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JAPAN NANONET BULLETIN
-- 64th Issue -- February 16, 2006
Nanotechnology Researchers Network Center of Japan
Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology (MEXT)
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JAPAN NANO 2006
The Nanotechnology Researchers Network Center of Japan (nanonet), MEXT
organizes the 4th International Symposium on Nanotechnology (JAPAN
NANO 2006) on February 20 - 21, 2006, at Tokyo Big Sight (Ariake,
Tokyo).
The constitution of JAPAN NANO 2006 is : Plenary lectures, symposia on
nano-biology, nano-physics, nano-IT devices, and nano-materials, and
the oral presentation & poster session.
Lectures will be given by the world-leading researchers on the state-
of-the-art nano science and technology. Posters will be introduced by
the best young researchers who will lead the next generation of this
area. JAPAN NANO 2006 provides you with the current topics and future
perspectives of nano science and nanotechnology.
For more information,
http://www.nanonet.go.jp/english/event/japannano2006/index.html
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IN THIS ISSUE
Nanonet Special Interview:
"Nanotechnology
-- The United Kingdom and Japan --"
Ms. Philippa ROGERS, Former Counsellor, Science and Technology,
British Embassy
Young Researchers' Introduction:
"Electron transport in magnetic nanostructures"
Gen TATARA, Associate Professor, Graduate School of Science, Tokyo
Metropolitan University
-- NANO CALENDAR --
For information on nanotechnology related symposiums and conferences
held in the world,
http://www.nanonet.go.jp/english/calendar/
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Nanonet Special Interview:
Nanotechnology
-- The United Kingdom and Japan --
(Issued in Japanese: February 8, 2006)
Ms. Philippa ROGERS, Former Counsellor, Science and Technology,
British Embassy
During her four years as a counsellor, she made tremendous efforts to
coordinate cooperation in fundamental research and industry between
the UK and Japan in nanotechnology. We had a chance to interview her
before she left Japan in December 2005. We asked about her
contributions towards international cooperation in nanotechnology,
issues of science and society and future prospects of nanotechnology
between the UK and Japan.
## UK and Japan joint projects on nanotechnology ##
Q: Thank you very much for accepting our interview today. First I'd
like you to look back on UK and Japan joint projects on nanotechnology.
Well, when I arrived in Japan, nanotechnology wasn't really a subject,
which was a high priority for the science and innovation section at
the Embassy. Japan was ahead of us, and the UK wasn't focusing on it
as much. We started looking at our strategy for nanotechnology very
seriously in the UK in 2001, more or less as I arrived, with the
establishment of an expert panel. At the same time, here in Japan we
were looking at what was happening in the Japanese nanotechnology
market and realized that there were opportunities for us to work
together. The first thing I ever did on nanotechnology in Japan was to
talk at Nanotech 2002 at Makuhari Messe. I introduced a group of
professors from the UK, from the North East; talking about
nanotechnology in the UK and why we were good to partner with. I think
Nanotech 2002 was a fairly low key event but in 2003 NEDO (New Energy
and Industrial Technology Development Organization) joined the annual
event, which made the event larger. The growth in Japan's annual
nanotech conference from 2002 to the event in 2005, which was huge,
with a considerable international participation is a demonstration of
how the importance of nanotech has grown, while we were the only
international participants in that original nanotechnology conference.
And, we've done lots of different things to promote the relationship
between the UK and Japan in this area. We've done several academic-to-
academic workshops, to promote collaboration. We have done work
specifically on nanobiotechnology - we had a mission over in July
2002; that was mainly industry led. And then of course, we
collaborated in the Royal Society-Science Council of Japan joint
workshop on the potential health, environmental and societal impacts
of nanotechnologies. That's beyond technology development
collaboration, focused on collaboration on how to implement this
technology, bringing the general public with us. So there has been lot
of activity over the last four years, and the scale of it has grown.
## Features of the UK's nanotechnology ##
Q: I'd like you to tell us something about the features of the UK's
nanotechnology. It seems to me and probably most Japanese related to
nanotechnology, that the UK has been very proactive in nano-
biotechnology. And I heard you yourself were involved in biotechnology
in the Research Councils.
Well, as I've already said, we are probably behind the game in terms
of nanotechnology materials compared to Japan. What we do have is some
really world leading centres. For example, the group led by Mark
Welland at the University of Cambridge, which is very much focused on
nanomaterials and John Ryan's group at the University of Oxford, which
is very much focused on bio-nanotechnology. A third leading centre is
the group at Newcastle University. And there are others like Glasgow,
which has links with the Oxford group, and Bristol University with
Meryin Miles and his team, which is very much focused on AFM. So,
there are some really key leading groups, but it's perhaps not as
integrated as in Japan. Here in Japan, the industrial sector is
dominated by big companies, such as Fujitsu, Mitsubishi, and NTT. And
in nano-bio, you've got companies like Matsushita, Olympus and
Shimadzu. You've got big company involvement, but you have relatively
few small companies. Nano Carrier is the one that I'm most familiar
with. In the UK, our nanotechnology industry is similar to our
biotechnology industry. We have these very strong academic activities,
and we have a lot of spin out companies from those academic groups.
