The Japanese Ambassador to the UK, Hajime Hayashi, visited Imperial to see some of the growing research ties the university has with Japan.

The Ambassador met with Imperial leaders, academics and students, and visited laboratories that are working with Japanese industry in clean energy and sustainability. 

Imperial is committed to strengthening its academic partnerships with institutions in Japan and already works closely with many partners such as the University of Tokyo, Kyoto University and Tokyo Institute of Technology and Tokyo Medical and Dental University. Imperial has also worked with over 25 Japanese businesses in the past decade, in projects worth approximately $17 million. 

The Ambassador met Imperial’s President Hugh Brady and Vice President (International) Maggie Dallman, and Professor Masao Takata, from the Department of Surgery & Cancer, to explore future research collaborations. 

President Brady said: “International collaboration is essential and Japan has long been an important partner for Imperial across research and innovation. By combining our academic resources and expertise with industry’s capacity to drive forward real-world advances, we can tackle the greatest challenges facing industry and society.”     

The Ambassador visited the MHIET-Imperial Future Boosting Innovation Centre, which is led by Professor Ricardo Martinez-Botas. The research centre aims to improve turbocharger design and develop cleaner engines. 

The Centre carries out detailed research on state-of-the-art turbocharger and exhaust energy technologies to improve engine performance and operation, and enable low carbon engine technology. 

The Ambassador also visited the Hitachi-Imperial Digital Energy Demonstrator, a real-time test bed for energy network control technologies. Dr Phil Clemow gave a demonstration of the research into power grid control and modelling, and how future UK power may be sourced from a range of renewable energy networks.   

The Digital Energy Demonstrator is just one example of Imperial’s growing links with Hitachi. Last year, Hitachi and Imperial launched the Centre for Decarbonisation and Natural Climate Solutions which aims to tackle key challenges in decarbonisation and climate repair. 

The organisations will work together on selected research projects, reports and white papers on the technologies needed to achieve net zero and will help train the next generation of net-zero scientists and engineers. 

Imperial and Japan 

Imperial has a long and successful history of collaborating with Japanese academics, institutes and industry. Imperial researchers have co-authored over 1,400 papers with peers in Japan in the last five years. There is also a growing community of almost 1,000 Imperial alumni in Japan.   

Earlier this year Imperial hosted a Net Zero and Healthy Future symposium with the Tokyo Institute of Technology and the Tokyo Medical and Dental University to bring together research leaders to discuss global challenges.  

Academics from Imperial and Japan highlighted how research can enable better healthcare in the future - from prevention, through disease management and better pandemic preparedness.