Vol.1 No.3 2009

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Article : Launch of AIST journal Synthesiology (H. Ohsaki et al.)−211 Synthesiology - English edition Vol.1 No.3 (2009) the result of Type 2 Basic Research[1]. Certainly, research processes, which are rarely considered as topics of paper in conventional practice, are important in Type 2 Basic Research. Synthesiology looks at the research processes and views them as paper topics.Combined with discussion “Type 2 Basic Research practical application research,” we think it is correct to say Synthesiology is a journal for presenting the result of Type 2 Basic Research, particularly of practical application research (as described in Figure 2) and its research process.Next, following comments were made about Figure 2. [Sato] In some case of companies and projects, the exit of research is very clear, so the arrows may point the opposite direction. For example, when the image of the product is presented as development target (by request of business division), research is most often started by considering which basic research results are needed to fulfill the request and what kind of people will be assigned to the project.For some companies that work steadily on product development or for those that try to get specific result in short-term research project, perhaps things will be accomplished by top-down management. However in Type 1 Basic Research, research is motivated by desire to “discover the unknown.” Therefore, it is rare that newly found knowledge leads directly to commercialization. Particularly in research of basic science, it often requires long time before the result is put to use in the society or it may even get lost. Figure 2 describes the situations encountered by the researcher before the result of basic research reaches the commercialization phase.In product development where the image at the exit is very clear, if one aspires to develop an extremely ambitious product, the result of basic research result needed to realize the product cannot be found easily. Therefore, to obtain totally new basic research result and to take the basic research result obtained to commercialization, the research is conducted along the flow shown in Figure 2. In this case, one can easily imagine researchers falling into the situations described in Figure 2.4 Behind-the-scene stories and technical reportsIn the introduction of the launch of new journal, there is following passage: “…These technology integration research activities have been kept as personal know-how, however. They have not formalized in universal knowledge.” Comments were raised that this claim may cause misunderstandings.[Sato] The new journal says that it will publish research process of Type 2 Basic Research, but it is already established practice in companies to write up process leading to commercialization and behind-the-scene stories of the project. Such articles are published as technical reports or company reports. The reports of other companies of same industry can be viewed in the company library. They are also available to general public.For example, Hitachi Groups publishes the Hitachi Hyoron (http://www.hitachihyoron.com/) regularly to introduce new products and systems and to report the direction of business and technology. The title for February 2008 issue was “Special: Latest Technological Development in Electric and Energy Field”[4]. Unlike papers written by researchers of universities and research institutes, they contain descriptions of technologies and applications related to the new product, and stories during the development process, along with introduction of new products and system such as “Work on globalization of nuclear energy business” and “Features and application of Hitachi H-25 Gas Turbine.”Also, Mitsubishi Electric Technical Report[5], NEC Technical Report[6], and Toshiba Review[7] are distributed free on the Internet, and can be viewed by anyone. NTT DoCoMo Technical Journal[8] and Toyota Technical Review[9] are sold as magazines.Company and technical reports introduce and explain the activities within the organization, and in most cases do not accept submission from outside. Also articles that depart from philosophy and goal of particular corporation are not likely to be published. Also, some research fields have culture of not wanting to include knowledge of “what ought to be” and synthetic judgment. In this situation, even if the researchers who are grounded in basic research make some synthetic judgment to make the result useful to the society, there are few receptacles that allow systematic discussion of such thinking.5 Undisclosed research result[Furukawa] In Type 2 Basic Research, I think there are many cases where case-studies become research result, but aren’t there also many cases that cannot be disclosed due to non-disclosure agreements?(57)−Fig.2 Research in practical application phase.Commercialization phaseCannot be published as paperLack of supportApplication research phaseBasic research phaseLack of research fundRisk of realizing commercialization

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