domains.

Since 2012, to promote the contribution of research outcomes from the first phase back to society, we shifted our focus toward forming research hubs, initiating the Second Phase R-GIRO Research Program. This phase strengthened our university’s cross-disciplinary efforts and integrated field capabilities, leading to the establishment of 9 distinct multidisciplinary research hubs. Throughout the first and second phases, 44 research projects were planned to aim for “the Earth’s return to nature” and to create a “model for a society capable of coexistence with nature,” generating numerous research outcomes.

The Third Phase R-GIRO Research Program, launched in 2016, viewed the crisis of an aging and declining population as an opportunity to address social issues. This phase emphasized “building a dynamic and creative society model for human coexistence,” engaging over 360 researchers across 5 hubs and 11 research projects.

The Fourth Phase R-GIRO Research Program, which started in 2021 amid underground resource and food shortages, focuses on challenges surrounding natural environmental changes and demographic/age/structural changes, to demonstrate the sustainability of Japan amid the trend of a decreasing population. This phase is progressing with 4 hubs and 11 research projects, with high expectations for their outcomes to contribute to society.

At R-GIRO, alongside advancing research, we have been committed to nurturing young researchers and disseminating research results since our establishment. We have actively employed young researchers, including specialized researchers and other research staff, whose career paths have spanned corporate research and development departments, academic organizations, and universities, among others. On the other hand, as a contribution to the local community, R-GIRO has continuously participated in national exhibitions such as Innovation Japan and Eco-Pro Exhibition, besides hosting multiple academic dissemination events such as symposiums, every year since its inception.

The smooth continuation of R-GIRO over 15 years has been possible due to the implementation of internal evaluations of research every 6 months, and annual external evaluations conducted by the Advisory Board, consisting of active experts from the industrial and academic sectors. We are grateful to the external evaluation committee members for their invaluable advice, not only on the outcomes of R-GIRO, but also on its future direction.

Currently, under the university’s Academy Vision, “Challege your mind, Change our future” towards 2030, our university is striving for further development. In the realm of research, as we march toward a “next-generation research university creating new values” and a “university generating innovative and creative human resources,” R-GIRO is committed to contributing significantly to society through the creation of distinctive research hubs, characteristic of Ritsumeikan University.

We sincerely appreciate your support toward R-GIRO.