State-of-the-art equipment that measures the properties of materials and the high-quality data it generates through research activities are important Japanese assets that could lead to breakthroughs. Three interrelated national projects are currently underway to promote innovation in materials R&D by constructing nationwide data infrastructure as a means of integrating equipment and data generated all over Japan.

NIMS has been leading these efforts by integrating and streamlining the three data platform functions: data generation, data aggregation and making data available for use by researchers. We’re covering the initiatives that NIMS has taken in the fifth medium-to-long-term plan.

Topic 1 // Materials Research Data

Enhancing Japan’s innovation in materials through a NIMS-led data strategy

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DICE: a vital resource in data-driven materials development

The adoption of data-driven materials research techniques enables speedy and efficient development of new materials. Compilation of large amounts of high-quality data is crucial for these data-driven approaches to be effective. To achieve this, NIMS has been constructing a materials data platform called DICE^*1. DICE is a user-friendly data ecosystem capable of performing a series of functions: efficient data collection, data aggregation in formats appropriate for data reuse, graphic representation of data and data analysis using advanced AI methods.

In the mid-2010s—the dawn of data-driven materials development in Japan—NIMS was one of the first organizations to begin experimentally incorporating data science into materials research. NIMS has since developed and improved its materials data platform by developing its own databases and creating methods of collecting materials data generated at research labs. This platform performs a succession of functions related to generating and aggregating data and making it available for use by researchers. A major effort to expand this platform began in 2022 in collaboration with universities and other research organizations across Japan. This new project is funded by the Japanese Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology (MEXT).

Materials DX platform vision: NIMS-led nationwide data utilization strategies

MEXT envisions developing a materials DX platform via three interrelated projects: the ARIM Japan (Advanced Research Infrastructure for Materials and Nanotechnology in Japan) program (ARIM Japan) to generate materials data, DICE to aggregate it and finally the DxMT (Data Generation and Application-oriented Materials Development) project to use the aggregated data for materials research. In these projects, NIMS serves as a “core data center,” contributing to the progress of individual projects and leading efforts to develop infrastructure capable of efficient and secure collection and sharing of data generated by universities and other research organizations. As part of this effort, NIMS has added various features to DICE.

The Research Data Express (RDE) system is one of the new DICE features rolled out in January 2023. This innovative system is able to aggregate data generated by lab equipment located anywhere. Data is submitted to the system online together with the necessary metadata. The system then extracts the metadata and translates the data into a format appropriate for its reuse automatically. This is a groundbreaking achievement—materials data was previously collected in inconsistent formats, making it difficult for others to reuse. Other DICE features are being developed, including an AI system capable of analyzing data aggregated in DICE in many different ways.

Promoting innovation by introducing DX into materials research

As with materials, the true value of data is in its use. The objective of the DxMT project, which fully launched in FY2022, is to popularize data-driven materials research across Japan by promoting digital transformation (DX)^*2 in five areas of materials research through full utilization of DICE. The data-driven research is promoted by five core organizations selected for each area—including universities. A collaboration committee was established to coordinate the DX activities of the five research organizations and NIMS was appointed to lead it. NIMS will contribute to achieving the common goal of the DxMT project: creating successful examples of cross-area data utilization. To achieve this, we will identify features common to different types of materials—a challenging effort.

NIMS leads the development of a materials DX platform—a potential source of breakthroughs and innovations—through the mutually complementary DxMT, DICE and ARIM Japan projects.