▲Kimihiko Imamura holding the SCOPE Research and Development Encouragement Award plaque
Kimihiko Imamura, Deputy General Manager, Head of Telecommunication and Image Standards Research Laboratories, Corporate R&D Group*1, and Kazunari Yokomakura, Senior Manager of the same lab*1, won Research and Development Encouragement Award under Strategic Information and Communications R&D Promotion Programme (SCOPE)*2 by the Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications (MIC). The award recognizes their achievements in the project titled R&D of wireless link technologies to obtain international standards for advanced 5G through Japan-U.S. industry-academia collaboration.(Japanese)" The award ceremony took place on February 3 at MIC-hosted ICT Innovation Forum 2024 held at Akihabara UDX(Chiyoda, Tokyo).
▲Kimihiko Imamura giving a lecture at ICT Innovation Forum 2024
On September 15, 2023, the joint R&D efforts of Sharp, Kyoto university, the Faculty of Engineering and the Graduate School of Engineering in the University of Tokyo, and KDDI Research, Inc. were adopted into the 3GPP RAN plenary’s*3 Release 18 specifications as the first version of 5G-Advanced's*4physical layer international standard.
[News Release: Joint R&D adopted as international standard for 5G-Advanced](Japanese)
This joint award was given in recognition of the research and development of wireless link technologies aimed at establishing 5G-Advanced standards, as well as technical contributions based on R&D results to the 3GPP*5 project, which defines the global standards for mobile communication systems.
▲ Plaque of SCOPE Research and Development Encouragement Award
*1 Organization names and job titles are as of the time of the award.
*2 SCOPE (Strategic Information and Communications R&D Promotion Programme) is a competitive funding initiative by the MIC, which supports innovative ICT R&D proposals from companies, universities, and national research institutes. The program aims to create future value, foster young ICT researchers, discover cutting-edge technologies, revitalize local communities through ICT, and promote international standardization.
*3 An abbreviation for the Third Generation Partnership Project RAN plenary, which refers to the general meeting where 3GPP defines its specifications.
*4 5G-Advanced expands upon 5G capabilities, aiming to provide more robust, high-capacity, and low-latency communications, while significantly extending coverage. This enables applications such as the metaverse, autonomous driving, and XR, offering, for example, instant rendering of high-resolution visuals and 3D holograms in metaverse environments.
*5 3GPP (Third Generation Partnership Project) is the international standardization body responsible for developing specifications for 4G and 5G mobile communication systems, widely adopted in Japan.
<Related Links>
Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications (MIC)Overview of the Strategic Information and Communications R&D Promotion Programme (SCOPE)(Japanese)
News Release
Joint R&D adopted as international standard for 5G-Advanced (Japanese)