Twenty years have passed since the discovery of high-temperature superconductors (HTS). It is noted that such a discovery has brought about a radical change in the study of materials. Together with HTS, much attention has been given to transition metal oxides (TMO) as potential materials for new electronics. Present and future research on HTS and TMO are discussed.

The Y-123-coated conductor is expected to have the highest critical current density (J_c) among state-of-art superconducting wires. Many compact electric power devices would develop a high performance using the Y-123-coated conductors. IBAD (ion-beam-assisted-deposition) has been developed as a scheme to achieve the highest performance of Y-123 conductor. 100-m class Y-123 conductors have already been fabricated with the recent advancement in vacuum technology. A new program geared at fabricating a 500-m long Y-123 conductor by IBAD was implemented. A solenoid-type test coil was wound using a Y-123 conductor to test the feasibility of fabricating practical electric apparatuses.

Progress in major electronic devices with high-temperature oxide superconductors over the past 20 years is reviewed, focusing on fundamental technologies such as those for thin films and Josephson junctions. Commercial products have been developed for microwave filters, and various inspection instruments utilizing superconducting quantum interference devices are expected to be on the market soon. Thin film multilayer and junction technologies for single-flux-quantum integrated circuits have been established, and high-speed samplers and analog-to-digital converters are now under development.

The cathodoluminescence technique for transmission electron microscopy (TEM-CL) can directly show the relationship between the internal structures and optical properties of materials at a high spatial resolution. It enables us to investigate optical properties of individual nanostructures of different sizes. This technique can be applied to any materials that emit light by electron irradiation. Surface plasmon polaritons (SPPs) localized near a metal surface can emit light through their interaction with surface nanostructures, which enables the direct observation of SPPs in real space by TEM-CL.

Almost 20 years have passed since the discovery of HTSCs. During this period, characteristic phenomena in their physical properties have been found. Particularly, in vortex physics, it has been established both in experiments and theories that, in the fields perpendicular to the superconducting layers, thermal fluctuations and strong anisotropy induce the first-order melting transition of vortex lattice, for example. However, in the parallel fields, Josephson vortex states, especially in strongly anisotropic superconductors, have not been studied well experimentally instead of the theoretical understandings. In this report, Josephson vortex states are summarized briefly with regard to the theoretical approaches, and the present status of experiments on Josephson vortices is introduced.

The properties of high temperature superconducting quantum interference device (high Tc SQUID) have recently been improved and some of its applications are now in practical use. In particular, a food or pharmaceutical drug contaminant detection system using high Tc SQUID is now on the market. The system is getting the attention of many food manufacturers owing to the increased international concern on food safety. In this paper, the current situation of and future developments in the system will mainly be described.

Recent trends in earth environmental protection and electric power consumption in ship transportation lead to an all-electric ship with a propulsion motor driven by a generator. To realize smaller, lighter and quieter propulsion motors, high-temperature superconducting rotating machinery is under development. We are currently developing a synchronous motor with Gd-Ba-Cu-O bulk superconductors employed as rotating pole-field magnets. In this paper, we provides an overview of the crucial technologies in applied bulk superconductivity to ship propulsion motor.

Since the mid-1990s, a substantial amount of public research fund has been allocated to universities in Japan. Such a circumstance has led to the awareness that university-industry collaboration is expected to function as a fund source (for product development) and that universities may act like private companies in the market. However, a university’s conventional function as a center of free academic research and education should still be maintained. In this case, university-industry collaboration can be regarded as an activity promoting education and research from the practical point of view.

For our IT industry to survive global competition, it is important to establish a vertically integrated technology value chain based on state-of-the-art science and technology created with knowledge obtained from the university. Through the introduction of a case study of our joint research activities, I am suggesting the establishment of a demand-pull innovation system, in which both the industry and the university can share a joint vision with a clear objective, forming a new industry-university research collaborative partnership.

Recently, industry-university collaboration such as joint research between the industry and the university has been active, and has even been accelerated by turning national universities into corporations. However, with the development of such collaboration, problems have arisen. It is imperative that systematic collaboration, which would increase innovation capability, should be promoted. It is also essential that the industry and university should adequately understand the difference between their standpoints to build a win-win relationship. Furthermore, it is necessary that the industry and university enhance their respective potential through synergistic effects generated through their interactions to promote industry-university collaboration at a new level.

The present situation and possibility of organization support type collaboration operation, which was originally an industry-university collaborative business in Kyushu University, is considered in detail. This operation has been improved by solving problems by appropriate collaboration between the industry and the university over two years. As a result of such an improvement, this operation has been adopted by 23 companies. Also, this operation has shown a good performance in producing patents and in streamlining objectives between the company and the university in comparison with a conventional operation.

Even though the employment problems of younger people have been the main concern of the public, candidates with doctoral degrees are having difficulties in finding jobs. From the results of many research studies and surveys, we learned that many corporations are hiring new graduates from universities and graduate schools; however, most of them are hiring only graduates with master’s degrees. Our studies show that the demand for candidates with doctoral degrees is only one fourth that for candidates with mas-ter’s degrees. The reason doctoral candidates are rejected is not related to their degrees, but companies’ low demand for them. Companies demand people with superior knowledge of specific fields, as well as those with high interpersonal skills (including communication, project management, and problem-solving skills). Many candidates do not satisfy these criteria. By understanding this aspect and improving interpersonal skills, the probability of getting offers would markedly increase for doctoral candidates.