Tokyo Medical and Dental University Combined To Establish the Tokyo Institute of Science

By joining forces the Tokyo Institute of Technology and Tokyo Medical and Dental University formed the Institute of Science Tokyo aimed at boosting research and innovation.

In October 2023 Tokyo Institute of Technology and Tokyo Medical and Dental University combined to create Institute of Science Tokyo. After two years of planning and collaboration the merger of leading universities was announced by the government.

The newly pitched Tokyo Institute of Science accommodates approximately 13000 students and comes with a strong educational framework that consists of six colleges-graduate and undergraduate schools of science and engineering, and two that assist medicine and dentistry faculties respectively.

As noted by Naoto Ohtake, the first president of Science Tokyo, “we want this university to be a imperturbable place, which is determined not to shy away from the challenges around new industry formation and social issues.” Ohtake has previously held high-ranking roles such as Director General of the Institute of Innovative Research of the Tokyo Institute of Technology.

Tokyo Institute of Science will have within its premises, a medical engineering research institute whose primary aim will be the support of industry-academia collaboration centers. The goal here is to foster inventive research and developments such as the likes of, but not limited to, medical robots, AI imaging devices and surgical instruments.

In contrast to the majority of the Japanese universities whose medical faculties function as autonomous units, this merger promotes the hybrid model of their operations. The two institutions seek to improve their viability and creative tendencies by pooling their assets and resources.

In its vision to become an internationally recognized institution, Tokyo Institute of Science intends to seek a portion of the government fund which is 10 trillion yen in 2024. The merger is a response to worries that Japan’s research is ranked number 13 in the citation research papers according to the Ministry of Education.