Tokyo, Japan – Industrial Laser Solutions' editorial advisor in Japan, Dr. Kunihiko Washio, reports the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry (METI) has announced a new project to be performed through NEDO (New Energy Industrial Technology Development Organization). NEDO is Japan's public management organization that promotes research and development as well as the dissemination of industrial, energy, and environmental technologies.
The basic R&D plan was announced publicly in Japanese in late March 2010 to get applications from domestic industry and academia. The deadline for the application was May 10, 2010.
The selection results and the names of the applicants who will be funded was publicly announced in Japanese on June 21, 2010. However, there is still no officially available document in English.
It is not known at this time if the contracts between all the selected participants and NEDO have been completed or not. Also, the exact amount of funding money is not known. According to the person in charge of the project at NEDO, the title of the new project is "High-power Pulsed Fiber Laser and Processing Technology Project".
The project is to be performed by the following participants:
- Advanced Laser and Process Technology Research Association (ALPROT)
- Osaka University
- Hamamatsu Photonics
- ULVAC
Details of the ALPROT are not publicly available and its exact structure is also not known at this time.
The only publicly available information, in Japanese, on ALPROT is a news item that appeared in the newspaper Asahi-Shimbun on June 30, 2010.
According to the newspaper, the government funding money for fiscal year 2010 is said to be about 700 million yen. The number of participating companies is said to be 11, including Hamamatsu Photonics, Furukawa, and Mitsubishi Chemical.
Miyachi disclosed on July 30 2010, in Japanese, that it is also a member of the ALPROT.