The Workshop for Aiming Collaborative Activities between BOKU and Shinshu University was held on 4th December. Professor Thomas Rosenau of the University of Natural Resources and Life Sciences (BOKU), Vienna, was invited to this workshop, which was planned as a forum of open information exchange towards establishing a system of international cooperative research in the future by sharing the research environment and projects of the University of Natural Resources and Life Sciences and the research results relating to cellulose and natural polysaccharides of Shinshu University. In the morning Professor Hideaki Morikawa Head of the Institute for Fiber Engineering, Shinshu University (hereafter, IFES) Research Liaison Office introduced the Faculty of Textile Science and Technology and the IFES education and research system. Next Professor Thomas Rosenau gave his keynote lecture “Division of Chemistry of Renewables, Department of Chemistry, University of Natural Resources and Life Sciences (BOKU)”. In the afternoon, Professor Kousaku Ohkawa of the IFES Division of Biological and Medical Fibers gave a presentation “Electrospun Nanofibers of Polysaccharides and their Potential Applications” introducing natural polysaccharide nanofibers and their applied research. Next Associate Professor Jun Araki gave a presentation “Surface Modification of Colloidal Cellulose/Chitin Nanowhiskers for Property Managements” which explained advanced research into the structural control of nanowhiskers, which are a new material of natural polysaccharides. In the presentation by Associate Professor Yasuo Gotoh of the IFES Division of Frontier Fibers “Spinning and Mechanical Properties of Cellulose and Cellulose Derivative Fibers”, element technology for developing a method of manufacturing traditional cellulose recycled fibers was introduced. A novel idea for using former recycled cellulose fiber as a high added value new material by precise control in the manufacturing process was described. In the presentation “Production of Cellulose Nanofiber by Combination of Swollenin Protein and Ultra-sonication” by a young researcher of the Shinshu University Faculty of Engineering and Assistant Professor Masahiro Mizuno, a new technology was described that enables the production of cellulose nanofiber to be modified to be a virtually complete green process. In addition, research results were described that lead to structural control of bacterial cellulose.

Finally Shinshu University Specially Appointed Professor Shigeru Yamanaka concluded the workshop describing the future prospects for cellulose resources and its usage technologies. Then Professor Masayuki Takatera, Director of IFES and Head of the Division of Smart Textiles, Professor Shigeru Inui, Head of the Division of Kansei and Fashion Engineering, Professor Thomas Rosenau, and the workshop lecturers’ mixing was planned, and in a casual atmosphere an opinion exchange was held regarding student workshop of exchange between students belonging to the leading programs of Shinshu University Graduate Schools and BOKU students. Throughout the whole schedule there were very lively discussions, forming a solid foundation for promoting comprehensive collaborative research between BOKU and Shinshu University.