Message from the Dean

Dean, Graduate School of Science, Technology and Innovation, Kobe University
SHIRAKAWA Toshiro

At the Kobe University Graduate School of Science, Technology and Innovation (STIN), our goal is to advance the careers of students who can create new value and make major changes in society through innovation, cutting-edge technology and entrepreneurship.

The world currently faces many pressing challenges, including climate crisis, rapid advances in artificial intelligence (AI), rising geopolitical tensions, and widening social disparities. In addition to these challenges, Japan is also experiencing a decline in the working population due to an aging society, an accompanying strain on medical resources, and a long-term economic slump. To overcome these challenges, it is essential to realize innovation in all fields. Our graduate school uses cutting-edge science and technology combined with entrepreneurship to foster innovation by students beyond conventional science education.

Although there will be great difficulties overcoming our challenges, by resolving these challenges will put Japan back on a growth trajectory. Our graduate school comprises four science fields that will be growth drivers in our future society: Bioproduction, Advanced Membrane Science and Technology, Advanced Information and Communication Technology, and Advanced Medical Science, as well as the field of Strategic Entrepreneurship. Faculty members belonging to each field both teach and become entrepreneurs themselves to promote cutting-edge research activities and realize innovation. We provide valuable learning opportunities for students in the master and doctoral programs by actively participating in full-scale research projects utilizing competitive government grants and resources from university-based startups launched by faculty members.

We are a new graduate school established in 2016, and our unique educational system and diverse research activities and results have been recognized by many people in the economic, industrial, and academic worlds. Highly promising start-up companies originating from our graduate school are being launched one after another. Many graduates who studied at our graduate school are already active in major companies or startups in each field. To survive the current rapidly changing social situation and continue to play an active role worldwide, it is important to always maintain an active entrepreneurial spirit and create new value without being bound by the past. We, the faculty and staff of the Graduate School of Science, Technology and Innovation (STIN), are committed to learning together and working with highly motivated students passionately to create innovation and advance society. We keenly look forward to helping our graduates build a new future.

April 2024
SHIRAKAWA Toshiro