Nobel Laureate Kitagawa Susumu: "Keep Basic Research Free... Invest Heavily When Results Emerge" (Roundup)

"Global Research Funding Skewed Toward Applied Research and Short-Term Results"... Emphasis on Autonomy in Basic Research
"It Has Value Even If It Seems Useless Now"... Original Thinking Still Matters in the AI Era

Susumu Kitagawa, a professor at Kyoto University in Japan and the 2025 Nobel Prize in Chemistry laureate, stressed that autonomy in basic research should be guaranteed to enable new scientific discoveries, and that promising results should be followed by focused investment in further research. He said it is important to create an environment where researchers can freely explore, at a time when research funding around the world is focused on technologies that can be put to immediate use and on visible results.

After delivering a lecture at the Korean Society of Industrial and Engineering Chemistry's 2026 Fall Meeting at BEXCO in Busan on the 29th, Kitagawa told reporters during a separate question-and-answer session, "In basic research, it is important not to constrain researchers. Rather than demanding immediate results or reports, we should let them conduct research freely with a long-term perspective."

Susumu Kitagawa, a professor at Kyoto University in Japan and the 2025 Nobel Prize in Chemistry laureate, answers reporters' questions in a press room set up separately after his lecture at the Korean Society of Industrial and Engineering Chemistry's 2026 Fall Meeting at BEXCO in Busan on the 29th. On the right is Ajou University professor Kim Hyeongdo, who served as interpreter. Photo by Kim Jonghwa

He received the Nobel Prize in Chemistry last year for pioneering research on metal-organic frameworks (MOFs).

Kitagawa explained that basic research and focused research require different forms of support. Basic research should be given the autonomy to explore new concepts and theories. Once promising results emerge, however, they should be identified quickly, developed into focused research, and provided with concentrated funding.

"Basic research does not require a lot of money from the outset," he said. "When basic research produces good results, it is best to identify them quickly and invest intensively in focused research." He said this did not mean reducing support for basic research, but rather establishing a support system suited to each stage and purpose of research.

He also expressed concern about changes in research funding policies around the world. "Research funding worldwide is currently skewed toward applied research and concentrated on research that produces visible results," Kitagawa said. "Exploration that truly serves as the source of new research is being relatively neglected."

He explained that as investment becomes concentrated on improving existing technologies or on research with clear potential for industrial application, basic research that opens up new fields is finding it harder to get sufficient opportunities.

"Even Research That Seems Useless Has Value"... The Starting Point for Nobel Prize-Winning Research

Kitagawa emphasized the concept of "the usefulness of uselessness" to young researchers. The idea is that research that appears to have no immediate use can hold significant value in the long run.

He explained that his own MOF research was not recognized as practical from the beginning. Initially, he studied network structures formed by connections between metals and organic molecules, but some considered the research to be of little practical value. As the work continued, however, he and his students analyzed crystal structures and discovered tiny pores inside them, leading to research on porous materials.

Susumu Kitagawa, a professor at Kyoto University in Japan and the 2025 Nobel Prize in Chemistry laureate, delivers an invited lecture on the structure and potential applications of metal-organic frameworks (MOFs) at the 2026 Fall Conference of the Korean Society of Industrial and Engineering Chemistry, held at BEXCO in Busan on the 29th. Photo by Kim Jonghwa

Kitagawa explained that "two concepts, Assembly and Space, were important" in this process. Research focused on structures formed by the bonding of metals and organic molecules, as well as the spaces inside them, developed into the creation of MOFs that can selectively capture or separate specific gases.

He cited "luck, patience, and perseverance" as qualities researchers should have. Luck means opportunities that come to those who are prepared; patience means questioning rather than readily accepting established theories; and perseverance means continuing to explore without giving up.

"Rather than accepting a new theory as it is, it is important to question whether it is really true," he stressed. New ideas can emerge through regular interaction with a wide range of people and the accumulation of knowledge, and researchers need the perseverance to pursue those ideas to the end, he said.

On artificial intelligence (AI), he acknowledged that it can accelerate research, while emphasizing that the original thinking of human scientists remains important.

"In the past, reviewing a new idea meant spending three days looking for materials in a library, but now it takes less than five minutes with AI," Kitagawa explained. He added, however, that formal academic papers must be rigorously checked for research content and factual accuracy, distinguishing them from the preparation of simple reports.

He said AI is effective at helping researchers carry out existing research activities more quickly, but still has limitations when it comes to creating entirely new research concepts. Researchers should use the time saved through AI to develop their own original ideas, he explained.

"Rather than unconditionally accepting results presented by AI, it is important to question them for yourself," Kitagawa stressed. "To open up new fields of research, we must continue to question established ideas and explore them to the end."

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.