Associate Professor Yasunori Matsumoto wins Japan Society for Intellectual Production achievement award

At the 15th Conference of the Japan Society for Intellectual Production, held in Utsunomiya City, Tochigi Prefecture on June 15, Associate Professor Yasunori Matsumoto of the School of Systems Engineering and Head of the Manufacturing Research Laboratory of the Research Organization for Regional Alliances, won the 2017 Japan Society for Intellectual Production achievement award jointly with Senior Coordinator Masato Sato at Research Coordination Division.

The award is intended to honor individuals and organizations that have demonstrated superlative performance in advanced industry-academia collaboration activities.

Associate Professor Matsumoto worked in collaboration with a local company to create technology for slurry ice manufacturing equipment, which allows the preservation of long-term freshness of fresh fish products using fine ice particles about 0.2 mm in diameter at -1° C. That technology is used not only for quality enhancement and branding of domestic fresh fish and shellfish, but also in the development of a freezing concentration system for application in technology to maintain the quality of liquid foods and a new system for preservation of agricultural products. That system contributes to the increase of product value in the fisheries industry and to the enhancement of competitiveness in the distribution sector. This project's performance was highly evaluated by the awards committee.