Companies like Oxonica, which is a spin out from the University of
Oxford. There are some big companies but the UK industrial sector is
dominated by small companies. But I think that difference is good for
us and it's good for you. It's good for us, because your big companies
want to work with our small companies and our academic base. And both
countries get access then to each other's expertise. It is very
complementary.
The UK is a smaller country than Japan but even when you do R&D input
as a percentage of GDP, Japan's investment in nanotech is an order of
magnitude greater than the UK. But our investment is much more
targeted. We are also increasing investment in infrastructure, for
example the considerable investment in infrastructure associated with
Newcastle University.
Q: Prof. Ken Snowdon?
Yes, Ken Snowdon's group. For example, they are building up their
microfabrication facilities and associated infrastructure.
## MNT Network (Micro- and Nano-technology Network) ##
Q: You also have the MNT Network. Would you tell me about it?
The MNT Initiative was set up in 2003 with an initial investment of 90
million pounds over 6 years. Sorry, if I take a step back, the UK's
original nanotechnology strategy report focused on two things: basic
research, where the Research Councils are in the lead; and the need
for innovation and commercialization, which the MNT Initiative is
focusing on, pulling through technologies from the basic research side
into industry. So MNT is providing similar funding to METI (Ministry
of Economy, Trade and Industry) in Japan. I think that is the closest
analogy, except that METI tends to fund large projects with big
company involvement, whereas DTI (Department of Trade and Industry)
funding is more about enabling the process. That's a general comment
on the difference between R&D funding and commercialization funding in
the UK and in Japan. And, of course the money that DTI is putting in
is small, compared to what NEDO in Japan, for example, is putting in.
## Participation in Nanotech 2006 ##
Q: I'm getting back to nanotech, Nanotech 2006. The participants from
the UK have been increasing, haven't they?
Our participation has changed. Nanotech 2002 was actually led by the
Northeast Regional Development Agency. It was very academically
focused. And, up to last year it remained fairly academically focused.
Nanotechnology is still not wholly commercial; it's on the verge of
commercial.
This year, the focus will be on trade, as well as promoting UK
strengths in science and technology. In other words, the companies
that are coming over have products and processes to offer. If you look
at who is looking after it internally, the Embassy's Science and
Innovation Section will run a seminar, but our commercial or trade
section is running the rest of the mission. Their involvement to date
has been limited. In other words, nanotechnology is moving towards the
market. So back to your original question, yes, we do have a big
mission coming this year. And we have moved on to a different level.
A lot of the work we've been doing to date has been focused on
academic-to-academic collaboration. For example, I think you are
familiar with the work we've done with JST (Japan Science and
Technology Agency) in Japan - very much about academic-to-academic
links. But, things are moving downstream. It's not only in the UK, but
in Japan as well - we're moving to the next stage.
(Interviewer: Masahiro Takemura, nanonet)
Continued on the following Website:
http://www.nanonet.go.jp/english/mailmag/2006/064a.html
Other topics are:
## Bio-nano strategy ##
## Societal implication of nanotechnology ##
## Expectations in UK and Japan cooperation in science and
technology ##
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YOUNG RESEARCHERS' INTRODUCTION
Electron transport in magnetic nanostructures
(Issued in Japanese: September 29, 2004)
Gen TATARA, Associate Professor, Graduate School of Science, Tokyo
Metropolitan University
My main area of research is the theoretical study of magnetoresistance
and current-driven magnetization reversal. The integration of magnetic
and electric properties is an important research area because current
technology involves magnetic devices which are based on the
magnetoresistive effect arising from modification of the electron
transport by the magnetic configuration. Moreover, the manipulation of
the state of magnetization assisted by an electric current is
promising technology for the next generation magnetic memories, in
which the information is written by an electric current.
Although there have been theoretical studies on the current-driven
magnetization dynamics, they are phenomenological and thus have had
limited applicability. Very recently, I formulated a self-contained
microscopic theory on the domain wall dynamics induced by an electric
current. In this theory, the electric current required to drive a
domain wall and the dependence of the wall velocity on the applied
current were evaluated. The results will be quite useful in designing
new magnetic devices, in which the magnetic information is efficiently
written by a current.
For more information,
http://www.nanonet.go.jp/english/mailmag/2006/064b.html
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