By any reckoning, the Center for Developmental Biology (CDB) that is soon to open its doors in Kobe, Japan (see pages 952–953), is a bold initiative. Its facilities are second to none, and its leaders have pledged to give talented young scientists free rein to develop their own research interests. Given that rigid academic hierarchies have repeatedly been blamed for Japan's perceived underachievement in basic science, expectations are high.

The danger, however, is that they may be too high, and that the CDB will be pressured into trying to advance on more fronts than is reasonable.

Increasingly, for instance, Japan has made overtures to recruit scientists from overseas, especially from the West, with limited success. The CDB aims to have a large number of foreigners on its roster, but this may not be a wise place to focus its efforts. There are many obstacles beyond the institute's control, such as language, a dearth of reasonably priced international schools, and fears that women will not be treated as equals.

The CDB also has to deal with the short-term vision of the current government, which wants the institute to become the hub of a cluster of bioscience companies. This is a laudable aim — but again, the CDB may have its work cut out achieving this goal.

There are many who feel that, lacking the freewheeling entrepreneurial spirit that pervades the labs of California, Japan will never boast a vibrant biotech industry.

The CDB's director, Masatoshi Takeichi, is already worried that short-term pressures will encourage the centre's scientists to shoot for some headline-grabbing discovery, rather than building the solid foundations of a project that will truly advance their field.

Rather than worrying about the initial roster of foreign recruits, or fretting about commercial spin-offs, the CDB's paymasters would be wise to back Takeichi in his goal of making the CDB into a world leader in advancing the fundamental scientific knowledge needed to underpin the emerging field of regenerative medicine. A reasonable target would be to aim to produce a defined number of landmark papers in areas such as stem-cell biology, transgenic technology, wound healing and cellular imaging.

If the CDB can establish a reputation for excellence in these areas, and its group leaders can resist the temptation to become as autocratic with their own charges as their professors may in the past have been with them, there may no longer be a need to worry about meeting a quota of foreigners. And if young researchers from around the world are then inspired to beat a path to the CDB's door, they may also bring with them some of the entrepreneurial skills that the Japanese government is so keen to promote.