Integrative Strategic Research Programme of IGES for the 7th Phase (ISRP7)

The Integrative Strategic Research Programme of IGES for the 7th Phase (ISRP7) is a four-year programme which will start in July 2017.1 Taking into account discussions at the Ninth Meeting of Board of Trustees (BOT) and the Ninth Meeting of Board of Directors (BOD) in June 2016, as well as exchanged views at the Informal Meeting for the Board of Trustees in October 2016, ISRP7 shall ultimately be approved by the BOT in May 2017, after obtaining agreement from the BOD in the same month.
This document builds upon the Medium-to-Long Term Strategy 2016-2025 (MLS), which was endorsed by the Eighth BOD, and approved by the Eighth BOT held in February 2016. It is also based on the earlier discussions at the Eighth BOT and Eighth BOD on the “Basic Directions of the Integrative Strategic Research Programme for the 7th Phase of IGES.” The document also has benefited from comments and suggestions expressed by IGES staff at the All-IGES meetings, monthly senior staff meetings, and other various occasions.
Measures for improving management in this document were developed based on the third party assessment on IGES’s operation and management conducted by the Japan Productivity Center (JPC)2 in August-September 2016. The assessment was done in three layers, i.e., financial analysis, work volume, staff satisfaction; the latter two analysis were based on the survey by staff. A taskforce made up of members from the Secretariat and Programme Management Office (PMO) presented the assessment results, developed possible countermeasures, and incorporated them into this document. Countermeasures focused on improving the efficiency of internal management including daily operations, and financial as well as human resources matters. The assessment was the first of its kind IGES has ever conducted for institute-wide management.
The MLS states the aspirational goal of IGES becoming one of the top 10 institutes in the world within 10 years as a leading agent of change by developing new models to generate value-added knowledge through co-design, co-production and co-dissemination processes. Thus, ISRP7 should set a sound basis for IGES to move towards this long-term overall goal for the institute.
Proposals included in this document, particularly those related to quantitative targets will be implemented and refined as necessary, considering further discussions within the institute and fully taking into account views and instructions provided by the BOT and BOD during the phase.