Kyushu University Energy Week 2020 Highlights.pdf

Kyushu University held its fourth annual Energy Week from January 27 to 31, 2020, under the theme "Energy Intelligence Beyond Borders: Sharing Sustainable Energy Visions." The five-day international conference featured academic workshops, symposia, and invited lectures from prominent energy researchers, as well as public events. A total of 2,700 participants from Japan and abroad attended the event, which included a special lecture by Distinguished University Professor Akira Yoshino, a Nobel laureate in chemistry.

The event aimed to promote exchange among researchers and practitioners in the energy sector and highlight Kyushu University's role as an international hub for sustainable energy research. It also brought together young researchers from overseas and Kyushu University to foster international collaborative research and education. A poster competition was organized by the Kyushu University Platform for Inter-/Transdisciplinary Energy Research (Q-PIT) to support, nurture, and discover young researchers and doctoral students responsible for future energy research.

Key events included a prologue workshop on the concept of a Regional Circular and Ecological Sphere (Regional CES), an opening ceremony with welcoming remarks by Kyushu University President Chiharu Kubo, and a plenary session on "Sustainable Energy Visions for Asia-Pacific: The Contribution of Science." The plenary session brought together prominent speakers from the ASEAN Energy Center, the Asian Development Bank, the Renewable Energy Foundation, the University of Hawaii at Manoa, and Shizen Electric Co., Ltd.

The event also featured a panel discussion, an annual poster competition for young researchers, and a special lecture by Dr. Akira Yoshino. The poster competition awarded the President's Award to Ryo Sakamoto, a Ph.D. student at the Interdisciplinary Graduate School of Engineering Sciences, and the Gold Prize for the Young Researchers/Doctoral Students Support Program to Tomoya Kageyama, a Ph.D. student at the Graduate School of Information Science and Electrical Engineering.

The third day of the event featured two workshops on sustainable energy development in Asia-Pacific, including a workshop on "Can Scientists Make a Difference? Exploring the Possibilities of Interdisciplinary Collaboration for Clean Energy Development" and a workshop on "Sustainable Energy Transitions in Asia." The event also included collaborations with various departments and institutions, including the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry, the Research Center for Hydrogen Industrial Use and Storage, and the International Institute for Carbon-Neutral Energy Research.