On January 26, a delegation led by U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) Under Secretary for Science Dario Gil visited the RIKEN Harima and Kobe campuses.

The day began with a morning visit to the Harima Campus. RIKEN SPring-8 Center (RSC) Director Tetsuya Ishikawa explained how SPring-8 has become a facility capable of generating extremely reproducible, high-quality data through world-leading research and development in X-ray optics and detectors. He further outlined how the upgrade to SPring-8-II will dramatically enhance these capabilities.

Following that, RSC Group Director Takaki Hatsui explained how the SPring-8 data infrastructure is being advanced through collaboration with supercomputers like Fugaku, making the acceleration of AI-driven research increasingly feasible. He also introduced the fact that a high-security, high-performance network based on NTT's IOWN technology is one of the leading solutions for enabling confidential communication between SPring-8 and Fugaku, noting that demonstration experiments are underway.

Based on these points, the group had a broad and lively discussion regarding the potential for Japan-U.S. collaboration.

In the afternoon, the delegation visited the Kobe Campus, guided by RIKEN Center for Computational Science (R-CCS) Director Satoshi Matsuoka. Following an explanation of the Kobe facilities, they were shown the supercomputer Fugaku as well as the candidate site for its successor, FugakuNEXT. They then moved to the RIKEN Center for Biosystems Dynamics Research (BDR), and were shown the Maholo LabDroid at the Laboratory for Biologically Inspired Computing. Researchers including BDR Center Director Ryoichiro Kageyama and Advanced General Intelligence for Science Program (AGIS) Project Director Koichi Takahashi explained the efforts being made in RIKEN to accelerate the automation of experimental work. Discussions also took place with Makoto Taiji, Program Director of AGIS, on the progress of AI for Science in Japan. The Under Secretary expressed strong expectations toward RIKEN's future initiatives and its communication efforts both domestically and internationally.