Director-General Tatsuo Katsura, Dr. Pharm.

 
Welcome to the Hokkaido National Industrial Research Institute World Wide Web pages. The Hokkaido National Industrial Research Institute (HNIRI) was established in 1960 in Sapporo as the 12th research institute under AIST, MITI, for the purpose of promoting mining and manufacturing in Hokkaido area. In 1993, the institute's name was changed from the Government Industrial Development Laboratory, Hokkaido, to the present name. Since then, taking advantages of the characteristics of Hokkaido area, we are concentrating most of our efforts on the two research fields, which are "Cryogenic Science and Technology" and "Micro-gravity Engineering", to promote creative and innovative research. In "Cryogenic Science and Technology", we conduct researches into low-temperature biotechnology and industrial technology at low temperatures. In "Micro-gravity Engineering", aiming at the creation of industrial technology that employs micro-gravity environments, we are mainly studying the synthesis of functional materials under short-time micro-gravity environments obtainable by the use of free drop facilities.
    Towards the 21st century, the importance of enhancing the industrial competitiveness of this country has been strongly pointed out for these years. In accord with this, there are great hopes that national research institutes play important roles in the research and development of the strategic core technology. To meet the request, we continue our efforts to contribute to the creation of new industrial technology through the production of innovative research results. I greatly appreciate any advice or comments as well as your support and encouragement to meet the above goals.