The National Institute for Materials Science (NIMS) and Denki Kagaku Kogyo (DENKA) Establish the "NIMS-DENKA Center of Excellence for Next Generation Materials"

On June 3, 2013, the National Institute for Materials Science (hereinafter, NIMS; President: Sukekatsu Ushioda; Head Office: Tsukuba City, Ibaraki Prefecture) and Denki Kagaku Kogyo Kabushiki Kaisha (hereinafter, DENKA; President & CEO: Shinsuke Yoshitaka; Head Office: Chuo-ku, Tokyo) signed an agreement on the establishment of the "NIMS-DENKA Center of Excellence for Next Generation Materials."
The aims of the Center of Excellence (COE) are to identify the needs of industry and promote the discovery and development of new research fields and "seed" technologies at a world-leading level, and to contribute to the creation of an eco-conscious society by utilizing research outcomes in next-generation environmental and energy materials.

NIMS and DENKA have already built a longstanding partnership by technological development combining the technologies and ideas of the two organizations, and commercialization in global markets of unique products such as LaB6 single crystals, which are widely used as an electron source for electron microscopes, and phosphors for white LED backlights.
However, in recent years, environmental changes in the global marketplace and constantly-changing customer needs have required innovation at a faster pace than in the past. The new COE was established in order to strengthen the capabilities of the "open innovation" that creates innovative products and solution models.