Message from President

Message from President, January 6, 2020

Happy New Year.

In 2019, a new period of Japan “Reiwa” began. For the Catalysis Society of Japan, which celebrated its 60th anniversary in 2018, we are very pleased to have been able to start a new history with the beginning of Reiwa. We hope that the Catalysis Society will also make fruitful social contribution in Reiwa period.
This year is the Olympic year held in every four years, and a global sport event will be held in Tokyo. The International Congress on Catalysis (ICC), the world's largest event in the field of catalysis, is also held in the Olympic Year of every four years. In this year, the 17th Congress will be held in San Diego (USA) in June. And our Catalysis Society proposed to host the 18th Congress scheduled to be held in Kyoto in 2024. If the bid is successful, it will be the largest dissemination activity on catalysis in Japan and whole over world.
The catchphrase of the Catalysis Society of Japan in the first year of Reiwa is “Dots Connecting”. We aim to expand the connection between people wider and deeper. As a first step for this purpose, we are working to enhance public relations activities so that catalysis and the Society of Catalysis are well known. We are working to enhance information dissemination not only within the Society but also to people in other fields in Japan and overseas, such as by updating the Society's website and pamphlets and making them in English.

The conventional activities of the Catalysis Society will be steadily continued. Furthermore, the followings are specific activities focused on "strategic dissemination activities".
In order to disseminate easily understandable information both domestically and internationally and report our social activities widely to society, a public relations committee consisting of members selected from various fields and a director in charge of public relations will be newly established.
The website of our Catalysis Society will be refreshed for globalization in this spring.
Update membership brochures with easy-to-follow guidance on membership benefits to increase membership for individuals and groups.
We have started planning, writing, and editing the “Comprehensive Dictionary on Catalysis” edited by the Catalysis Society of Japan, with the aim of publishing it in 2021. It will be placed in many libraries so that the catalysis can be introduced to middle and high school and undergraduate students and the general public.
Following the 10th anniversary of the Catalysis Park activity aimed at enlightenment of catalysis, events were held in various places and were well welcomed. In addition, we are creating a new demonstration video to introduce the catalysis so that it can be used for enlightenment of catalysis.
Young researchers from industry, government, and academia in their 30s have led the creation of a WG to study catalysis R & D and future activities of the Catalyst Society. We are exchanging opinions to propose fresh plans.
Regarding international exchange, in addition to the Japan-Korea and Japan-Taiwan Symposium on Catalysis scheduled to be held in 2021, a Japan-China Catalyst Symposium is planned newly to enhance exchanges with Asian countries. Preparations for the 2022 TOCAT and the International Conference on Environmental Catalysts are also on track.
In preparation for the invitation of the International Conference on Catalysts (ICC) to Japan, the ICC invitation WG and the director in charge of the ICC invitation (newly made) will take the initiative in preparing for the ICC invitation, including creating brochures, websites, logos, images and videos. We look forward to the good news of the selection results determined during the ICC San Diego held in this June.
If the bid of the ICC to Kyoto in 2024 succeeds, it will be the first time in 44 years in Japan. The human and economic burden of holding the event will be considerable, but it will be meaningful to return to our society. Most importantly, researchers from industry, government, and academia, as well as catalyst-related people across generations, work together as “one team” for the success of one major event ICC. Awareness of the world through a new strong “Dots Connecting” that connects people with each other through cooperation and success of ICC, the world's largest event, from senior and middle-age researchers of industry, government and academia to young researchers and students. I hope it will be a big step forward for the new period of the Catalysis Society of Japan.

Finally, I wish that Reiwa will be a fruitful and good period for all academic members and all those involved on catalysis.

Message from President, May 17, 2019

Congratulations on the beginning of REIWA new period in peace.

It is my great honor to have been appointed as a president of Catalysts Society of Japan. I will do my best to manage the Catalysts Society of Japan in cooperation with other directors. I would like to thank for all in advance of the Society members.

The Catalysts Society of Japan celebrated its 60th anniversary last year. For 30 years in Showa period and 30 years in Heisei period, the Catalysts Society of Japan has made various social contributions not only by providing many opportunities for information exchange on catalysis and interaction among catalysis researchers, but also by promoting academic and technological development. In Reiwa new period (from 2019 May),　for continuous and extensive development of the Catalysis Society, it is essential not only to explore the catalysis science deeply, but also to explore boundaries to integrate and collaborate with different fields. We would like to aim at society activities with a strong sense of role of "catalyst that firmly connects people" on building wider network. For this purpose, it is essential for the Catalysis Society to make research and technology development, general enlightenment activities for the general public, nurturing young researchers, collaboration between industry-government-academia and between various generations, progress of various research divisions and further activation of international exchange activities, etc. In addition to making it distinctive, it is necessary to send more easily understandable information to the inside and outside of our Catalysis Society.

We will advertise “strategizing public relations” for “dots connecting (in people-people)” as a keyword for this year’s activity of the Catalysis Society. Together with the committee members and directors, we will place special emphasis on the following activities. The conventional activities, such as annual meetings and publication of issued journals, will be steadily continued. In particular, we aim to continue and further promote the special symposia that have received much attention, as well as a networking event between industrial researchers and students. We promote to increase the number of applications for the presentation in the Catalyst Meeting Session B, which is a young researcher's gateway to success. We will refresh the website of the Catalysis Society and make it also in English, and aim to disseminate information widely to people in and outside the country, and appeal the activities of the Catalysis Society. The activity of “Catalysis Park” aimed at enlightening catalysts for primary, secondary and high school students and general people will celebrate its 10th anniversary. With this opportunity, we will make new progress in enlightenment event activities. In addition to e-mail distribution of Society journals, in order to increase the opportunities for the general public to see the publications of Society, it is also necessary to publicize the Society editorial books (encyclopedia etc.) and arrange them in many public libraries etc. We plan to arrange opportunities of interaction among industry-government-academic young and middle age researchers who will take charge of the future of catalyst research and development, where they can get to know each other's name, face and activity, and promote to design deeper industry-government-academia collaboration through exchange of ideas for future activities of our Catalysis Society. For international exchange, we will promote exchanges with Asian countries that are progressing through bilateral symposia such as Japan-Korea, Japan-Taiwan, Japan-China etc. and cooperation activities for catalyst research with other emerging countries. We would like also to firmly prepare for the invitation of the International Conference on Catalysis to Japan for the first time in 40 years.

The greatest attraction of our Catalysis Society is that there is a tradition in which members, regardless of age or gender, have an open and honest exchange of ideas and views across disciplines. With regard to the activities of our Catalysis Society, we would like to receive the frank and open opinions from our members and aim to create an attractive academic society together.