Director's Message

Catalysis Development Toward Solution for Global Problems

I am pleased to begin the 2022 fiscal year as the successor to former Director Jun―ya Hasegawa.
　The establishment of the institute dates back to 1943, when the Research Institute for Catalysis was established in Hokkaido Imperial University. The Institute was restructured as Catalytic Research Center in 1989 and further into the present form, Institute for Catalysis (ICAT) in 2015. The department of fundamental research is responsible for the research and development of innovative catalysts. The department of practical applications aims at transferring the achievement to the industrial application and also at creating technological seeds inspired by the industrial needs. The department of target research is driven by associate professors. Researchers outside ICAT even from foreign countries are collaborating on specific important problems. Catalysis Collaborative Research Center provides cooperation units to adapt to the social imperatives that is rapidly changing.
　In 2010, ICAT was authorized by the Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology (MEXT) of Japan as a as a Joint Usage/Research Center, and since 2022 re-authorized as a networked " Joint Usage/Research Center for Catalysis (JURCC)" together with the Research Center for Artificial Photosynthesis (ReCAP) at Osaka Metropolitan University and the Research Center for Catalysis Chemistry (IRC3) at the National Institute of Advanced Industrial Science and Technology (AIST). We will continue to provide financial and technical supports to collaboration proposals from the catalysis community.
　ICAT also participates a MEXT project, Integrated Research Consortium on Chemical Sciences, that is jointly organized by Nagoya, Kyoto, Kyusyu Universities. This project aims to unify the concept of materials and synthesis at the interdisciplinary level and also to cultivate young researchers.
　Catalyst development is a key technology for solving important issues facing human society, such as the realization of a carbon-neutral society, and its societal importance is expected to increase. We will pursuit both principle and innovation in catalytic science to solve these problems. We hope to have your guidance and warm support.

Ken-ichi SHIMIZU
Director of Institute for Catalysis
April 2022.