More than just bows and business cards
ETH Zurich and The University of Tokyo connected researchers in a multi-disciplinary symposium that renewed existing alliances and forged new research relationships between science and industry.
Highlights from the symposium
Acknowledging the first anniversary of their new partnership agreement to foster research collaboration and student exchange opportunities, ETH Zurich and The University of Tokyo held a joint symposium. More than 150 participants gathered in Tokyo on 19 – 20 January 2017 at U-Tokyo’s Hongo campus. Focused on science, design, manufacturing and information, the symposium sessions spanned a broad spectrum of academic fields from organic chemistry to particle physics and from computer science to pharmaceutical processes.
Knowledge exchange
While individual ETH Zurich professors and researchers have collaborated with The University of Tokyo (U-Tokyo) for many decades, a formal bi-lateral relationship at the institutional level was established only in 2004. Last year, the two universities renewed their memorandum of understanding (MoU) establishing a partnership that aims to work more strategically in selected research fields of mutual interest.
Hard core physics
ETH Zurich’s Institute for Particle Physics, for example, has maintained a long-standing interaction, that started in the last millennium with U-Tokyo professor Toshinori Mori within the context of the international externe Seite MEG programme - hosted at the Paul Scherrer Institute in Switzerland. “Our Japanese colleagues are very strong partners in this experiment and many of them have already spent several years in Switzerland collaborating on this effort. There is a considerable part of the programme allocated for student education - both for Japanese and for Swiss and for cutting edge technology development. MEG is one of the most prominent experiments in low energy, precision particle physics,” says Klaus Kirch, Professor of Physics, ETH Zurich. More recently, Kirch and his research team benefitted from the new MoU forging a research relationship with Yasuhiro Sakemi, a professor in the Center for Nuclear Study at U-Tokyo.
Designer drugs
Cooperation with U-Tokyo is not limited to physics; Gisbert Schneider, a professor in ETH Zurich’s Institute of Pharmaceutical Sciences took the first steps toward joint research by recently hosting a U-Tokyo doctoral student. Working in the field of computer assisted drug design, the student researched software development for use in drug design - specifically working on the analysis of pharmacologically active natural products. Professor Schneider reports, “This fruitful project, performed in close collaboration with Professor Kimito Funatsu’s research group at the University of Tokyo, led not only to new insights in drug discovery, but specifically fostered international student contacts and promoted a mutual understanding of different discovery processes." Schneider's close working relationship with U-Tokyo even earned him the title, “Fellow of the University of Tokyo” in 2015.
Optimisation
Konrad Hungerbühler, ETH Zurich’s Energy Science Center and professor in the Institute for Chemical and Bioengineering, presented the well-established ties ETH Zurich has enjoyed with U-Tokyo. In his presentation he reported on The Alliance for Global Sustainability - an international partnership between ETH Zurich, MIT, The University of Tokyo, and other partners to develop new models for integrated research, education and outreach. He also reported on the recent student exchanges in which two ETH Zurich student students joined the research team of Professor Hirokazu Sugiyama at U-Tokyo.
Digital fabrication technology
The joint symposium was just the start of a successful outreach and exchange trip for the delegation from the externe Seite National Centre of Competence in Research (NCCR) Digital Fabrication that included its Managing Director, Russell Loveridge and Matthias Kohler, Professor of Architecture and Digital Fabrication, ETH Zurich. In addition to visiting their academic counterparts, the delegation met with innovation group leaders from six leading robotics and construction companies thanks to the support of U-Tokyo professor, Yusuke Obuchi and the Science and Technology Office at the Swiss Embassy in Tokyo. “Japan has a longstanding tradition of excellence and innovation in both of these industry areas. Their approach and technologies are of high interest for ETH Zurich’s researchers,” said Loveridge who explained that such exchange opportunities enable the NCCR Digital Fabrication to foster future collaboration and a better understanding of the current issues facing the construction industries in both Switzerland and Japan.
Connecting science and industry
Such partnerships not only connect academics, but also open the door for international exchanges between academics and industry partners. During the January 2017 symposium, Swiss pharmaceutical company, Roche and Japanese companies Chugai Pharmaceutical and Mitsubishi Chemical Engineering presented on pharmaceutical processes, drug discovery, and production.
The two-day ETH Zurich and U-Tokyo symposium allowed professors, researchers, and students from Switzerland and Japan to share their ideas in open forum sessions, as well as a poster session, that facilitated cross-disciplinary thinking applied to manufacturing, design, and pharmaceutical processes. Such exchanges yield valuable connections and potential for future synergies both in science and in industry.
