The Certification Ceremony for "Professor of Industrial Collaboration," "Associate Professor of Industrial Collaboration" and "Distinguished Laboratory of Industrial Collaboration" was held on Tuesday, June 1, 2021.

The number of joint research activities with private enterprises and research programs　commissioned by the private sector has been steadily rising every year, which reflects business community's strong interest in tapping into academic and human resources of Japanese educational institutions.

In April 2021, Gifu University launched the new system. Under the system, special titles are conferred on academic staff members if they receive funding that exceeds the university's cap on receiving funds for joint/commissioned projects from private enterprises and organizations, etc. Implementation of joint/commissioned research activities or programs with private business is expected to further accelerate collaboration between industry and academia.

In the ceremony, President Hisataka Moriwaki handed the certificates to the following professors who are acknowledged as recipients of the titles:

- Associate Professor Yoshinori Yoshida (Faculty of Engineering) appointed as "Professor of Industrial Collaboration"

- Assistant Professor Masaki Ochiai (Faculty of Applied Biological Sciences) appointed as "Associate Professor of Industrial Collaboration"

- Professor Atsushi Yashima (Faculty of Engineering) assigned to work for "Distinguished Laboratory of Industrial Collaboration"(additional post)

- Associate Professor Yoshinori Yoshida (Faculty of Engineering) assigned to work for "Distinguished Laboratory of Industrial Collaboration"(additional post)

"I wish you all the best in your new assignments," said President Moriwaki.

Under the new system, we will step up our efforts to "give back to a community" through robust industry-academia collaboration in the years to come.