Kyushu University, as part of its centennial celebration in 2011, has taken up the initiative of “East Asia Environment Issues” throughout the entire university. That is to say that we have launched a project in which excellent researchers from all disciplines that are taking up the initiative of environmental research in Kyushu University will form a number of teams according to theme to advance international collaboration among industry, academia and government on joint research related to environmental issues, with major universities and research institutions in East Asia, including China and Korea, and companies and so on in Japan working together.

As the academia counterpart in East Asia, cooperation has already been agreed to regarding this project with Tongji University and Shanghai Jiao Tong University of China, which have concluded an inter-university cooperation agreement to work on joint research, information exchange, personnel exchange or the building of organizations for such purpose. Furthermore, National Tsing Hua University, Zhe Jiang University, Xi’an University of Architecture and Technology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Chongqing University, and Seoul University of Korea have achieved results in joint research with respect to environmental research to date and have agreed to future cooperation among researchers.

In the industry sector, we will receive the support and cooperation of companies such as TOTO and plan to call for the cooperation of many more companies in the future. As for the government sector, we will strive to obtain public funding of NEDO and JST for example.

Now I’d like to ask for further endorsement and support from many more companies in the “International Industry, Academia and Government Collaboration Project” that Kyushu University will take up with all faculties by releasing these initiatives of our University.