Greeting of establishment of Collaborative Center for Reserch on Innovative Simulation Software

In the twenty-first century, computational simulation is a field in which there are great expectations. A national project was launched in 2006 to develop ultrafast computers , with a total budget of over 115 billion yen. Unfortunately, R&D of practical computational simulation software to make the best use of ultrafast computers is behind schedule. In addition, private industry has not been able to erect a system to take full advantage of large-scale simulations. Thus, there is a pressing need to develop practical advanced simulation software, to better introduce this software to industry, and to train people to use the applications.

Given this backdrop, the Institute of Industrial Science (IIS) lead in the large-scale ?rontier Simulation Software for Industrial Science·Project?from 2002 to 2005, with a 3.6 billion yen budget?sponsored by the Information Division of the Research Promotion Bureau at the Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology (MEXT). The software developed by this Project was introduced to industry for use in enterprise servers and PC clusters to enable ultrafast computing. Software from this Project also became core application used in the Earth Simulator.

Carrying on from these achievements, the Center for Research on Innovative Simulation Software was established in January 2008 under the IIS for the purpose of 1) strengthening education, research, and development of simulation software, 2) spreading R&D results to industry, and 3) training human resources to work with simulation applications. Specifically, the Center is focusing on five areas: 1) analysis of large-scale proteins based on quantum chemical simulation, 2) onset and prognosis of aneurisms and arteriosclerosis based on interaction analysis between blood flow and vessel walls in the human body, 3) property prediction of nano devices based on first principle calculations, 4) development of general-purpose coupled analysis software to support a framework of innovation in the field of engineering, and 5) based on computational science, development of urban safety simulation software to promote safety during a disaster.

In the research and development of advanced simulation software, the Collaborative Research Center of Frontier Simulation Software for Industrial Science, which is the predecessor of the new Center, cooperated with many organizations, including the School of Engineering (University of Tokyo), the National Institute of Materials Science (NIMS), the National Institute of Health Sciences (NIHS), the Research Organization for Information Science and Technology (RIST), Keio University, Rikkyo University, Tohoku University, and Hokkaido University. Going forward, the new Center would like to build upon this framework of cooperation to continue the development of simulation software. In addition, because it is impossible to develop truly practical simulation without the participation of the final users, it is essential for the new Center to cooperate closely with private industry. Therefore, while verifying the effectiveness of the software, the new Center will collaborate with industry, pay regular close attention to their needs, and thereby promote the development of truly practical simulation software.

Center Director,
Professor: Chisachi Kato

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