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Overseas visitors

The six members of Bandung Institute of Technology (ITB) led by Rector Akhmaloka visited Tsukuba Central 7 and had a talk with AIST Vice-President Yamazaki and Director Wakita of the Geoinformation Center, AIST.

The party was comprised of ITB Rector Akhmaloka, Vice Rector Abidin, Vice Rector Irwati, Prof. Sude and two researchers, graduates of ITB presently belonging to a Japanese university and institute. Dr. Saepuloh Asep of AIST, also a graduate of ITB, led the party as their guide.

The party headed by Rector Akhmaloka arrived in Japan on June 10 to attend the science and technology workshop held by Indonesian and Japanese institutions every year, and they visited AIST after visiting Japan Atomic Energy Agency in Tokai village.

Following the introduction about AIST given by Vice-President Yamazaki, Rector Akhmaloka also gave a general description of ITB. In addition, Director Wakita of the Geoinformation Center gave a report of the research activities in the fields of geology, and Dr. Saepuloh Asep gave a report of the analysis of volcanic activities based on satellite data.

Since there are many earthquakes and volcanic disasters in Indonesia as there are in Japan, Rector Akhmaloka asked for collaborative research with AIST for the mitigation of earthquake and volcanic disasters in addition to petroleum and mineral exploration and marine geological survey.

AIST has been already active in collaborative research with Indonesia. For example, the Agency for the Assessment and Application of Technology (BPPT) and AIST concluded a comprehensive MOU on research cooperation. With this visit, further collaboration in research related to the geological fields including seismological and volcanic research is expected.

On February 8, 2011, Minister Tora Aasland, the Ministry of Research and Higher Education of the Kingdom of Norway visited AIST Tsukuba, and held talks with Senior Vice-President Akira Ono and Vice-President Masakazu Yamazaki.

Minister Aasland visited Japan from February 6 to 9, and came to Tsukuba to visit AIST as well as Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency. At AIST, there were greetings from Senior Vice-President Ono and an overview presentation of AIST by Director Koichi Sakuta of the International Affairs Division; and from the minister, an explanation of the purpose of her visit of deepening research collaboration and promoting exchange of young personnel, and these were followed by lively questions and answers.

Subsequently, there were presentations concerning the fields of "monozukuri" or "manufacturing" and environment and energy, in which collaborative research with Norway is very active. The former was presented by Director Norio Matsuki of the Collaboration Promotion Division, and the latter by Deputy Director Katsuhiko Kadoguchi of the Energy Technology Research Institute. Furthermore, Senior Researcher Takanori Shibata of the Intelligent Systems Research Institute gave a demonstration and explanation of the baby seal robot, Paro, already introduced to Norway. The minister and about 20 attendants looked on with great interest.

There are three research institutes in Norway which have concluded comprehensive memoranda of understanding on research cooperation with AIST, and there is active research collaboration as mentioned above. With this visit, we are expecting to see further development in these areas.