The Cabinet Office (CAO), the Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology (MEXT), the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry (METI) complement each other and support comprehensive and nationwide structural materials R&D.
Researcher Network based around centers of excellence at each R&D domain has been establishing domestically and internationally so that the materials R&D in Japan will be developing sustainably even after the SIP-SM4I project has finished.
On this basis, we are promoting the utilization of advanced Nano-Scale Characterization technology for a breakthrough in the unresolved issues, the capacity building for young researchers and international collaboration by cooperation of WMRIF*.
WMRIF: World Materials Research Institutes Forum
It has developed to promote networking, research collaboration, capacity building and benchmarking among the materials research institutes in the world since the first meeting, in which 15 directors of national materials research institutes from 8 countries participated, was organized by NIMS in 2005. Currently it has 50 institutes from 21 countries.