German Innovation Award 2015 Awards Presented

The winners received a prize money of 2,500,000 Yen and a short-term scholarship at a university or research institute in Germany.

The award ceremony began with a welcome address by Manfred Hoffmann, delegate of German Industry and Commerce in Japan. Afterwards, Stefan Herzberg, charge d’affaires at the Embassy of the Federal Republic of Germany in Japan, stressed the importance of the German Innovation Award for the cooperation between industry and science for both Japan and Germany. This was followed by a guest address from Shunichi Yamaguchi, minister of state for science and technology policy, who mentioned the friendly ties between Germany and Japan for more than 150 years and expressed his hope that the awardees of the German Innovation Award will strive to further improve mutual relations between both countries.

After a brief musical interlude with the accomplished pianist Yuko Yamaguchi, Prof. Dr. Aizawa, Counselor to the President of the Japan Science and Technology Agency (JST) and chairman of the jury for the German Innovation Award, introduced the winners and highlighted their outstanding scientific work. He then presented them each with the award certificate, while representatives of the partner companies presented the trophies and the ceremonial envelope of the prize notification. Representatives of the German Academic Exchange Service (DAAD) and the German Research Foundation (DFG) awarded the scholarship certificates. The award ceremony was concluded with short presentations by the winners about their research.

Around 250 invited guests from academia, industry, politics and media attended the award ceremony at the Grand Hyatt Tokyo. The award ceremony was followed by a reception that gave the winners and the guests the opportunity to celebrate this festive occasion.

About the German Innovation Award

Established by German companies with research interests in Japan and the German Chamber of Commerce and Industry in Japan in 2008, the award’s goal is to foster bilateral exchange between business and science and support the development of German-Japanese networks and research cooperation. Every year, promising young Japan-based scientists are awarded for outstanding research contributions. There are four research fields, all of which have equal weight: 1) Mobility 2) Materials 3) Life Sciences 4) Energy & Industry. The award is named after the German scientist and mathematician Gottfried Wagener, who played an instrumental role in building the modern Japanese academic landscape.
After a first evaluation by the partner companies, expert members chosen from universities throughout Japan further evaluate the applications. A 5-person jury headed by Prof. Dr. Masuo Aizawa then chooses the winners out of the finalists of these two evaluation rounds.

German Innovation Award – Gottfried Wagener Prize 2015 Awardees

Research field: Mobility
Prof. Dr. Shinichi Komaba
Tokyo University of Science
“Development of New Materials for Next Generation Batteries”

Research field: Materials
Dr. Hossein Sepehri-Amin
National Institute for Materials Science (NIMS)
“Development of Dy-Free High Performance Nd-Fe-B Permanent Magnets by Engineering of the Grain Boundary Phase”
Team Member: Dr. Takahiro Akiya, National Institute for Materials Science

Research field: Life Sciences
Prof. Dr. Takuro Ideguchi
The University of Tokyo
“High-Speed Label-Free Coherent Raman Spectro-Imaging with Laser Frequency Combs”

Research field: Energy and Industry
Dr. Yoshitaka Tateyama
National Institute for Materials Science (NIMS)
“Theoretical Elucidation of Reaction Mechanism on Electrolyte Interface in Lithium-Ion Battery with Highly-Efficient Use of Supercomputers”
Team Member: Dr. Keitaro Sodeyama, Kyoto University

More information on the German Innovation Award homepage