From the Foundation

On Wednesday, February 6, the Toyota Foundation held a progress report meeting on the Research Grant Program theme of “The Search for the Richness of Human Life and Activity” in Shinjuku, Tokyo. Ten grant recipients engaged in projects under the fiscal 2006 main Research Grant Program reported the results they have achieved so far and the future prospects for their research.

Professor Lee Sungsi of Waseda University, who chairs the selection committee, and Professor Koji Tanaka of Kyoto University, who is a Toyota Foundation director, attended the meeting as commentators. The meeting, which was open to the public and advertised on the Foundation’s website, attracted numerous participants despite the harsh snowy weather, including grant recipients for fiscal 2007. We would like to take this opportunity to extend our sincere thanks to everyone who came.

The question and answer session and reception were the scene of lively discussions, as grant recipients learned they faced similar difficulties to their fellow researchers, offered valuable advice to one another, and even watched a live musical performance.

The meeting was one of the few opportunities that grant recipients and others interested in Foundation activities have to interact with one another in a way that transcends the boundaries of research disciplines and fiscal years. The Foundation hopes to hold similar events in the future and plans to draw together the results from reports given at the meeting and reflect them in the future management of the Research Grant Program.