As a member of IUBS (and the then president of its Commission for education), I had the privilege of being invited, with a group of scientists, to visit Pushino (USSR?s Science City) and later Tsukuba (Japan?s Science City). While both served science, which is universal in language, the contrast was enormous: the Soviets received us with open arms, were keen to display selected results achieved but never discussed how the City was organized, funded or operated! The Japanese were equally welcoming but, in contrast, explained and showed us so much of the details of how Tsukuba works that one left feeling empowered to build a similar one elsewhere. Our infant cyber-city at Ebène is not a Science City, so not comparable. Neither is La Cité des sciences et de l?industrie of the Parc de la Villette, in Paris, one of the largest scientific and cultural exhibition centres in the world and one of the most innovative and fascinating to visit but, which is not an entire town devoted to research, like Pushino or Tsukuba.

Any talk about Japanese science inevitably leads to talking about Tsukuba Science City, where 48 per cent of Japan?s research and development budget is spent, making it a unique niche for cerebral energy.

Tsukuba is what it is now because of the Japanese government?s paramount concern for basic research infrastructure, believing that it is their key to continued economic growth. According to an article published in the science journal Nature, Japan?s average annual budget for research and development alone totals 10 billion US dollars. This planned scientific community is vital to the basic research effort in Japan. Tsukuba is a ?social scientific experiment? aimed at showing how to plan successful research to achieve economic growth.

Tsukuba Science City is located 50 km northeast of Tokyo just to the south of Mount Tsukuba. Surrounded by farmland, this highly planned research and education community incorporates five towns and one village and covers 285 square km, i.e. about 10% of the area of Mauritius.

It was developed to stimulate scientific discovery and apply the newly developed knowledge to create innovations in industrial and public life. Among the city?s 46 national research institutes, two universities and more than 240 private research facilities, one of the most prominent institutions is the University of Tsukuba. The city and the university have an international atmosphere, with about 3,000 foreign students and research fellows from 100 countries living in Tsukuba at any one time, out of a total population of about 170,000. Each of us (the 20 visiting members of the International Union of Biological Sciences) was invited to present a paper. It was a unique experience to be retained for almost two hours of question time after delivering a 40-minute paper! It was a delight to live and learn in Tsukuba.

Important scientific breakthroughs by its researchers include the identification and specification of the molecular structure of super-conducting materials, the development of organic optical films that alter their electrical conductivity in response to changing light, as well as government-industry collaboration in basic research regarding earthquake and tsunami safety (essential for Japan), environmental degradation, studies of roadways and transportation, fermentation science, microbiology, plant genetics and all aspects of engineering.

Can we retain, for Mauritius, the truth demonstrated by Tsukuba, namely that planned and successfully implemented scientific research helps to achieve economic growth ? The MSIRI has proved it, locally, for one specific sector. Whether we can afford to build and run a Science City, these days, is another matter.

Dr. Michael ATCHIA [email protected]