The 58th Battery Symposium of Japan, Chairman

Shigeto Okada

Institute for Materials Chemistry and Engineering
Kyushu University

Since the Yai dry battery (1892), NiCd battery (1963), NiMH battery (1990), Li-ion battery (1991), and NAS battery (2003) have been first commercialized in Japan and the battery industry has been developed as a Japanese specialty. Nowadays, next generation batteries are strongly desired as new key devices to replace semiconductors, and we are entering a turning point of Japan's industrial structure from the electronics-oriented nation to the power storage-oriented nation. Industrial fields to which batteries have been pulled are steadily expanding from information communication devices to home appliances, automobiles, and grid storage power sources, and the importance and social impact of the research and development are also increasing more and more.

60 years ago, to exchange the new data and share the new idea about the battery technology, this Battery Symposium of Japan was started by the committee of battery technology of Japan and has grown to become one of the biggest academic meetings about advanced battery in the world.

More than 500 lectures are held each year at 9 venues over 3 days, and more than 2000 participants gather from home and abroad. In 1983, I participated in the Battery Symposium of Japan for the first time. At the time, there were no cellular phone, no note PC and no EV in the market. But, in the last decades, the developments of the battery technology have realize them. And this year also, I'm very excited about what new materials and new technologies will be presented at Fukuoka and what kind of future they will bring to us.

This is the forth Fukuoka meeting, following 2002, 2007, and 2012. Although the regular participants may be familiar with the Fukuoka's famous sake and delicious special foods, please join the banquet at Nov, 15th to find the new Fukuoka's specialties, again. If we can provide a place for exchange of fruitful battery society beyond organization and country, nothing could please us more than this as organizers. On the behalf of the local organizing committee, I am looking forward to meeting you all and discussing about future battery at Fukuoka!