On November 9–10, 2020, an open webinar for the industrial needs response type of the Adaptable and Seamless Technology Transfer Program through Target-driven R&D(A-STEP) was conducted via Zoom: technical theme was “Ceramics.”^*1 One of the major features of this program was that the industrial sector and the academic community had gathered to establish a “space for collaborative creativity” for the exchange of ideas on technical themes.^*2 Because the technical theme, “Ceramics,” will end in this fiscal year, this space for collaborative creativity proved to be a last opportunity for the exchange of ideas. To facilitate candid discussions on the latest research results with the industrial sector, previous symposiums were conducted in a non-public format at JST meeting rooms. This year, however, we organized the first public online symposium due to the coronavirus outbreak.

In the opening remark of the first day, Dr. Sakka Yoshio, the program officer, explained the progress of research activities for the last five years and research results of the underlying technologies including ceramic powder preparation and bonding techniques, non-firing and low temperature sintering, and forming, sintering and machining technologies. Furthermore, he introduced outreach activities pertaining to these results.

On the second day, Nakagawa Shoichi, Kyocera Co., the adviser of the program, delivered a special lecture on the “Kyocera’s material and device development and expectations for academia.” His remark that academia is expected in R&D philosophy, development examples, elucidation of mechanism, and preceding study inspired researchers for further study.

During the two-day sessions, 9 projects that will be concluded in this fiscal year were presented. A total of 108 participants including 8 participants from 2 ceramics-related organizations and 41 participants from 18 ceramics material and device manufacturing companies, as well as 52 researchers from the academic sector and research institutes had joined the vigorous discussions and shared opinions about research findings and future developments.

The industrial sector participants thoroughly evaluated various research results relating to ceramic production process from raw powder to final processing. Hence, we believe that this program has played a crucial role in the given research area.

Finally, we would like to thank all the stakeholders of the program for their support and encouragement. We appreciate your continuous co-operation and hope that the research outcomes of this program contribute to strengthen the industrial competitiveness.

*１ “Ceramics”: High Performance of Ceramics and Manufacturing Process
*２ 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.

https://www.jst.go.jp/a-step/kadai/h28-s1/h28_sangyo01.html (Japanese)