Abstract
National Institute of Advanced Industrial Science and Technology (AIST) is a national research institute which is devoted to promote "bridging" between basic science and industrial applications. AIST simultaneously proceeds "application-inspired basic research" to create seeds of the next generation and "bridging" researches which can be divided to the former stage for integration toward industrial technology, and the later stage with partner company for creating new products/services. This article deals with three representative cases for describing the unique style of AIST's research activities, namely, Spintronics, Single-wall Carbon Nanotubes and SiC Power Devices. The analysis shows that the keys of success are, 1) development of the unique technology seeds, 2) partner company with a high technological excellence and strong commitment to the collaboration, and 3) timely and sufficient funding from public sector in a proper formation. The analysis also depicts the future tasks to be tackled for the institute.
