AIST has developed yttrium-based oxide superconducting tapes that allow large critical current capacity in a strong magnetic field. AIST has improved the characteristics of the yttrium-based oxide superconducting tapes by fabricating ultra-fine artificial pinning centers (APCs) with uniform dispersion and high density using a chemical solution decomposition method which costs less than vapor phase methods. This has achieved a maximum critical current density of 4 mega-amperes that can flow while maintaining the superconducting state (at liquid nitrogen temperature, 65 K, per 1 cm² in a magnetic field of 3T), and the critical current value exceeds 360 amperes.

AIST has developed artificial nucleic acid reference materials as internal standards for accuracy control of analysis of microbiomes by next-generation sequencing. The 16S rRNA gene is widely used for the phylogenetic classification of microorganisms. AIST researchers designed artificial 16S rRNA reference materials to be amplified by PCR and to allow the amplified base sequences to be differentiated from natural genes during data analysis, and produced twelve types of the reference materials. When a mixture of the reference materials is used as an internal standard for microbiome analysis, the accuracy of the obtained base sequences can be evaluated and the performance of quantitative analysis can be controlled.

AIST has developed a humanoid robot prototype, HRP-5P, intended to autonomously perform heavy labor or work in hazardous environments. As a 182 cm, 101 kg robot, HRP-5P was built on HRP series technologies. Within the series, it has unsurpassed physical capabilities. Its robot intelligence comprises environmental measurement and object recognition, full-body motion planning and control, and so on. The intelligence has enabled autonomous gypsum board installation by the robot. The use of HRP-5P will accelerate R&D toward practical application of humanoid robots at building construction sites and in assembly of large structures.

AIST has developed a technology to produce high specific surface area silica, using molten slag discharged from municipal garbage disposal plants. When molten slag is chemically treated using acidic solution, the silica (SiO₂) component contained in the molten slag precipitates as a white solid. This solid is high specific surface area silica with a purity of 93% to 98% and is expected to have applications to various adsorbents. In addition, mesoporous silica with regular nanometer-sized pores can also be synthesized.

AIST has proposed a new process for design thinking, in which development plans that incorporate the customer perspective can be shared among relevant people throughout the development process. The researchers systematized the process and released it as a “dialogic design synthesis environments” prototype. The prototype has three effects: (1) treat users as professionals to get effective ideas; (2) invite makers at early planning stage to avoid back and forth in later process; and (3) bridge between artistic and technical design teams to get better user focused experience-value capturing design.

Thought experiments in combination with analogue models have elucidated the cause of the east-west contraction and crustal deformation of the Japanese islands in the Quaternary Period. It was concluded that the cause of the east-west contraction is not movement of the Pacific Plate itself, as conventionally thought, but rather movement of the Philippine Sea Plate.

AIST has elucidated the emission mechanism of the materials for next-generation organic light-emitting diodes, namely thermally activated delayed fluorescent materials, using an advanced spectroscopic technique developed by AIST. The materials were designed and developed by Kyushu University. A group of molecules with high emission efficiency has a characteristic molecular structure. The spectroscopic technique used will be sophisticated further to observe the emission process in detail.