"Science Plaza 2012", an open-house event of NTT Basic Research Laboratories (BRL), was held at NTT Atsugi R&D Center on Friday, December 14th, 2012. Under the banner "Frontier Science: Open Door to the Future", Science Plaza aimed to disseminate our latest research accomplishments through various sections of people inside and outside of NTT and to gather diverse opinions. Following an opening address from Dr. Toshiki Makimoto, the director of BRL, one of distinguished technical members of BRL, Dr. Shiro Saito gave a lecture on "Quantum Information Processing using Superconductivity ― Development of Quantum Memory for Superconducting Quantum Bits". In the afternoon session, Prof. Koichi Kitazawa, Adviser to President, Japan Science and Technology Agency, gave a special lecture entitled "Renewable energies in the world". Each lecture was well-attended and followed by heated question-andanswer sessions. As regards the poster exhibits, 52 posters, including 21 from NTT Microsystem Integration Laboratories, Photonics Laboratories, Communication Science Laboratories, and Energy and Environment Systems Laboratories presented our latest research accomplishments. While explaining the originality and impact as well as the future prospects of our research accomplishments, these posters were intensively discussed, and many meaningful opinions were heard. This year’s "Lab Tour" ― a guided tour of research facilities at NTT BRL that has been receiving high reputation from visitors over the years ― took place at four different labs, so that as many people as possible could join the tour. This time we also opened a booth to show the NTT R&D recruitment system for job-seeking researchers and students. After all lectures, presentations, and exhibitions, a banquet was held in Center’s dining room, where lively conversation among participants deepened their amity. About 180 people from research institutes, universities, and general industries, as well as from NTT Group, attended Science Plaza 2012. Thanks to the efforts of all participants, the conference ended on a high note. We would thus like sincerely to express our gratitude to all of the participants. |
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