Shigeharu Kato

Mr. Shigeharu KATO holds a Master of Public Policy from Harvard’s Kennedy School of Government and a Bachelor of Engineering from the University of Tokyo. He has ample experience in the administrative management of research institutes. During his six-year term as Executive Director of RIKEN, Japan’s leading research institute covering a broad area of natural sciences, he made a significant contribution to implementing the president’s strategic management of the institute by renewing the resource allocation scheme to ensure overall optimization. Mr. KATO also led the organizational reform to enhance facility management capabilities and develop a comprehensive reform program of its administrative functions. He also successfully directed the institute’s response to the COVID-19 pandemic. Through these efforts, Mr. KATO emphasized importance of communication with the various layers of RIKEN’s administrative staff and researchers.

Before joining RIKEN, Mr. KATO worked as a government official in the areas of science, technology and innovation policy, higher education, international cooperation, and nuclear safety regulation. His specific achievements include developing the third Science and Technology Basic Plan, writing the 1999 Annual Report on Science and Technology, launching joint educational programs among Japanese, Chinese and Korean universities, and convening a UNESCO world conference on education for sustainable development in Japan.