Greetings

Yuh Shiohara

Director General
Superconductivity Research Laboratory

The Superconductivity Research Laboratory (SRL) of International Superconductivity Technology Center (ISTEC) has made the marvelous and fruitful outcome under the supervision of the first Director General, Dr. Shoji Tanaka, and has led the research & developments of superconductivity internationally since its opening in 1988. I have served as the Director General since February, 2009. I will do my best for achievement of the contribution of the superconducting technology to the society. I would really appreciate for any suggestion or advice you might give me. Following the discovery of high temperature superconductivity materials in 1986, the project on "Research & Developments on Superconducting Materials and Devices" was initiated by the (then) Ministry of International Trade and Industry in 1988. After this project ended in March, 1998, the project of "Research & Development of Fundamental Technologies for Superconductivity Applications" started from fiscal 1998, supported by METI (the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry) through NEDO (the New Energy & Industrial Technology Development Organization) , and the prospect of its practical use has been obtained. Consequently, from 2008 fiscal year, the research and development of important elemental technologies for the superconducting electric power applications using yttrium (Y)-based superconducting tapes have been intensively carried out as the NEDO project of the "Materials and Power Applications of Coated Conductors; M-PACC. On the other hand, regarding the superconductivity applications of the thin films to the electronic device fields, technological development to aim at promoting the superconducting single flux quantum (SFQ) applications has been conducted. The project has been supported by NEDO. The development of up-to-date biotechnology and a nondestructive sensing technology, using high-temperature SQUID, entrusted from the Japan Science and Technology Agency (JST), began newly in cooperation with universities and manufacturers in 2009 fiscal year. In addition, SRL received re-consignment from Tokyo Institute of Technologies (T.I.T.) in the project "Exploration of New Superconductors and Related Functional Materials and the Application of Superconducting Wires for Industry (led by Prof. Hideo Hosono)" that T.I.T. has been awarded in March, 2010, which was one of the 30 themes adopted for "Funding Program for World-Leading Innovative R&D on Science and Technology", the consignment business of the Japan Society for the Promotion of Science (JSPS), and we started the research on the evaluation and the applications of the new superconductive materials, together with the National Institute of Materials Science. SRL, with its accumulated results and experiences until now, leads the research and developments on superconducting in Japan, and gives every effort toward the real practical use of the high-temperature superconducting materials and the technologies, which has been selected as one of the technologies in "the Growth Strategy Up-to-date Field" in our country. It is our hearty hope to make research and developments of superconducting technologies for constructions of new energy society, including energy savings as well as significant reduction of CO₂ emission, through international cooperation and to contribute to the world of the 21^st century.