Overview of Projects

Incorporation

August 22, 1984：	Authorized incorporation of the Foundation
October 1, 1993：	Opening of the Institute

The International Institute for Advanced Studies (IIAS) was established as a foundation in 1984 with the strong support of national and local governments, industrial sectors, and the academic community in Japan.

Overview of Facilities

Total area：	4ha, Total Floor Space：6,000㎡
Major Facilities：	Administration building, community hall, 2 research buildings A and B (library, seminar lounge, 2 seminar rooms, 26 research rooms, large research room, Japanese-style room, etc.), lecture hall (hall with about 120 seats, and lounge)
Annexed Facilities：	Director's residence, 6 family type houses, 1 single person apartment building consisting of 8 rooms, tea ceremony room

The land is loaned by Kyoto Prefecture free of charge.
Construction funds for the facilities (including the garden) were privately donated by the founder of OMRON Corporation, Mr. Kazuma Tateishi and his son Mr. Takao Tateishi, and assistance from Kintetsu Corporation was received.
The tea ceremony room was donated by Sen Genshitsu, Grand Master and the former head of Urasenke.

Basic Philosophy

We study “what we should study for the future and happiness of human beings.”

The philosophy and objectives of the IIAS are “to gather global wisdom, create and propose firm ideas as guidelines for the future of human beings” generated and proposed by the “Okuda Round Table” in 1982, and this spirit has been inherited continuously until now.

How should we cope with the various issues that arise from the historical and social background in which we live? What should the proper posture be for culture, science and technology in the 21st century?

The philosophy of the IIAS administration is that we should create new perspectives in academic world, aim to create new concepts, combine global wisdom, and contribute widely to the development of world culture by pursuing research on basic sciences and the humanities.

Objectives

The objectives of the IIAS activity are to contribute to the development of novel advanced research fields and topics, based on the close collaboration and exchange of first-class scientists and scholars from worldwide academia.

Overview of Activities

Research activities	[ Research Projects ] Beyond the conventional structure of studies, focusing on natural sciences,mathematics,social sciences and the humanities as research subjects, various research themes and their respective leaders are taken up by the Research Planning Committee. The project leaders appoint their members of researchers. The research projects are supervised and occasionally evaluated by the Research Promotion Committee from a wide range of disciplines. Each project promotes basic research to develop new concepts and/or fields in sciences and the humanities for the future generations through a free exchange of ideas and opinions. In principle, the research of each project is performed for a period of 3 years.
	[ IIAS Research Conference ] In principle, once a year, an international research conference is held under different themes. Themes are selected from research projects conducted at the IIAS or may also be independently planned and developed by the Research Planning Committee. Either is generally selected from a wide range of cross-disciplinary studies and the Conference provides a forum for discussions among world-wide leading researchers. [ IIAS Lecture ] Along with holding the Conference, we select a few speakers from the Conference participants and present an “IIAS Lecture,” a lecture that is held independently from the Conference for researchers, students and the general public.
	[ Researcher Invitation ] In order to stimulate and advance research activities at the IIAS, we grant the title of Fellow to outstanding researchers. Fellows will promote their own research and also research activities of the IIAS through collaboration with other researchers. The titles to be given are [1] Senior Fellow, [2] Visiting Fellow and [3] Chief Research Fellow, etc., in accordance with the operation standards.
Publicity Activities	It is important to gain understanding from related persons surrounding the IIAS such as research communities and local residents about not only what is going on in research activities but also the direction which the IIAS is aiming at. Through publicity activities such as the “IIAS Newsletter,” “Webpage” and “News Release,” we hope that the IIAS becomes easier to understand for the persons described above.