Home/About UJICY/Greeting from the Director

Greeting from the Director

Saidmurad Saidrasulovich Niyazbekov

Shavkat Mirziyoyev, President of Uzbekistan, said that UJICY is a major research institute and center for the development of science, technology and industry in Uzbekistan, and that “we must understand one thing: without science and innovation, we will never achieve our goals.”

In accordance with the Memorandum of Understanding on cooperation between the governments of Uzbekistan and Japan, the Uzbekistan-Japan Innovation Center of Youth (UJICY) was established in September 2016. UJICY is a unique place that brings together researchers of all ages from various fields of science under the slogan “Let's engage in science, introduce innovation, and become innovators”.

Since its establishment, the center has been working closely with Nagoya University, Tsukuba University, Keio University, Tokyo Institute of Technology, and Toyohashi University of Technology, and in recent years it has expanded and strengthened its cooperation with many other Japanese universities, especially prominent educational institutions such as Akita University, Teikyo University, and Kyushu University. With the support of the Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA), 17 promising young researchers selected by the Center were sent to several universities in Japan to obtain their master's or doctoral degrees. This was the first step in realizing the Center's mission of developing young and promising human resources.

Through finding solutions to existing production problems, another important mission of the Center is to ensure close coordination and cooperation between science and production. In order to achieve this, UJICY is also actively cooperating with large state-owned enterprises such as the Almalik Mining and Metallurgical Combine (OKMK), State-Owned Enterprise Navoi Mining & Metallurgy Combine (NGMK), the Uzbek Metallurgical Combine (Uzmetkomb inat), Uzbekistan Chemical Industry (O'zkimyosanoat), Uzbekistan Oil (O'zbekneftgaz) and other large state-owned enterprises, and is also actively working to bring out the scientific potential of researchers.

Innovation cannot be achieved by a single person, nor can it be launched on its own. Innovation requires joint effort and a free environment where people can work together, communicate, combine their ideas and openly share information. UJICY is a great example of a place where people with a spirit of exploration can share great ideas and put them into practice.