Contents
1. What is Green/Life Innovation Program?
2. Research Area
3. Research Period
4. Beamlines and Beamtime Available to Users
5. Proposal Submission
6. Submission Deadline: December 8, 2011, 10:00 am (Japan Time)
7. Proposal Review
8. Notification of Review Results
9. Report Submission
10. Dissemination of Research Results
11. Other
12. Consultation
13. Contact

1. What is Green/Life Innovation Program?

Japan seeks to take the lead in addressing the global financial crisis and environmental issues based on the highly advanced scientific and technological capabilities accumulated during the course of becoming a scientific and technological powerhouse. For that purpose, the Government has mapped out the strategy to become an environmentally friendly/energy rich nation through the Green Innovation, and to become a health powerhouse through the Life Innovation. However, the Great Tohoku Earthquake has caused severe damage to a number of science and technology research facilities, jeopardizing the realization of the innovations.

The large synchrotron radiation facility (SPring-8) is one of the world’s best research tools to lead the innovations, covering a wide variety of scientific disciplines ranging from life science to nanotechnology. Unaffected by the disasters, SPring-8 must become the primary engine for supporting the creation and development of new industries and disciplines as well as the the country’s economic recovery, and thus pave the way for the innovations. To achieve that goal, it is necessary to facilitate the use of SPring-8 for the Green and Life Innovations with urgency and high priority. Under the circumstances, the JASRI has designated the Green/Life Innovation field as a new priority field for two years from 2012A, and invites research proposals to help support the innovations from the public. Interested applicants are encouraged to apply. Please prepare your proposal application using the following guidelines and instructions.

2. Research Area

2.1 Green Innovation
In the Green Innovation for the realization of a low carbon society in harmony with nature, the following themes and keywords are placed in the list of top priorities and expected to produce quality results.

2.2 Life Innovation
In the Life Innovation for the realization of a society where people can appreciate the quality of life, the following themes and keywords are placed in the list of top priorities and expected to produce high quality results.

3. Research Period

2012A (From April through July 2012)

4. Beamlines and Beamtime Available to Users

Five percent of the entire 2012A public beamline user beamtime, 324 shifts, will be made available to the Green/Life Innovation Program at the following beamlines:

BL01B1, BL02B1, BL02B2, BL04B2, BL08W, BL10XU, BL13XU, BL17SU, BL20XU, BL20B2, BL25SU, BL27SU, BL28B2, BL37XU, BL38B1, BL39XU, BL40XU, BL40B2, BL41XU, BL43IR, BL47XU

The maximum amount of beamtime allocated to each beamline is about 10% of the beamtime available for this program.

5. Proposal Submission

Please first carefully read the "Call for 2012A SPring-8 Research Proposals -Overview-."

Applicants/project leaders are required to submit proposals online through the web-based proposal submission system.

User Information Website (UI site) > Log in to My Page > Proposal Submission > New > Non-Proprietary Research > Green/Life Innovation Proposal

In addition to the items required of general proposals, you are required to provide the importance of the proposed research for innovation in the Abstract section on the Abstract page.

For the specifications and status of experimental stations, please check with the Beamline List. To see what kind of experiments have been performed at SPring-8, please check with the SPring-8 Solution Database.

For several bunch modes , click here.

If you have no experience using the desired beamline or if you have questions about the experimental stations, please contact the Beamline Scientist of the beamline before applying for beamtime. To find out which beamline is best suited to your research, please contact the Research & Utilization Division (see 12. Consultation).

To avoid losing work in the event of a browser crash or unexpected logout, you are strongly encouraged to draft your application offline first using a MS Word template downloadable from here.

For step-by-step instructions on how to submit proposals, please see this page.

Important Note about Multiple Applications:
You may not submit another proposal with the same application details as a priority field proposal (e.g. industrial application, nanotechnology/nanonet): if this happens, both proposals will be disqualified. If you are unsure which type of proposal you should submit, our staff is available for consultation (see 12. Consultation). If your green/life innovation proposal is rejected, the proposal will be then reviewed as a general proposal; so, do not submit it as a general proposal either.

6. Submission Deadline

         Thursday, December 8, 2011, 10:00 am (Japan Time)

To avoid last minute technical problems and possible network congestion caused by heavy traffic, you are strongly encouraged to complete and submit your application well in advance of the deadline. If you have trouble completing/submitting your application online, please contact the SPring-8 Users Office (see 13. Contact) before the deadline.

Upon successful submission, you will receive a confirmation email with a copy of Agreement (Rules for Users) in PDF format attached to it. If you do not receive the confirmation email, please log in to the system and check if your proposal has been submitted successfully.

7. Proposal Review

Just as general proposals, scientific and technological significance, necessity of SPring-8 as a research tool, technical feasibility, and safety of the experiment are fully peer reviewed. In addition, scientific and technological significance as a green/life innovation proposal and research strategies are reviewed as well. Please note that as for applicants who have conducted experiments at SPring-8 in the past, the number of papers registered with the SPring-8 Publications Database is also considered during peer review in determining, in part, the merits of your proposal; and applicants with a poor track record of registering publications are rated lower.

If you have publications to register, please register at the UI site:
UI site > Log in to My Page > Application/Reporting > After Experiment > Publications Entry

8. Notification of Review Results

Users will be notified of review results in writing mid-February 2012.

9. Report Submission

Users are required to submit an Experiment Summary Report online within 60 days after their experiment. Submitted reports are made publicly available online two weeks after the report submission deadline for the last experiment of the term (60 days after the end of each half-year research term + two weeks). For details, please click here.

10. Dissemination of Research Results

Publish your research in a refereed journal or equivalent (refereed proceedings, dissertation, etc.) and register the publications with the Publications Database within three years after the end of the research term. If the proposed research did not result in a publication, please publish your research results in a SPring-8 Research Report or a corporate technical journal article (industrial users only).

UI site > Log in to My Page > Application/Reporting > After Experiment > Publications Entry

For details, please click here.

11. Other

- Fees
For information about the User Fees, read the "Call for 2012A SPring-8 Research Proposals - Overview -."

- Deadline for 2012B Proposals (next half-year research term):
Deadline for 2012B proposals (second half of fiscal 2012) is scheduled for late June 2012.

- Briefing Session
To attract potential users contributing to innovation, the JASRI plans to provide briefing sessions in Sapporo, Tokyo, Nagoya, Osaka, Fukuoka and other major cities on the purpose and goal of the program, application method, and support details. At the sessions, our staff will offer a complementary consultation to interested users who have no experience using synchrotron radiation. All interested individuals are encouraged to attend.

12. Consultation

Akihiko FUJIWARA
Group Leader of Materials Structure Group I
Research & Utilization Division, JASRI
1-1-1 Kouto, Sayo-cho, Sayo-gun
Hyogo 679-5198 Japan
email: fujiwara@spring8.or.jp

13. Contact

SPring-8 Users Office, JASRI
1-1-1 Kouto, Sayo-cho, Sayo-gun
Hyogo 679-5198 Japan
Fax: +81-(0)791-58-0965
email: sp8jasri@spring8.or.jp