III. Finance
1. Grants
The Sponsored Research Section (SRS) recruited a senior staff for the support of competitive grant applications. Information about grant opportunities was regularly provided both in English and Japanese through e-mails, TIDA, and the SRS web page.
The section organized multiple seminars, from basic to more practical, on competitive funding like Kakenhi. For Kakenhi and other applications, the SRS staff reviewed the drafts and provided comments for improvements. The number of Kakenhi applications in fall 2013 increased to 83 from 54 in 2012 and 22 of them were accepted as of April 1, 2014 (3 still pending). The acceptance rate was 27.5% (excluding pending ones). The number of applications by non-Japanese researchers increased from 15 in 2012 to 22 in 2013, and the accepted applications increased from 1 to 5, with the acceptance rate of 20% (see attached tables for the details of applications and awards).
OIST staff attended two information disclosure events for R&D grant application organized by MITI. Recommendations of new research programs by advisory committees of MEXT and other agencies were monitored through web announcements and other channels and notified to relevant researchers.
OIST acquired a new OPG grant (Supporting project for creating new industry with OIST/Business Development utilizing OIST) to support administrative activities for the sake of new business development based on OIST innovation.
The Mid-term Strategy for external funding was discussed by BOG and BOC in May 2014, approved by BOG. Based on the strategy, we continuously take appropriate actions for acquiring external fund from mid-term perspective.
2. Donations
OIST communicated the status of a Specified Public Service Corporation (for tax-deductible contributions) via OIST web site.
The President Office and the Budget and Accounting section took appropriate procedures for receiving donations. In addition, simplifying its procedures was discussed and implemented.
Based on the information concerning consultants collected in FY2011 and internal discussion, OIST discussed and made the mid-term strategy for external funding, including strategy for donation.
The Budget and Accounting Section has established a procedure for communication with donors and will transfer this procedure to the fund raising office when established.