Professor Susumu Kitagawa of Kyoto University in Japan, who was selected as one of this year’s Nobel..

Nihon Keizai Shimbun Interview: Securing time and maintaining the environment are important to foster backward research talents

사진 확대 Professor Susumu Kitagawa [AP Yonhap News]

Professor Susumu Kitagawa of Kyoto University in Japan, who was selected as one of this year’s Nobel Prize winners, said, “There are still many Japanese candidates for the Nobel Prize.” In Japan, there are concerns that the number of basic scientific researchers is decreasing, but it is analyzed that there is still potential.

Professor Kitagawa emphasized in an interview with the Nihon Keizai Shimbun (Nikkei) on the 10th, “Although there are concerns about a decline in research skills in various indicators, such as a decrease in the number of Japanese scientists’ papers recently, the number of Japanese scientists conducting important basic research is still large.”

Professor Kitagawa shared the Nobel Prize in Chemistry in recognition of the development of a new compound called “metal-organic framework (MOF).”

He said, “The know-how to cultivate competent researchers is working well in Japan. I think that if (existing researchers) do well, the development of research talents will continue to come out.”

However, he expressed his position that fostering new researchers is also important.

As a particularly important task, he said, “It is important to secure research time somehow.” In Japan, it is difficult to secure time to cover research, such as unstable employment for scientists who are newly starting research.

“If you look at world academia, research institutes with faithful human resources supporting researchers through data analysis of experiments are producing groundbreaking research results,” he said. “In addition to securing sufficient budget for basic research, we need to create a system to support research as soon as possible.”

사진 확대 Professor Kitagawa expresses his feelings about winning the Nobel Prize in Chemistry at Kyoto University on the 9th [Kyodo Yonhap News]

Prior to this, Professor Kitagawa delivered a message to the young people at the award press conference on the 8th, saying, “Opportunities are created by themselves,” and “I hope you can create them while cooperating with the people around you.”

Regarding Kyoto University, which has already produced several Nobel Prize winners, he said, “It has been established as a tradition to do basic things and fun things that no one does.”

He also said, “I think I’m mentally free,” and added, “Because it’s very far from the capital, Tokyo, there aren’t many people who are holding back, and I can think freely.”

Kitagawa said of future plans, “One is to do more basic research and the other is to commercialize.”

With the announcement by the Swedish Royal Academy of Sciences’ Nobel Committee, he will be the 31st Japanese (including foreign nationals) to receive the Nobel Prize. If you look at the Nobel Prize in Chemistry alone, it will be the ninth winner in Japan.