The Bordeaux–Kyoto Symposium was held in Bordeaux, France as a joint international symposium between Kyoto University and the University of Bordeaux, which was one of the first three universities to be accredited as a “Campus of Excellence” by France’s government-sponsored “Investing for the Future” program in 2011. The goal of the symposium was to promote international collaboration between the two universities. Over 200 people attended the symposium during the course of its two days. The Kyoto University delegation to the symposium comprised fifty-four members, including executives, scholars, and administrative staff.

The symposium was opened with addresses by Prof. Manuel Tunon de Lara, president of the University of Bordeaux and Dr. Michiaki Mishima, Kyoto University’s executive vice-president for international affairs and hospital administration. Those speeches were followed by a signing ceremony to conclude of memorandum for academic cooperation between the two universities. After overviews of the two universities, delivered by Prof. Vincent Dousset, vice-president for international affairs of the University of Bordeaux and Prof. Kiyoshi Yoshikawa, executive vice-president for research of Kyoto University, keynote lectures were given by Visiting Prof. Tasuku Honjo, Graduate School of Medicine, and Prof. Georges Hadziioannou, Chemistry at the University of Bordeaux.

In the afternoon, eleven parallel academic sessions were held at the Victoire Campus. The sessions were dedicated to such diverse fields as medical science, materials chemistry, engineering and computer science, archeology, and philosophy. In keeping with the unique regional characteristics of Bordeaux, one session even included a scientific discussion about grapes and wines from the perspective of nutrition and public health. The two-day event provided an opportunity for researchers from the two institutions to form new friendships, deepen their mutual respect and develop a firm basis for future collaboration.