Founding Philosophy/History

Humanity is currently facing a number of challenges to its continued existence caused by a range of factors. Can we or future generations continue to live on this planet in the same way and with the same values we’ve held up to now? How can we resolve such problems that have historical and social origins? And in the 21st century, what form should our culture, science, and technology take? There are no set methods for developing ideas when it comes to such challenges.
The founding philosophy of the International Institute for Advanced Studies (IIAS) is to “conduct research for the future and happiness of mankind,” and we address these issues through fundamental research based on cooperation among government, industry and academia. By consolidating wisdom from around the world and taking research forward, we aim to produce new directionality in academic research or orient ourselves towards creating new concepts, and contribute to the development of academic research culture.

IIAS was established in August 1984 as an incorporated foundation strongly supported by entities from industry, academia and government that agree with its founding philosophy outlined above, and has since been running on donations from major companies and philanthropists across Japan. In October 1993, IIAS opened a research facility in the Keihanna Science City (officially known as Kansai Science City) on a land granted by the Kyoto Prefectural Government. The Institute serves as the central research organization or the “brain” of the Keihanna Science City.