3. Note:
・Enquiries are welcome in either English or Japanese.
・We will endeavor to reply to enquiries within 5 business days.
・We are unable to provide feedback on details of your research, only general enquiries.
・If you have any questions about the application process or administrative procedures relating to these programs, please contact the administrative personnel in your department.

4. Contact:
Research Management and Administration (URA) Section, Office of Management and Planning, Osaka University
ura_advice[at sign]lserp.osaka-u.ac.jp

* Staff in the Office of Management and Planning will mainly be working from home until 6 May in compliance with Osaka University's policy in response to the state of emergency resulting from the outbreak of COVID-19. Please send all correspondence by email during this time.

（Reference）Newly designated strategic objectives (FY2020)
On March 9, MEXT announced that five strategic objectives were designated for FY2020 JST strategic programs:

https://www.mext.go.jp/b_menu/houdou/2020/mext_00147.html
(The overviews of the five strategic objectives are available in English)

Under the following five designated strategic objectives (marked as ● below), new research areas were specified: CREST four areas, PRESTO five areas, and ACT-X two areas. Please also refer to those new research areas.

＜Strategic Objectives＞（for JST）
●Precise arrangement toward functionality
(Targets)
This strategic objective aims to develop technologies for arranging atoms and molecules precisely in the intended positions and order, and to obtain new guidelines for the design of functional materials. In particular, the following three targets are to be achieved.
(1) Development and systematization of technologies for controlling one to three dimensional arrays and sequences
(2) Development of technologies for analyzing and measuring controlled structure
(3) Creation of materials with physical properties and functionalities derived from nanoscale arrangement

●Information carriers and innovative devices
(Targets)
This strategic objective aims at developing new functional devices and significantly improving the performance of the system, by the optimal arrangement of information carriers that perform functions such as acquisition, conversion, storage, computation, transmission, and output of information within the device. In particular, the following three targets are to be achieved.
(1) Creation of various information carriers and development of theories on their characteristics and functions
(2) Establishment of control methods for information carriers and creation of operation principles of innovative devices
(3) Demonstration of innovative devices

●Trusted AI
(Targets)
This strategic objective is to promote research and development aimed at creating “Trusted Quality AI” based on “Social Principles of Human-Centric AI”. In particular, the following three targets are to be achieved.
(1) Creation of new technologies that overcome the limitations of current AI technologies
(2) Creation of technologies to ensure the reliability and safety of AI systems
(3) Creation of technologies to ensure data reliability and to support decision making and consensus building

●Design of plant-derived molecules building up the foundation for plant synthetic biology
(Targets)
This strategic objective covers comprehensive understanding of the mechanisms that underlie plant biosynthesis and developing key technologies that enable to produce innovative plant-derived molecules. To this aim, other than conventional plant science related techniques, it is strongly encouraged to employ various research tools such as recently advanced analytical technologies, comparative genomics which is empowered by bioinformatics, and synthetic organic chemistry. Three targets should be achieved as following.
(1) To uncover the useful plant-derived molecules and to understand their biosynthesis pathway
(2) To develop key bio-technologies that facilitate the manipulation of plant-derived molecules and its biosynthesis
(3) Research and development that enables the manipulation of plant-derived molecules and their biosynthesis in various useful plants

●Functional dynamics in the cell
(Targets)
This strategic objective aims to discover unexplained principles in living cells and lead to establish theories through investigation for measurement technology, molecular manipulation and analytical methods, and simulation focusing on intracellular components, especially supramolecular complexes. In particular, the following four targets are to be achieved.
(1) Development of core technology for visualizing and analyzing supramolecular complexes with high-quality and quantitative temporal and spatial data
(2) Elucidation of the principles of dynamics and function in microenvironment of living cell complex system
(3) Development of techniques and tool materials to manipulate and regulate supramolecular complexes
(4) Understanding of interactions of supramolecular complexes and relationships between structure and function of supramolecular complexes