TANAKA Memorial Foundation to offer Precious Metals Research Grants

Applications will be accepted from Japanese educational institutions and public research institutes conducting research and development using precious metals.

In this 24th year of the research grant, recipients will receive 5 million yen for the Platinum Award, 2 million yen for the Gold Award, 1 million yen for the Silver Award, 1 million yen for the Young Researcher Award, and 300,000 yen for the Encouragement Award. Applications for the Precious Metals Research Grants are open to themes in all fields related to new technology and research and development in which precious metals can make a contribution. Applications can be submitted using the application form on the TANAKA Memorial Foundation website, and, after strict examination, award recipients will be announced at the end of March 2023. The TANAKA Memorial Foundation aims to contribute to the development and cultivation of new fields for precious metals and to the development of science, technology, and the social economy by conducting activities that enable more people to experience a prosperous society.

This programme is being implemented to help support the various challenges faced in the "new world opened up by precious metals." Last year, the research on "Enhancing development of model-based design and production technologies for electronic parts containing precious metals" won a Gold Award for being able to significantly contribute toward the development of processing technologies and improvement of performance through the development of model-based designs using numerical analysis methods – represented by methods such as the finite element method – to minimise cost and takt time related to product design, prototyping, and process design.

Another Gold Award was presented for research and development on "Formation of backside power delivery network using precious metal wires" related to the formation of precious metal wires, which is an element technology for three-dimensional mounting that is gaining attention as an integration technology for advanced logic devices. Overview of the 2022 Precious Metals Research Grants Theme: Themes that involve any of the following: new technologies to which precious metals can make a contribution, research related to precious metals that will bring innovative evolution to products, or research and development of new products using precious metals Grant Amounts:

• Platinum Award: 5 million yen (1 award)
• Gold Award: 2 million yen (1 award)
• Silver Awards: 1 million yen (4 awards)
• Young Researcher Awards: 1 million yen (2 awards)
• Encouragement Award: 300,000 yen (several awards)
  • The grant amount is treated as a scholarship donation.
  • Awards may not be granted in some cases.
  • The number of awards is subject to change.

Eligible Candidates: Personnel who belong to (or work for) educational institutions in Japan (universities, graduate schools, or technical colleges) or public and related research institutions may participate.

• As long as the applicant is affiliated with a research institution in Japan, the base of activity can be in Japan or overseas.
• The Young Researcher Awards are for researchers under the age of 37 as of April 1, 2022.

Application Period: 9am, September 1, 2022 - 5pm, November 30, 2022 Application Method:

Enter the required information on the application form available on the TANAKA Memorial Foundation website and upload details of the research (papers and supplementary material on the theme).

Announcement: Results will be announced on the TANAKA Memorial Foundation website around the end of March 2023.

• TANAKA will contact the award recipients directly.

Conditions: Research content that falls under any of the following

• New technology related to precious metals
• Research and development related to precious metals that bring about innovative evolution in products
• Research and development of new products using precious metals
  • Precious metal refers to eight elements of platinum, gold, silver, palladium, rhodium, iridium, ruthenium and osmium.
  • If development is conducted jointly (or planned to be) with other material manufacturers, please indicate so.
  • Products that have already been commercialised, put to practical use, or that are planned are not eligible.

Inquiries Concerning the Research Grant Programme:

Precious Metals Research Grants Office Global Marketing / R&D Supervisory Department, TANAKA Kikinzoku Kogyo K.K. 22F Tokyo Building, 2-7-3 Marunouchi, Chiyoda-ku, Tokyo 100-6422

E-mail: joseikin@ml.tanaka.co.jp

TANAKA Memorial Foundation website: https://tanaka-foundation.or.jp