On September 9-11, 2003, Nanofair 2003, organized by the Ministry of Economy, Switzerland and "TOP NANO 21", was held in St.Gallen, a city in northeastern Switzerland. "TOP NANO 21" is a technology-oriented program of nanotechnology sponsored by the Swiss government. Nanofair 2003 was the first fair held in Europe that dealt with only nanotechnology. Exhibitors were nanotechnology-related venture companies, universities and institutes mainly from Switzerland, Germany and other European countries.

AIST, in collaboration with the New Energy and Industrial Technology Development Organization (NEDO), participated as an exhibitor. "Photocatalytic Technology", "Ozone Generator" and an overview of AIST and its technology licensing activities were presented at the exhibition booth. AIST's achievements were also included as a part of NEDO's projects. Dr. Hiroshi YOKOYAMA, Director of the Nanotechnology Research Institute of AIST made a presentation at the forum of the exhibition. He explained the nanotechnology strategy and activities at AIST and in Japan .

Although Nanofair 2003, which attracted 4,500 participants in three days, was rather small in scale, a fairly good number of people came to our AIST/NEDO booth. We believe we could promote AIST's name and activities in Europe. We greatly appreciate the Japan External Trade Organization (JETRO) Geneva and Zurich Offices for their help.

AIST had a booth on photocatalytic technology at the 4^th Daegu International Automatic Machinery and Tools Exhibition 2003 (DAMEX), which was held from September 25^th to 28^th at the Daegu Exhibition Convention Center (EXCO) in Daegu, Korea.

The secretariat of DAMEX showed a strong interest in AIST and its research achievements on photocatalytic technology exhibited at Hannover Messe in Germany in April this year, and invited AIST to participate in this trade show. The visitors of the booth eagerly listened to the explanation about the effects of photocatalysts and their possible application.

We received many inquiries about this technology transfer with a view for business development. We were impressed at the widespread interest in photocatalytic technology in Korea.

On October 14, 2003, Prof. YANG Bailing, Vice President of the Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS) along with Mr. QIU Huasheng, Director of the Division of Asian, African and Latin American Affairs, Bureau of International Cooperation, CAS visited AIST Tsukuba. CAS is the highest academic institution in China with over 100 affiliated institutes all over China. The Academy covers a wide range of research fields and is one of the national organizations equivalent to a ministry.

Prof. YANG, the vice president in charge of international cooperation, is a researcher specializing in chemical laser. He had tours of the Photonics Research Institute, which is very near to his expertise, Research Center for Advanced Carbon Materials and Research Center for Glycoscience. After the tours, he met Prof. Hiroyuki YOSHIKAWA, President of AIST.

They talked amicably about the future collaboration between both institutions. As CAS is now dynamically promoting a reorganization of its affiliated institutes, it was very impressive that they showed much interest on the way the former Agency of Industrial Science and Technology was reorganized into the new AIST.

On October 20, 2003, a 25-member delegation of Sweden university presidents visited AIST Tsukuba.

Following the introduction of AIST by Dr. Tatsuo Katsura, Trustee of AIST, Dr. Hiroyuki Yoshikawa, President of AIST, explained “Full Research” that AIST has been promoting. Dr. Junji Itoh, Director of Nanoelectronics Research Institute, introduced “Full Research” examples. On behalf of the delegation, Prof. Bo Sundqvist, the President of Uppsala University, addressed greeting and introduced Sweden. Afterwards, they had a discussion on research, education and budget.

They toured the Advanced Semiconductor Research Center, where they had an overview of the Millennium Research for Advanced Information Technology Project(MIRAI Project) by Dr. Hirose, Director of Advanced Research Center. They visited a super clean room, a world-class clean room for research.