"Make Full Use of AIST"

～Technological Prowess Honed Through Co-Creation and the Future Opened Up by Data Centers

The other day, I visited the National Institute of Advanced Industrial Science and Technology (hereinafter "AIST") in Tsukuba City, Ibaraki Prefecture, to attend the annual results presentation of the "Sumitomo Riko–AIST Advanced Polymer Device Cooperative Research Laboratory" (hereinafter "the Cooperative Lab").
Our collaboration with AIST began in 2020, sparked by the opportunity to use the institute's test course, and this year marks its sixth year.
At this briefing, there was a lively exchange of views regarding the results of the joint research, the latest technological trends, and the potential for future collaboration.
I not only realized that AIST’s advanced and extensive expertise is being steadily applied to our research and development, but I also strongly felt that this relationship is evolving in a new stage.

Evolving into a Co-creation Partner 

What was particularly striking was the powerful message shared: "Make full use of AIST."
At first glance, the phrasing might seem rather forceful or aggressive, but it implies far more than simply utilizing the organization to the fullest extent.
This signifies an evolution in our relationship into a collaborative partnership where we share challenges and co-create solutions. The various activities of the collaboration office are also proceeding smoothly.
As part of this initiative, we regularly host lectures for our employees, featuring experts from AIST across various specialized fields as speakers.
These sessions serve as a valuable learning forum where many of our researchers participate and engage in spirited Q&A exchanges with the instructors.
Exposure to diverse perspectives and technologies opens up possibilities for generating ideas and achieving technical breakthroughs that would be unattainable through our own efforts alone.
Guided by the motto "Make full use of AIST," we look forward to further deepening our collaboration and translating our group's technologies into real-world applications.

Technologies Supporting the Future Society: Insights from a Data Center Tour 

In conjunction with the briefing session, we toured the laboratories at the AIST Kashiwa Center—located on the University of Tokyo’s Kashiwa Campus—and the ABCI Data Center*1.
At the AIST Kashiwa Center laboratory, we were briefed on research aimed at realizing the "Interverse"*2—a concept that fuses the real world with cyberspace and feeds the resulting value back into the real world.
I had previously toured a commercial data center, but AIST's data center offered a different perspective—particularly regarding their approach to costs—which was a valuable learning experience.
The ABCI data center employs a combination of warm-water and air cooling to significantly reduce the power required for cooling; it is also designed to shut down quickly and safely in the event of a disaster, while also taking cost reduction into account.
In contrast, a private-sector data center I visited previously invested heavily in business continuity planning (BCP) measures to ensure uninterrupted operation during disasters or power outages.
The underlying philosophy is that a data center is most critical precisely when an anomaly occurs, so it must not be allowed to shut down.
With the widespread adoption of AI and cloud services, data centers will increasingly solidify their role as essential social infrastructure.
At the same time, however, numerous technical challenges—such as power consumption and thermal management—are coming to the fore.
Thermal management challenges represent an area where our Group can leverage the "fluid control technology" we have cultivated through our hose products for automobiles and construction machinery.
Seeing state-of-the-art data centers—which are essential to the society of the future—firsthand gave us the opportunity to concretely envision how our Group's technologies can contribute to this field.

Looking Ahead: Creating Synergies and Bringing Technologies into Real-World Applications 

We will continue to further develop our collaboration with AIST to address the challenges the society of the future will face.
We believe that combining the insights gained through co-creation with AIST with the technical capabilities of our group companies will open up possibilities for creating unprecedented value.
In particular, regarding the generation of synergies with Sumitomo Electric Industries, we anticipate a further expansion of initiatives aimed at translating research outcomes into practical applications in society.
I strongly encourage all researchers and those involved in development to actively seize opportunities for collaboration with AIST and to expand your network of like-minded peers who embrace new challenges.
I am confident that co-creation and collaboration with external partners—including AIST—will serve to further deepen each of your areas of expertise.
I look forward to seeing you boldly step forward into your next challenge. 

Provided by the Press Office, Branding and Public Relations Department, and the AIST Kashiwa Center.