The forum of the Industry-academia Collaboration Platform for “Ceramics,”* under the industrial needs response type of the Industry-academia Collaborative R&D Program (A-STEP), was held at JST’s Tokyo Headquarters, K’s Gobancho, on December 2, 2019.

The Industry-academia Collaboration Platform is a forum for the industrial and academic sectors to gather and exchange opinions on ways in which solutions can be provided to technical themes** and reflect industrial demands and needs in their research themes. Organizing such a forum wherein the academic and industrial sectors can work together for providing solutions to technical themes is one of the major features of the program.

The forum began with Dr. Yoshio Sakka’s, the program officer, address; he talked about the aims of organizing this event and expectations of the industrial sector. Then, each project leader reported on the progress and outcomes of the ongoing nine research projects. In the discussion session, participants from the industrial sector shared their opinions and demands for visions and technological approaches for enhancing industrial competitiveness and infrastructure.

This forum introduced a new program wherein participants from the industrial sector individually received technical consultations from researchers with an aim to further strengthen the collaboration between each research project and the industrial sector. Furthermore, an adviser of this technical theme, Kazuo Shinozaki, Coordinator at the Office of Educational and International Cooperation, Tokyo Institute of Technology, delivered a lecture on “Think about ceramics processing,” and Visiting Professor Takashi Goto, New Industry Creation Hatchery Center, Tohoku University, delivered a lecture on “Creation of new materials through Chemical Vapor Deposition (CVD).” These special lectures deepened systematical understandings of structural control and functional expression of bulk and thin film ceramics.

A total of 72 participants, including 7 participants from 2 organizations relating to ceramics and 28 participants from 12 ceramics material and device manufacturing companies, along with 32 researchers from the academic sector and research institutes were present at this forum. They engaged in active discussions and exchange of opinions and shared a worthwhile time in this forum.

JST will promote research and development for high performance ceramics and innovative manufacturing processes incorporating the demands of the industrial sector through various means provided by “the Industry-academia Collaboration Platform.”

* “Ceramics”:

High Performance of Ceramics and Manufacturing Process

** Technical themes:

Technical themes common to the industrial and academic sectors, themes that require solutions through basic research conducted by universities and public research institutions, etc.