Big in Japan: Riken and patents

Founded in 1917 Riken, an abbreviation of Rikagaku Kenkyūjo (in English, the Institute of Physical and Chemical Research), is one of the largest scientific research institutions in Asia, with around 3,000 scientists working across Japan on research into everything from radioactivity to genomics. It is an independent administrative institution under the jurisdiction of Japan’s Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Sciences and Technology, and most of its funding comes from the Japanese government.