Calling for a full-scale budget for the ILC
A seminar on the ILC was held by the Iwate Prefecture ILC Promotion Council at Hotel Metropolitan Morioka New Wing. There, Prof. Atsuto Suzuki (head of the Tohoku ILC Preparation Office and President of Iwate Prefectural University) talked about his predictions for the creation of the International Linear Collider as well as what industry, academia, and the government is doing to bring the project to fruition.
Prof. Suzuki cited a need for cooperation between Japan and the USA, Europe, and India in creating the ILC in Japan, and stressed the importance of lobbying in the USA: “U.S. Congress is very powerful, with about 10 secretaries under each Congressman or Senator. Each secretary is versed in different topics, with Congress almost like its own government.” He expressed his expectations for negotiating with Germany, France, and Spain in the EU, and cooperating with India’s Prime Minister Modi in Asia.
He also spoke about the Linear Collider Workshop held in Morioka City in December 2016, where the ILC plan was further deliberated on. “It was a very good international conference, and Iwate was highly praised by the participants. The world needs harmony brought about by science. President Trump is calling for ‘America First,’ which is why Japan must call for ‘Science First.’ The ILC was called a symbol for that movement.”
“The ILC is called a collision machine, but it will not be a collision of cultures. It will bring harmony to the world,” he said, stressing the ILC’s significance to human civilization.
He also spoke of the talks underway about reducing construction costs. “The US allotted a small budget in the beginning (to their own accelerator project, the SSC in the 1990s), slowly growing in size. But doing it this way means there will be interruptions in the middle of everything to complain about the costs. That’s why we should have a full-scale budget from the beginning,” he said, asking the national government to back the project financially.
As the national government moves towards a decision, the Tohoku ILC Preparation Office and the Iwate Prefecture ILC Promotion Council will deliberate and put together reports on the scientific and cultural significance of the ILC as well as its economic effects.
Also at the seminar, Tsuyoshi Mitoya, president of Higashi Nihon Kiden Kaihatsu in Morioka City, and Yukie Chida, CEO of Chida Precision Products in Oshu City, talked about the ILC from the perspective of industry in Iwate.