On October 25, 2019, the 4th ACCEL Symposium was held at the Tosho Grand Hall in Chiyoda City, Tokyo. ACCEL is a program that aims to accelerate the world's leading-edge, path-breaking, fundamental research geared toward the creation of innovation. Approximately 140 participants, mostly from industry, government, and academia, gathered for the symposium. There were presentations of the outcomes of research and the visions of the programs primed for turning top science into top innovation by collaboration between Program Managers (PMs) and Research Directors.

Furthermore, the symposium was recorded for broadcasting on The Open University of Japan. Through media coverage, more people will get to know our ACCEL project and its usefulness.

To begin with, Yoshimasa Goto, Vice President, JST, gave opening remarks. Next, Tadatoshi Kaneko, Director, Basic Research Promotion Division, Research Promotion Bureau, MEXT, spoke about his expectations for the creation of innovation through the ACCEL program.

The symposium covered various fields: photonics, information engineering, electronics, and material chemistry, among others. The symposium broached the following eight research themes. (Each affiliation below is as of October 25, 2019.)

■ Creation of the Functional Materials on the Basis of the Inter-Element-Fusion Strategy and Their Innovative Applications

https://www.jst.go.jp/kisoken/accel/en/research_project/ongoing/h27_01.html

Research Director: Hiroshi Kitagawa (Professor, Graduate School of Science, Kyoto University)

Program Manager: Akihiro Okabe (ACCEL Program Manager, JST)

■ Reinforcement of Resiliency of Concentrated Polymer Brushes and Its Tribological Applications — Development of Novel “Soft and Resilient Tribology (SRT)” System

https://www.jst.go.jp/kisoken/accel/en/research_project/ongoing/h27_03.html

Research Director: Yoshinobu Tsujii (Director/Professor, Institute for Chemical Research, Kyoto University)

Program Manager: Kimihiro Matsukawa (ACCEL Program Manager, JST)

■ Development of Key Chemical Processes of Extremely High Efficiency with Super-Performance Heterogeneous Catalysts

https://www.jst.go.jp/kisoken/accel/en/research_project/ongoing/h26_03.html

Research Director: Yasuhiro Uozumi (Professor, Institute for Molecular Science, National Institutes of Natural Sciences)

Program Manager: Toshiaki Mase (ACCEL Program Manager, JST)

■ Fundamentals and Applications of Diamond Electrodes

https://www.jst.go.jp/kisoken/accel/en/research_project/ongoing/h26_02.html

Research Director: Yasuaki Einaga (Professor, Faculty of Science and Technology, Keio University)

Program Manager: Nobuhiko Tsukahara (ACCEL Program Manager, JST)

■ Embodied Media Technology Based on Haptic Primary Colors

https://www.jst.go.jp/kisoken/accel/en/research_project/ongoing/h26_05.html

Research Director: Susumu Tachi (Professor Emeritus, The University of Tokyo)

Program Manager: Junji Nomura (ACCEL Program Manager, JST)

■ Development of Flexible Nitride Semiconductor Devices with PSD

https://www.jst.go.jp/kisoken/accel/en/research_project/ongoing/h26_01.html

Research Director: Hiroshi Fujioka (Professor, Institute of Industrial Science, The University of Tokyo)

Program Manager: Akira Usui (ACCEL Program Manager, JST)

■ Terahertz Optical Science and Technology in Semiconductors

https://www.jst.go.jp/kisoken/accel/en/research_project/ongoing/h29_02.html

Research Director: Koichiro Tanaka (Professor, Graduate School of Science, Kyoto University)

Program Manager: Ryoichi Fukasawa (ACCEL Program Manager, JST)

■ Conformal Bioimager

https://www.jst.go.jp/kisoken/accel/en/research_project/ongoing/h29_01.html

Research Director: Takao Someya (Professor, School of Engineering, The University of Tokyo)

Program Manager: Yorishige Matsuba (ACCEL Program Manager, JST)

Each Research Director presented R&D visions and research outcomes as the content of these eight project lectures. Then, the PMs introduced their implementation activities and developments of the projects for the next steps.

From the ACCEL R&D Management Committee, Chairperson Yoichiro Matsumoto (President, Tokyo University of Science) and Kazuhiko Toyama (Managing Partner, Industrial Growth Platform, Inc.) gave the closing remarks, emphasizing the importance of paving the way for connecting top science to innovation; the issues concerning science and organizations in Japan; and the significance and prospects of ACCEL projects. The symposium then successfully came to a close.