1. Why was this center established?

In March 2019, the Japanese Government announced its interest in the ILC plan and its intention to continue with an international exchange of opinions.

At the ICFA / LCB (International Committee for Future Accelerators/Linear Collider Board) meeting in February 2020, the Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology (MEXT) and a non-partisan group of parliament members explained the status of the ILC plan in Japan. After this explanation, ICFA stated its support of construction of ILC in Japan, and proposed that an International Development Team (IDT) be established at KEK (High Energy Accelerator Research Organization) that would work on the transition to the preparatory stage of the ILC project.

For the next 1 to 1.5 years, the IDT is expected to design the ILC organization that will be set up in the preparatory stage and other work needed to transition to the next stage.

Furthermore, the European Strategy for Particle Physics was updated in June 2020, where it was stated that “an electron-positron Higgs factory is the highest priority next collider.” The timely realization of the ILC would be compatible with this strategy and, in that case, the European particle physics community would wish to collaborate. The United States had already expressed its support, and now Europe’s cooperative stance has also become clear.

Up until now, the Tohoku ILC Preparation Office, which was established by Tohoku ILC Promotion Council that collaborates with industry-academic-government in Tohoku to realize ILC, has worked to formulate the “Tohoku Master Plan” and developed various activities in order to create a momentum across the country towards the ILC. It has also worked to prepare the area to receive the ILC.

Due to the great changes in international trends regarding the ILC, the candidate site of Tohoku decided to cooperate with the research community (including the IDT formed on August 2, 2020) in order to push forth specific deliberations in how the local region can become the main actor in readying itself to receive the ILC. Various officials came together to discuss how to form a new organization made up of local governments in the candidate site area as well as domestic organizations, and they established the Tohoku ILC Project Development Center as the successor organization to the Tohoku ILC Preparation Office.

2. Date of establishment

August 6, 2020

3. Member Groups

  • Tohoku University
  • Iwate University
  • Iwate Prefectural University
  • Miyagi Prefecture
  • Sendai City
  • Kesennuma City
  • Tome City
  • Kurihara City
  • Osaki City
  • Iwate Prefecture
  • Morioka City
  • Ofunato City
  • Hanamaki City
  • Kitakami City
  • Tono City
  • Ichinoseki City
  • Rikuzentakata City
  • Oshu City
  • Nishiwaga Town
  • Kanegasaki Town
  • Hiraizumi Town
  • Sumita Town
  • Iwate International Linear Collider Promotion Council
    (23 groups in total)

4. Executives

Director Atsuto Suzuki(President of Iwate Prefectural University)
Assistant to the Director Katsushige Takahashi(Iwate Prefecture ILC Promotion Bureau Director)
Auditor Makoto Ota(Head of the Morioka City International Linear Collider Promotion Secretariat)
Masahiro Murakami(Kesennuma City Earthquake Reconstruction and Planning Department ILC Promotion Office Manager)

5. Activities

  1. Examine issues that should be tackled by the region in order to improve the area around the ILC construction candidate site, as well as to construct the research facility
  2. Examine forms of system and town development that will be able to accept the settlement of foreign researchers and their families
  3. Carry out activities promoting local residents’ understanding of the ILC
  4. Examine the impact of the ILC’s construction on the natural environment, society, economy, and more
  5. Examine how to use local resources and develop the region during the establishment of the research facility
  6. Examine ways to promote accelerator-related industries
  7. Any other projects necessary to achieve the purpose of this committee

6. Seminars on the ILC (visiting lectures)

The Tohoku ILC Project Development Center sends out lecturers (researchers and members of the center itself) to improve people’s understanding about ILC.

Examples of seminar content

  • Recent developments of the ILC   
  • Significance of the ILC
  • Safety measures for the ILC

Please refer to the following guidelines and contact Tohoku ILC Project Development Center Secretariat (Iwate Prefecture ILC Promotion Bureau 019-629-5217) for details.

Guidelines

Seminar locations Within the Tohoku area
Applications We are always taking applications. (Please contact us at least 3 months before your desired date so that we can arrange the dates with researchers. In some cases, we may have to adjust dates.)
Seminar size 10 or more people.

※Please note that we may not be able to accept your request because of scheduling issues.
※The lecturer will use their own computer but please prepare a projector and screen.