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December 23, 2025

The 5th QUP Synergy Summit (QSS5) was held on Wednesday, November 19, 2025, at QUP satellite in Toyota Central R&D Labs.

The 5th QUP Synergy Summit (QSS5) was held on Wednesday, November 19, 2025, at QUP research satellite in Toyota Central R&D Labs., Inc. (TCRDL) / Aichi Prefecture.

This summit provides a new platform for industry-academia collaboration between QUP/KEK and industrial partners, based on one of the WPI (World Premier International Research Center Initiative) program's missions “Values for the Future / Societal Value of Basic Research”. QUP facilitates the matching of academic research seeds with industry needs by organizing a series of topical meetings and information-sharing sessions. This fifth meeting was attended by approximately 30 participants, primarily from the Toyota Group.

Opening remarks were given by Dr. Kensuke Takechi, Head of the QUP satellite in TCRDL, who reviewed the progress and current status of the QSS initiative. He reported that a collaborative research project involving three Toyota Group companies and three academic institutions, including KEK, had begun to develop technologies for predicting semiconductor soft errors caused by cosmic rays, as discussed in the first to third QSS meetings, and that muon irradiation experiment had been conducted as part of this project.

Three keynote presentations were then delivered to introduce seeds of basic research with the aim of exploring further collaboration between industry and academia. The scientific vision of the new QUP, which aims to utilize quantum technologies for measuring extremely weak signals in developing of various sensors, was presented by Prof. Toshiyuki Azuma, Deputy Director of QUP. This will enable the search for dark matter, the detection of gravitational waves, and the exploration of new physics beyond the Standard Model.

The next speaker, Prof. Norikazu Mizuochi, QUP Affiliate member (Institute for Chemical Research (ICR), Kyoto University), comprehensively described details of a quantum sensor using diamond NV centers. This type of sensor is promising to realize ultra-high sensitivity comparable to superconducting quantum interference devices (SQUIDs) at room temperature. His presentation covered the fundamentals, a wide range of applications, and trends among domestic and international industries.

Lastly, Associate Prof. Yuichiro Matsuzaki from the Faculty of Science and Engineering at Chuo University explained a theoretical framework for IoT (Internet of Things) that guarantees complete cryptographic security by employing quantum phenomena. This serves as an idea for security measures in the rapidly advancing field of IoT. He proposed highly efficient, high-speed, secure information processing systems and multifunctional devices, achieved by integrating and combining quantum sensors, quantum computers, and quantum communication. Discussions also covered future social implementation of the system.

QUP plans to continue holding regular meetings at QUP satellite in TCRDL and addressing various topics in the future by using this QSS framework.

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