A schematic of
the “Materials research by Information Integration” Initiative (MI2I).
Conventionally,
materials research was carried out with combinations of experiment,
theory and
computational science. Meanwhile, independently of the advancement
in materials
science, progress has been made in the field of information integration
technology,
which uses basic technology for artificial intelligence research (e.g. big data
analysis and
machine learning), starting a new trend of data science. The “Materials
research by
Information Integration” Initiative is a strategy to incorporate such data
science
methodology into
materials science and thereby accelerate the development of new materials
and stimulate
industrial innovation. To make this new challenge a success, we will devise
packages of
tools for retrieving the data necessary for the design and development of new
materials
effectively from a massive amount of data, and evolve them into more
user-friendly
packages through
their use. The “Materials research by Information Integration” Initiative is
expected to
demonstrate a model for solving social issues in various areas including social
infrastructure,
energy and environment, information and communication, and life science.
“Materials research by Information Integration” Initiative
(MI2I)
(September 2, 2015) An
open innovation hub for promoting research on new materials was set up at NIMS
under the name of “Materials research by Information Integration” Initiative
(MI2I).
Abstract
1. NIMS (Sukekatsu
Ushioda, President) worked out a strategy to incorporate data science
methodology into materials science and thereby accelerate the development of
new materials and stimulate industrial innovation. This project was selected
for the Support program for starting up innovation hub sponsored by the Japan
Science and Technology Agency (JST). On July 1, an open innovation hub for promoting
research for materials development was set up at NIMS under the name of
“Materials research by Information Integration” Initiative (MI2I).
2. There is currently
a trend toward evolving materials science into the fourth field of science —
information-integrated science. Companies that have successfully implemented
this change in new materials design ahead of others will have an overwhelming
advantage in patent races and international competition. To achieve such
evolution, it is necessary to devise venturous new methods and develop a
dataplatform integrating a massive amount of data in materials science as
databases, the cutting-edge data science, information science and mathematics.
There is a call for intensive actions being taken through concerted efforts
among the industry, academia, and society.