[Feature: Science, Technology, and Social Issues] Kanetaka Maki: Creating a Virtuous Cycle of Science and Business Centered on Star Scientists

2024/08/05

One of the important challenges in considering the relationship between science/technology and society is the steady social implementation of knowledge. Knowledge related to science and technology does not spread to nature and society automatically; an appropriate mechanism must exist. One of the important concepts in considering such a mechanism is the "Star Scientist."

Star Scientists refer to a small number of scientists who achieve outstanding research results. Compared to ordinary scientists, they publish more papers, garner more citations, and are more active in establishing startups. Research by Professor Zucker and others at UCLA, pioneers in this research field, analyzed the biotechnology sector in the United States during the 1980s. According to their analysis, startups involving Star Scientists are more likely to receive funding from venture capital (VC) and achieve exits (IPO/M&A) compared to those that do not. Furthermore, Star Scientists involved in startups have the subsequent effect of creating research results with even greater impact. Zucker and others named this phenomenon the "Virtuous Cycle of Science and Business" (Figure 1).

So, is this "Virtuous Cycle of Science and Business" occurring in present-day Japan? To explore this, I have been leading the "Star Scientists and Japanese Innovation" project as the principal investigator, with funding from JST and KAKENHI. The results of the analysis revealed that the same mechanism as in the U.S. is occurring in present-day Japan.

The concept of a Star Scientist is polysemic. There are various definitions, ranging from a very small number of scientists such as Nobel laureates to scientists with a high number of papers or those who file many patent applications. In the "Star Scientist Cohort Dataset" we constructed, we used a selection method based on Clarivate Analytics' Highly Cited Researchers but with slightly broader criteria. Specifically, we divided all journals into 22 research fields, selected papers with high citation counts in each field, and defined those at the top of the ranking for the number of such papers produced as Star Scientists. Our list of Star Scientists sets criteria that include approximately five times as many scientists as Clarivate Analytics' Highly Cited Researchers. Additionally, we utilized paper data as of 2020 to create this dataset.

When Star Scientists are extracted in this format, there are 474 Star Scientists in Japan, ranking 12th in the world. Looking by university, Keio University has 6 Star Scientists, ranking 14th in the domestic organization rankings. Table 1 shows the Star Scientists at Keio University. In this list, 5 out of 6 belong to the School of Medicine, and 1 belongs to the Faculty of Science and Technology. However, there is one drawback to this selection method. Because journals were divided into 22 fields, researchers with high performance in each specific field are selected, but Star Scientists who produce research results across multiple fields cannot be detected. Therefore, we created a list of Star Scientists who produce many highly cited papers when two fields (cross-sections) among the 22 fields are combined (Table 2). As a result, an additional 6 scientists were detected. Cross-section Star Scientists are distributed across the Faculty of Environment and Information Studies and the Faculty of Pharmacy, in addition to the School of Medicine and the Faculty of Science and Technology. In total, 12 Star Scientists are considered to belong to Keio University.

Next, Table 3 lists whether these 12 Star Scientists are involved in startups, using databases such as the University-Launched Venture Database. Of the 12, 5 scientists are involved in startups, which is 42%. Furthermore, Hideyuki Okano and Masaru Tomita are involved in multiple startups and are also serial entrepreneurs. As far as can be detected from public databases, there are at least 7 startups involving Star Scientists affiliated with Keio University. Furthermore, although quantitative analysis is not possible due to the small sample size in this analysis, it is thought that Star Scientists involved in startups continue to achieve high research performance even after founding a startup.

From the above, it can be seen that the mechanism where startups are created with Star Scientists at the core is occurring at Keio University, similar to U.S. universities. Additionally, the fact that serial entrepreneur Masaru Tomita served for a long time as the Director of the Institute for Advanced Biosciences (Keio Frontier Research & Education Collaborative Square (K-FRECS) at Tsuruoka) and Hideyuki Okano serves as the Director of the Keio University Regenerative Medicine Research Center (KRM) (Tonomachi Frontier Research & Education Collaborative Square) can be said to be excellent personnel appointments from the perspective of Keio University's regional cooperation and industrial creation.

As Keio University strengthens its innovation ecosystem centered on Star Scientists, I believe there are several points where people involved in that ecosystem should revise their perceptions.

The first is the redefinition of the relationship between research and social implementation. In Japan, there is a strong perception that research and social implementation are alternative activities. Since time is finite, there is a concern that involvement in social implementation will lower original research performance. In reality, however, there is no trade-off between research and social implementation; rather, a synergistic effect occurs. Therefore, rather than worrying about a decline in research performance, more excellent scientists should be encouraged to actively engage in social implementation.

Second is the redefinition of the scientist's role in social implementation. In Japan, not a few people believe that scientists involved only in research are people confined to an "ivory tower," and that scientists who devote a lot of time to social implementation, even if their research performance drops, are more suited for startups. But what is truly important is creating a virtuous cycle of science and business through the involvement of scientists, which is different from scientists being involved in the management of startups.

Third is the importance of an appropriate definition of Star Scientists permeating the entire ecosystem. A Star Scientist does not mean someone who is good at industry-academic collaboration or someone who is good at startup management, but someone who can create outstanding science. If this definition is distorted, the "Virtuous Cycle of Science and Business" at universities will stop.

The analysis of Star Scientists at Keio University yielded several suggestive points.

The first point is the importance of being a university open to more diverse human resources. Five out of the six Star Scientists in individual fields moved to Keio University after obtaining their doctoral degrees at other universities. For the development of Star Scientist talent, diversification of experience is more important than ever, and attracting talent from the outside is crucial. It is better not to think that the cultivation and success of Star Scientists can be internalized solely within Keio University.

The second point is the importance of interdisciplinary fusion. While many Star Scientists in individual fields are from other universities, many cross-section Star Scientists are Keio University graduates. Furthermore, the ratio of Keio University graduates among scientists actually involved in startups is also high. Although definitive judgments should be avoided due to the small sample size, the culture of Keio University regarding interdisciplinary fusion and the distance from industry may be in the background.

From the analysis of Star Scientists at Keio University, I believe the strengths and weaknesses of Keio University have become visible.

By the way, in order for Keio University to continue to play a role in creating world-leading science and technology, how many future Star Scientists are there? Our research group is also conducting research on "Star Scientist Seeds," and I would like to introduce some of the results. In detecting Star Scientist seeds,

1. High-impact research: Having published two or more highly cited papers as the first author between 2008 and 2016.

2. Early to mid-career: Having obtained a doctoral degree between 1998 and 2008.

These two conditions were set. As a result, there are 177 Star Scientist seeds in Japan. Among them, 31 people actually became Star Scientists later, accounting for 17.5% of the total. Of these 177 people, 7 scientists are currently affiliated with Keio University. This number ranks 6th among Japanese organizations. Considering that it ranked 14th in the number of current Star Scientists, Keio University is a university that holds more future Star Scientists than current Star Scientists.