National Institute of Advanced Industrial Science and Technology (AIST)

The National Institute of Advanced Industrial Science and Technology (産業技術総合研究所, Sangyō Gijutsu Sōgō Kenkyū-sho), or AIST, is a Japanese research facility headquartered in Tokyo, and most of the workforce is located in Tsukuba Science City, Ibaraki, and in several cities throughout Japan. The institute is managed to integrate scientific and engineering knowledge to address socio-economic needs. It became a newly designed legal body of Independent Administrative Institution in 2001, remaining under the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry.