Mitsubishi Chemical Corporation (MCC; Head Office, Chiyoda-ku,
Tokyo; President, Kanji Shono) has recently reached a fundamental agreement with
the University of California, Santa Barbara (UCSB) for the establishment of a
comprehensive interdisciplinary research and development alliance in the following
two areas:
(a) Advanced Functional Materials
(b) Solid State Lighting and Displays
MCC and UCSB will establish on the UCSB Campus the
"Mitsubishi Chemical-Center
for Advanced Materials (MC-CAM)", when the formal agreement is concluded,
and will conduct a joint research and development activity. MCC will provide UCSB
with funds, which will be used to support research themes selected by MC-CAM among
those proposed by MCC to the UCSB professors. Also, MCC will have the exclusive
right to use the results of the funded research.
The quality of the research at UCSB in the area of advanced functional materials
is in the world's top class, as demonstrated by a significant number of breakthrough
contributions, including the work of two 2000 Nobel laureates, Professor A. Heeger
(Chemistry) and Professor H. Kroemer (Physics), both of whom have joint appointments
in the Materials Department. MCC will select the research themes that match with
the core business strategies of the MCC Group, among the high-level research themes
proposed by the UCSB professors, and will commercialize the research results of
the joint work at MC-CAM. Among the research themes to be considered by MCC are
the following:
Novel designs of advanced opto-electronic materials and devices; organic semiconductors,
Els, LEDs, TFTs, lasers and wires; biomaterials and biosensors; nanotechnology;
high-precision manufacturing technologies at the nanoscale;
compound semiconductors.
Professor Stephanopoulos (MCC, CTO) and Professor Tirrell (UCSB, Dean of Engineering)
will form the core of MC-CAM's Governing Board, and define strategic research
directions. The operations of MC-CAM will be directed by Professor Glenn Fredrickson
(MC-CAM, Director) and Dr. Kenichi Yoshie (MC-CAM, Co- Director), President of
MC Research & Innovation Center, Inc. (MC-RIC), a research and development
arm of MCC in California.
In addition, MCC has decided to provide funds to the UCSB's "Center for Solid
State Lighting and Displays" (Director: Professor Shuji Nakamura). These funds
will establish at UCSB a Chaired Professorship with the title "MCC Professorship
in Solid State Lighting and Displays", and will support the research activities
of the Center. MCC will be able to use the research results of the Center, along
with the other sponsoring organizations.
MCC plans to provide US$12.5 million for MC-CAM related R&D and US$2.5 million
for R&D relating to the Center for Solid State Lighting and Displays or a
total of US$15 million for R&D in these two fields for the coming five years.
With this two-prong comprehensive R&D alliance with UCSB, MCC expects to conduct
research activities for the MCC-Group at higher levels of scientific and technological
sophistication, higher efficiency, and broader range of manufacturing situations.
