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Message from the Director

Dr. Hideki
Hosoda

Room: R2-108
E-mail：
director(at)first.iir.titech.ac.jp
Please replace “(at)” with “@”.

Greetings from Hideki Hosoda, the new Director of the Laboratory for Future Interdisciplinary Research of Science and
Technology (FIRST).

The Laboratory for Future Interdisciplinary Research of Science and Technology, FIRST, was established in April 2016
at the Institute of Innovative Research, Tokyo Institute of Technology. In October 2024, the Tokyo Institute of
Technology and Tokyo Medical and Dental University have merged to form a new university, the Institute of Science
Tokyo. As part of this transition, FIRST has been reorganized into the Institute of Integrated Research (IIR), which
encompasses six research laboratories from the former universities. At the new university, all members of FIRST are
dedicated to contributing to the advancement of science and technology, as well as to society. Your continued support
for FIRST is greatly appreciated.

Regarding the laboratory’s history, FIRST was the largest research laboratory at the Tokyo Institute of Technology
and it is also the largest in Institute of Science Tokyo, comprising approximately 100 faculty members who engage in a
wide range of research areas, including mechanical engineering, electrical and electronic engineering, materials
science and engineering, information science and technology, environmental engineering, urban disaster prevention
engineering, social engineering, and more.

The mission of FIRST is to “contribute to academia and industry by creating new interdisciplinary fields of research
with a broad research background and developing technologies applicable to the real world.” We actively promote
collaboration between industry and academia to address the needs of contemporary society while fostering the
foundations for next-generation technologies that will shape the future over the next 30 years. In pursuit of this
mission, we collaborate not only within the university but also with external partners to expand research and
development into various industrial and medical domains.

One notable initiative is the “Biomedical Engineering Research Center”, a networked joint research center established
in FY2016 by the Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology of Japan (MEXT). This center aims to
develop new medical technologies by integrating functions across medicine, dentistry, and engineering, fostering new
research fields through collaboration with the Research Institute of Nanodevice (Hiroshima University), the Research
Institute of Electronics (Shizuoka University), the Laboratory of Biomaterials and Bioengineering (Former Tokyo
Medical and Dental University, now Institute of Science Tokyo), and FIRST. The first phase of this project concluded
in 2021, and the second phase is currently underway, with an emphasis on promoting collaboration among medical,
dental, and engineering disciplines following the integration of the new university in October.

Additionally, many faculty members are engaged in research that combines medical and dental engineering through the
collaborative Innovative Dental-Engineering Alliance with Tohoku University Graduate School of Dentistry since 2016.
We also have core research areas in AI, quantum nanoelectronics, and heterogeneous function integration, alongside
large-scale industry-academia collaborations such as the Komatsu Collaborative Research Cluster for Innovative
Technologies, the NSK Tribology Collaborative Research Cluster, and the LG Material & Life Solution Collaborative
Research Cluster. Nanospace Catalysis Unit and Digital Twin Unit are further examples of our innovative initiatives.
Furthermore, FIRST opens its doors to the public during annual open-house events to showcase and share the outcomes of
our research with industry and society.

We believe that the strength of the Laboratory for Future Interdisciplinary Research in Science and Technology lies
in its ability to bring together researchers from diverse disciplinary backgrounds, enabling them to achieve
world-class results while cooperating to explore new areas and address pressing social issues. Social contribution and
international cooperation are critical missions for us, as we strive to respond to societal challenges and create a
hopeful future through these efforts. We welcome your feedback, opinions, and concerns, and we look forward to your
continued support.

September, 2024
Director, Professor

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