Japan Science and Technology Agency (JST)

The Japan Science and Technology Agency (JST) is one of Japan's core research institutions, responsible for the implementation of science and technology policy in the country. It was formed in 1996 from two government agencies, the Japan Information Center of Science and Technology and the Research Development Corporation of Japan.

In 2003, JST was reorganized as an independent administrative institution under the government's Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology. It now works primarily with academia, industry and other international research institutions. Research at JST focuses on five areas: green innovation; life innovation (food, environment and health); nanotechnology and materials; information and communications; and science and technology for society (which includes everything from disaster readiness to preventing telephone fraud).

Three JST scientists won the Nobel Prize for Physics in 2014 for inventing efficient blue-light-emitting diodes, which have enabled bright, energy-saving white-light sources. Another JST scientist shared the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine in 2012, for research into how cells and organisms develop.

JST research is frequently conducted in partnership with industry; in one current project, its scientists are working with Mitsubishi Chemical Corporation to develop a simple thin film coating that can generate electricity from sunlight, at lower costs than current silicon solar cells.