Nara Institute of Science and Technology

Nara Institute of Science and Technology (奈良先端科学技術大学院大学), abbreviated as NAIST, is a Japanese national university located in Ikoma, Nara of Kansai Science City. It was founded in 1991 with a focus on research and consists solely of graduate schools in three integrated areas: Biological Sciences, Information Sciences, and Material Sciences. NAIST is one of the most prestigious research institutions in Japan.

In the "Evaluation of Achievements Related to the 2nd Medium-term Goals and Plans" (2010-2015) conducted by the Japanese government for national universities, NAIST was evaluated as exceedingly superior especially concerning research levels. (One of 5 institutions from the 86 national universities). In 2010, NAIST ranked first overall among the 86 Japanese national universities by the Japanese government in its first-ever six-year (2005-2010)assessment of national university standards and achievements.

The university has a total of about 1,000 Master's and Doctoral students in its three graduate schools (2010), among which more than 20% are international students (2017). There are about 200 faculty members and 170 staff (2010).

In 2018, NAIST underwent an organizational transformation to continue research in these areas while promoting interdisciplinary research and education across traditional fields.

History
NAIST was founded in 1991 with the establishment of the Graduate School of Information Science and the University Library, followed by the Graduate School of Biological Sciences the next year. The first master's students were admitted in 1993, and doctoral students were first admitted in 1996, which is also the year the Graduate School of Materials Science was established. The establishment of the Venture Business Laboratory and the Intellectual Property Division in 2003 furthered the university's drive to utilize research results to secure patents and licenses, and form new businesses. In 2004, along with all of Japan's national universities, NAIST became an independent National University Corporation.


 * 1991: Establishment of the Nara Institute of Science and Technology, including the Graduate School of Information Science and University Library
 * 1992: Establishment of the Graduate School of Biological Sciences
 * 1993: Establishment of the Research and Education Center for Genetic Information
 * 1994: Establishment of the Research Center for Advanced Science and Technology
 * 1996: Establishment of the Graduate School of Materials Science
 * 1998: Establishment of the Research and Education Center for Materials Science
 * 2003: Establishment of the Venture Business laboratory
 * April 2011: Establishment of Department of Information Science, Graduate School of Information Science | Establishment of Department of Biological Sciences, Graduate School of Biological Sciences
 * April 2013: Establishment of Career Services Office
 * April 2015: Establishment of Center for Strategy and Planning established | Establishment of Institute for Educational Initiatives | Establishment of Institute for Research Initiatives| Closing of Center for International Relations | Closing of Institute of Research Initiatives
 * April 2017: Establishment of Data Science Center
 * April 2018: Department of Science and Technology, Graduate School of Science and Technology established and students accepted (The merging of the Graduate School of Information Science, Graduate School of Biological Sciences and the Graduate School of Materials Science)

Graduate schools (After 2018)
From April 2018, the past three graduate schools (Graduate School of Information Sciences, Graduate School of Biological Sciences, Graduate School of Materials Science) were integrated into one research department, Graduate School of Science and Technology.

Graduate schools (Before 2017)

 * Graduate School of Biological Sciences
 * Division of Plant Biology
 * Division of Biomedical Science
 * Division of Systems Biology
 * Plant Global Education Project
 * Global COE Program Special Research Group
 * Graduate School of Information Science
 * Division of Computer Science
 * Division of Media Informatics
 * Division of Applied Informatics
 * Graduate School of Materials Science

Centers and facilities

 * Life Science Collaboration Center
 * Center for Material Research Platform
 * Information Initiative Center
 * Center for Frontier Science and Technology
 * Center for Industry-Government-Academia Collaboration
 * Center for International Relations

Notable research

 * ARToolKit
 * ChaSen
 * DyNet
 * Induced pluripotent stem cell
 * MeCab
 * Natural language processing

Notable researchers

 * Shinya Yamanaka - Former professor, 2012 Nobel Prize for Physiology or Medicine winner
 * Kimito Funatsu - the research director of the Data Science Center, 2019 Herman Skolnik Award winner