Kyoto University is ranked as the top university in Japan with the highest number (currently 11) of Nobel Prize Laureates. The Academia Sinica delegation was invited to visit Kyoto University, mainly to sign the MOU and to participate in the Joint Symposium scheduled on December 18. The Signing Ceremony was held in the second-floor meeting room at the Clock Tower Centennial Hall. President Juichi Yamagiwa of Kyoto University and Vice President Fu-Tong Liu of Academia Sinica gave remarks respectively before signing the agreement. Guests invited to witness the occasion include EVP Kano Inaba, and Deputy Director Jun Suzuki of iCeMS. In the afternoon, invited speakers from Academia Sinica and Kyoto University presented their most important discoveries at the Symposium. A lab visit to iCeMS was arranged on the same day.
Before the Signing Ceremony and the Joint Symposium, the delegation had the pre-meeting on December 17 with the iCeMS Director Susumu Kitagawa and Deputy Director Jun Suzuki, as well as Director of Institute for Chemical Research Professor Yoshinobu Tsujii and Professor Norihiro Tokitoh.
The visit was a great success and all delegates deemed it fruitful and rewarding experience. It paved the path to important collaborations between Academia Sinica and Kyoto University in the years to come.