The Institute for Materials Research at Tohoku University has long played an important role as a world class research institute in materials science and its successes can be attributed to the efforts of dedicated researchers committed to Tohoku University's principles of research first”, “its open door policy” and “practice-oriented research and education”. IMR is renowned for providing new materials, which contribute to making society a better place to live. Over the years, IMR has actively promoted collaborative research with materials science institutions in many parts of the world. In spite of the many great achievements in the field of material science, many problems regarding energy, the environment, information, communication, social infrastructure and limits in the medical field remain unsolved, and researchers continue tirelessly with their studies in the spirit of the words of the founder of IMR Dr. Kotaro Honda, who said "Try harder, do not give up”. Each and every researcher in our institute is well aware of how important their work is.

The Great East Japan Earthquake on March 11 brought tremendous damage, mainly to the Tohoku area, and the most-affected areas are still in the early stages of recovery.
Besides the new challenges for materials scientists in the area of energy shortages related to the nuclear accident in Fukushima, the disaster highlighted some of the challenges we have been working on continuously over the years. More importantly, disasters happen in one place after the next. In all of these disasters, the impact has been far-reaching, extending far beyond the country in which they occur. The Great East Japan Earthquake has been no exception. This has strengthened our resolve to find solutions to many of the unsolved problems in our society through research in the field of materials science.
In collaboration with our many overseas partners, we at the Institute for Materials Research at Tohoku University are determined to make a profound positive impact on society through our shared reaffirmed mission in the field of materials science. This year, 2011 when the tragedy will be recorded in history, we would like to declare our deepened commitment to the following three endeavors;

1. We will work tirelessly to address a variety of important challenges facing human beings, including energy related issues, environmental protection, safety, and improvements in information and communication systems, social infrastructure and in the medical field.
2. We will strengthen our research focus by strengthening our global partnerships in the drive to find solutions to common issues, which feature challenges in materials science.
3. We will improve the manner in which information is disclosed to the general public,in the knowledge that intellectual property with regard to findings in the field of materials belongs to the community. To deepen our relationship with the community, we will make efforts that the results are used with social support and understanding.

We believe that our commitment to these three tasks will contribute to healing the wounds left by the disaster in the past and prevent or minimize the damage from future disasters. We will make sure that the light of our challenge in materials science will shine brightly from here, from Tohoku to the world. October 11, 2011