Message from the Director (Yasuaki KISHIMOTO, 2013)

While major developments in the sciences invigorate society, they also put a strain on the global environment and ecosystems, and give rise to various other problems. Undoubtedly, a major factor behind these issues is "energy." With increasing diversity on so many fronts, the 21st century is an era that demands high quantities of energy, but which also poses serious challenges regarding the production and utilization (qualities) of energy. It is only when both aspects of
energy demand are satisfied that truly harmonious and abundant development will be possible.

The Institute of Advanced Energy (IAE) is a research center that was founded in May 1996, with the aim of humbly exploring the topic of energy by reflecting on the harmonious laws and principles of nature in order to generate new theories of energy and advanced energy technology. More specifically, the IAE consists of three divisions and 12 research sections, concerned with energy generation, functional energy conversion, and energy utilization processes, as well as the Laboratory for Complex Energy Processes, which engages in integrated research projects spanning these fields and joint research with partners in Japan and abroad. The IAE has produced a wealth of valuable
research findings over the years. In addition to pursuing collaborative alliances between industry, academia, and government, to feed back the fruits of its work to society, the IAE also runs a cooperation program at the Graduate School of Energy Science for the education of students and training of researchers, through state-of-the-art research activities.

The Great East Japan Earthquake of March 2011 and its aftermath provoked some profound questions about science and technology, and also energy. It was in the same year, after receiving certification from the Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology, that the IAE commenced operation as a joint usage/research center, under the name Joint Usage/Research Center for Zero-emission Energy Research. This initiative aims at "highly environment-friendly energy that is free of any harmful emissions," with an ambitious commitment "to bring about major qualitative changes in systems of minute (near-zero) amounts of energy, based on a deep understanding of nature, to enable the achievement of high-quality energy generation, conversion, and utilization."

Ecosystems actually consume very little energy and feature very advanced functions. Taking them as a model, we are integrating nano-engineering, biotechnology, and photon and quantum beam technology to produce new functional materials and drugs, and to pursue fundamental research on solar energy that transcends the limits of current technological principles. At the same time, we are taking inspiration from the sun and conducting plasma and nuclear fusion research to tap its immense energy here on the Earth. In the past few years, plasma has been found to be a highly autonomous medium, capable of forming various kinds of structures on its own. We are looking closely at this characteristic as part of applied research into helical nuclear fusion devices and photon and quantum beam sources. In addition, to support a broad energy platform, we are conducting research efforts on structural materials and the behavior of substances in extreme physical environments, and on highly socially
acceptable energy utilization systems. Through exploration and integration of diverse research, we are playing a valuable role as an international base that is striving to reshape advanced energy sciences and cause a paradigm shift that is appropriate to the 21st century.

Unconstrained by preconceptions, all of us here are working together actively to link and integrate with other disciplines, in the pursuit of
research activities and operations modeled on an uninterrupted circulation of knowledge. We look forward to your continued, enthusiastic cooperation.

April 2013
Yasuaki KISHIMOTO

2013.4 - 2015.3