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Accelerating materials development: the Materials Integration Consortium, an industry–academia–government collaboration, launched

The Cross-ministerial Strategic Innovation Promotion Program (SIP)

https://www.jst.go.jp/sip/en/p05/team-a.html

Many countries around the world have enthusiastically engaged in the development of materials using computer and information sciences including artificial intelligence (AI). In Japan, the Research and Services Division of Materials Data and Integrated System (MaDIS), headed by Director Masahiko Demura at the National Institute for Materials Science (NIMS), has developed a comprehensive and highly efficient integrated materials development system. The Materials Integration by Network Technology (MInt) System is based on the concept of materials integration. It connects the four aspects of materials science, process, structure, properties, and performance of materials, on the materials data platform. The Materials Integration Consortium (MI Consortium) was established on December 1, 2020 as an industry–academia–government collaboration on the basis of MInt System and has started calling for members.

MInt System, a core of MI Consortium, can predict the performance of materials by calculating the process, structures, and characteristics of materials by using materials science methods and data science, including AI. It also enables finding an optimized process or chemical composition based on desired performance. Furthermore, it contributes to cost reduction by accelerating the process of verifying ideas; in some cases, experiments for verification that take thousands of hours can be partly replaced with few hours of numerical calculations using MInt System.

MI Consortium is a novel research style involving industry–academia–government collaboration aiming for implementation of MInt System in society. For promoting materials innovation, the members participate in the consortium on an equal footing regardless of their affiliation, whether industry, academia, or government, and fully utilize MInt System for their research and development. It is hoped that MInt System will become more sophisticated by incorporating research results of the MI Consortium members. (Figure)

This ecosystem will promote acceleration and cost reduction of materials development. Therefore, it will contribute to the advancement of materials development and strengthen the competitiveness of Japanese materials industries.

【Program Information】
The Cross-ministerial Strategic Innovation Promotion Program (SIP)
Program Theme: ”Materials Integration” for Revolutionary Design System of Structural Materials
R&D Domain A: Establishment of the Inverse Design MI Basis for Advanced Structure Materials and Processing