Tokyo Tech signs organizational alliance agreement with Komatsu Ltd.

Komatsu Ltd. and Tokyo Tech have signed an organizational alliance agreement to promote joint research and development of innovative technologies. The agreement, signed on April 1, 2015, focuses on collaboration in the following three areas:

1.

Innovative technologies in the fields of machinery, electricity, materials, and information and communication for construction machinery required in the future.

2.

Advanced visualization technologies for measurement, analysis, CAE (computer-aided engineering), and other methods related to elucidation of phenomena.

3.

Element technologies to support solutions for future construction and mining.

In this collaboration, a Collaborative Research Chair for innovative technologies of construction machinery was established in the Graduate School of Science and Engineering at Tokyo Tech. Researchers under this Chair will conduct research on tribology technology* with the aim of improving hydraulic equipment, a key component of construction machinery. Under an interdisciplinary research system, Tokyo Tech researchers in the fields of machinery, materials, and chemistry will work together with Komatsu researchers to improve technology and develop talents in the field of tribology. Tokyo Tech is the fifth Japanese university to form an agreement with Komatsu after Yokohama National University, Osaka University, Kanazawa University and the University of Tokyo. For Tokyo Tech, this is the fifteenth organizational alliance agreement with a corporation.

*

tribology technology : Technology related to surface phenomena such as wear, lubrication, rubbing, and seizure

Komatsu Director and CTO Fujitoshi Takamura (left) and Tokyo Tech President Yoshinao Mishima

Outline of the Collaborative Research Chair