On March 5, 2021, the 5th ACCEL Symposium was held online owing to the coronavirus outbreak. ACCEL is a program that aims to accelerate the leading-edge, path-breaking, fundamental research of the world, which is geared toward the creation of innovation. Approximately 160 participants, mostly from industries, the government, and academia, gathered for the symposium. There were presentations of the outcomes of research and the visions of the programs that were primed for turning top science into top innovation through collaboration between Program Managers (PMs) and Research Directors.

To begin with, Yoshimasa Goto, Vice President of JST, gave the opening remarks. Next, Director Daisuke Baba, the Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science, and Technology, spoke about his expectations for the creation of innovation through the ACCEL program in order to break through the current situation.

The symposium covered various fields: electrochemistry, physics, and information engineering, among others. The symposium broached the following five research themes. (Each affiliation below is as of March 5, 2021.)

■ 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)

■ 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)

■ Development of high-resolution LIDAR system based on slow-light structures

https://www.jst.go.jp/kisoken/accel/en/research_project/ongoing/h28_03.html

Research Director: Toshihiko Baba (Professor, Graduate School of Engineering, Yokohama National University)

Program Manager: Kohroh Kobayashi (ACCEL Program Manager, JST)

■ Application field development of Dynamic intelligent systems by using high speed vision

https://www.jst.go.jp/kisoken/accel/en/research_project/ongoing/h28_01.html

Research Director: Masatoshi Ishikawa (Project Professor, Data Science Research Division, Information Technology Center, The University of Tokyo)

Program Manager: Norimasa Kishi (ACCEL Program Manager, JST)

■ Building Foundations and Developing Applications for Next-Generation Media Content Ecosystem Technologies

https://www.jst.go.jp/kisoken/accel/en/research_project/ongoing/h28_02.html

Research Director: Masataka Goto (Prime Senior Researcher, Human Informatics and Interaction Research, National Institute of Advanced Industrial Science and Technology (AIST))

Program Manager: Shohei Takeuchi (ACCEL Program Manager, JST)

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

The ACCEL R&D Management Committee, Chair Yoichiro Matsumoto (President, Tokyo University of Science), and Michiharu Nakamura (Counselor to the President of JST) gave the closing remarks, summarized as follows:
1) All of these studies have had a substantial impact, and the outcomes of ACCEL will change the future.
2) Continuing concrete research through the program has become a path to corporate approval and social implementation.
3) Owing to the efforts of the Research Directors and PMs, who are committed to linking research results to innovation, the program has achieved better results than originally expected, which has led to the further development of this initiative.