Dr. Hiroshi Inose (Director of NACSIS)

Robert Hutchins (1) declared that“the greatest menace to our civilization is the menace of the uneducated expert” and went on to make the criticism that the only common topic of conversation among university professors at their faculty clubs is the weather. It is common knowledge that in the last 200 years of intellectual activity fragmentation has continued in the name of specialization. Friedrich Nietzsche (2) wrote about a researcher by a pond who responded as follows when questioned by Zarathustra as to whether he was studying leeches:

In May 1997 the Science Council of Japan issued a recommendation entitled “On the Promotion of Research in Computer Science” in which it called for the promotion of research and development on science and technology related to computers. In addition, in January 1997 the Science Council of the Ministry of Education, Science, Sports, and Culture (MESSC) established an Informatics Subcommittee under the Committee on the Promotion of Research in Specific Fields. After deliberating on ways to promote research related to informatics, with reference not only to engineering science but to biology and the humanities and social sciences as well, the Informatics Subcommittee issued an interim report of its findings in July 1997. After further deliberation covering the views and ideas contained in the interim reports, the Science Council issued a proposal to the Minister entitled “On Measures for the Promotion of Informatics Research” in January of 1998. This proposal noted that the research system for informatics, not only in the context of engineering science but of biology and the humanities and social sciences as well, is in need of comprehensive and rapid enhancement. In particular, it pointed out the necessity for establishing a core research institute for informatics (abbreviated below as “core institute”) as one of the national inter-university research institutes.

In order to study what attributes such a core institute should have, the MESSC included funding for a preliminary survey in its budget request for fiscal 1998 and set up a cooperative survey committee consisting of scholars doing research on informatics as well as persons affiliated with related institutions. This committee began its study in December 1997 and issued a summary of its findings entitled “Report of the Cooperative Survey Committee on the Recommended Constitution of the Core Research Organization for Informatics” in March 1998. This report gives the underlying rationale for the core institute, as well as its aims and role. It presents examples of fields of research covering engineering science, biology, and the humanities and social sciences, and describes an organizational structure consisting of a Research Department including decentralized research centers, a Development Department to explore practical applications for the fruits of basic research, and an Operations Department to deploy operations in tune with the latest technological advances. In addition, the report points out the importance of cooperation and exchanges of information involving other research institutes. The report also states that in consideration of present financial and political conditions, a reorganization and expansion of the National Center for Science Information Systems (NACSIS) as the nucleus would be an appropriate way to realize the core institute. The report also points out that NACSIS, which has heretofore functioned as the core institution in the nation-wide science information system, reflecting the results of R&D work as well as collecting and disseminating scientific information, should offer even more wide-ranging services in the years to come, driven by the latest technologies.

As a result of this process, the Minister of MESSC decided in April 1998 to establish a preliminary survey office, using NACSIS as the preparatory organization, to undertake the task of processing a preliminary survey on a core research institute for informatics research (core institute). Also, a Preliminary Survey Committee was established and immediately began work as a body to deliberate issues such as the administrative organization of the core institute and other important items related to the preliminary survey. NACSIS is cooperating fully with this undertaking and is eager to promote informatics. Nevertheless, NACSIS feels that the points outlined below must be borne in mind in this endeavor.

For more than the last 12 years NACSIS has functioned as a core institution in the science information system, working in close cooperation with facilities such as university libraries and promoting R&D work related to scientific information and information systems. The results of this work are reflected in the collection and dissemination of scientific information of various types by NACSIS, as well as in pioneering services such as the building and operation of computer networks. In these ways, NACSIS has played an important role in establishment of the infrastructure for scientific research in Japan. It must be emphasized that heretofore, these pioneering services have been entirely dependent on the results of R&D work. And that the orientation toward ever more sophisticated services has served as a significant locomotive to the promotion of further R&D work.

The establishment of a core institute in informatics using NACSIS as a nucleus and the carrying out of a program of reorganization and expansion should be undertaken while bearing in mind the indivisible link between NACSIS’s R&D and operations department mentioned above. Both a drastic expansion of R&D functions and a rapid development of advanced operations which depends upon the fruits of R&D should be anticipated. Most of the national inter-university research institutes have as their main purpose R&D work in a specialized field in collaboration with institutions such as universities. In contrast, it must be borne in mind that NACSIS, in addition to that function, applies the fruits of R&D work and to deploy advanced services, and thereby provides an information and communication infrastructure essential for scientific research. In other words, it is essential to reaffirm the unique role NACSIS has come to play as a national inter-university research institute and to promote reorganization and expansion efforts based on an awareness that this role should be continued and enhanced still further in the years ahead. Namely, it goes without saying that in the area of R&D activities, NACSIS must become a true center of excellence in research related to informatics and produce original research results in cooperation with scholars affiliated with a wide range of universities and other institutions. In addition to this, NACSIS must work actively to pick up R&D topics essential to the deployment of pioneering operations and contribute to enhance those operations by developing relevant solutions. In the area of operation related activities, NACSIS must strive always to anticipate the needs of users as part of its role as a provider of an information and communication infrastructure supporting scientific research. While identifying suitable topics requiring solutions, NACSIS needs to target R&D activities and reflect the results of that R&D work in new services without delay.