History

During the 1980s, university missions promoted collaboration and cooperation between industry and each university. To this effect, from 1987, a “Regional Joint Research Center” was established at various universities for the purpose of promoting cooperation in research with the regional community. At Kyushu University, the “Advanced, Science and Technology Center for Cooperative Research, Kyushu University” was established on June 1994 to strengthen the ability to match functions for collaborative research between private enterprise and Kyushu University. In 1999, the “Liaison Division,” “Project Division” and “Visitors Division” were established accompanied with a large-scale expansion of personnel. Meanwhile, at the Kyushu Institute of Design, the “Design Research Center” was established in 1997 to strengthen the matching functions for industry-university-government collaboration.

In October 2003, with the integration of Kyushu University and Kyushu Institute of Design as an opportunity to move forward, the “Art, Science and Technology Center for Cooperative Research, Kyushu University (KASTEC)” was established, named to reflect concepts common to both institutions. The new organization was established by adding the “General Design Division” to the aforementioned three divisions. Thereafter, the “Collaborative Research Division” was established in 2008, and the “Joint Research Division” in 2015 to satisfy the demands of the times.

The Liaison Division has actively promoted education and research activities including research on establishment of an industry-academia-government collaboration system and nurturing regional policy leaders, in addition to education and research on entrepreneurship focusing on practical support for industry-academia-government collaboration. The General Design Division has conducted planning and promotion of research for industry-university joint projects in new interdisciplinary integrated fields of design. The Project Division has developed industry-university-government collaborative activities through four specified major disciplines to be promoted by KASTEC by acquiring a number of projects targeting “Creation of Leading Industry Technological Seeds through Advanced Project Research.”

KASTEC, which had thus played a leading role in industry-university-government collaborative activities at Kyushu University for more than twenty years, was reborn as the Global Innovation Center (GIC) on October 1, 2016 as a research promotion organization focusing on open innovation in order to satisfy current demands and expectations. GIC has been promoting the KOINE (Kyudai global Open Innovation Network Engine) Model as well as joint research/technology development based on collaboration with industry circles, which have been inherited from its predecessor KASTEC, and has offered six KOINE research platforms, each addressing a specific task.

Chronological Outline

June 1994 Advanced Science and Technology Center for Cooperative Research (Kyushu University) established
April 1997 Design Research Center (Kyushu Institute of Design) established
April 1999 Advanced Science and Technology Center for Cooperative Research
Liaison Division, Project Division, Visitors Division established
September 2003 Advanced Science and Technology Center for Cooperative Research abolished
Design Research Center abolished
October 2003 [Kyushu University and Kyushu Institute of Design combined]
Art, Science and Technology Center for Cooperative Research, Kyushu University
Liaison Division, General Design Division, Project Division, Visitors Division established
May 2008 Collaborative Research Division established
April 2015 Joint Research Division (Industry-University Collaboration Research Project) established
October 2016 Reorganized as Global Innovation Center
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