Kick-off Meeting for Japan-Europe Joint Project to Develop Ultra-High Efficiency Photovoltaic Cells Held in Madrid, Spain

In June 2008, governments of Japan and the European Union agreed to increase collaboration on energy technologies. This agreement led to a decision by the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry (METI) and the New Energy and Industrial Technology Development Organization (NEDO) to move forward on joint projects on priority technologies within the framework of the Seventh Framework Programme for Research (FP7) implemented by the European Commission (EC). Work on one of these projects, the Next Generation Ultra-High Efficiency Concentrated Photovoltaic Cell Joint Research and Development project proposed by Professor Yamaguchi of Toyota Technological Institute (and Visiting Professor at the University of Tokyo) and Professor Okada of the University of Tokyo, began on June 1 of this year. The kick-off meeting for the project was held on June 13 and 14 at the Polytechnic University of Madrid (UPM), the research institution representing Europe, with the participation of Professor Okada of RCAST, University of Tokyo. In addition to the participating research institutions, 30 members of NEDO and the EC research agency attended. At this meeting of experts, participants introduced the energy technology initiatives of each organization and institution, and discussed the targets, schedules and details of the five Working Packages.