An exhibition for companies based in the south of Iwate Prefecture and north of Miyagi Prefecture to showcase their technology and form new partnerships was held for the tenth time at the Ichinoseki City Gymnasium on February 17, hosted by the South Iwate Research Center of Technology and other organizations.

There were 68 booths at the event, from companies in the automotive industry, manufacturing, construction, chemical engineering, information systems and other fields. Academic institutes such as Tohoku University, Iwate University, and the Ichinoseki College of the National Institute of Technology also took part.

Ichinoseki City also set up a booth, and displayed one of the superconducting radiofrequency cavities that would be at the heart of the ILC, and an ILC diorama which is usually on display in the lobby of the city office.

Many company employees, high school students and others stopped by at the ILC booth throughout the day, asking questions about what kind of facility the ILC is, recent developments, technologies necessary to build the ILC, and so on.

Mr Junya Chiba, a construction company employee, said: “If the ILC is realized there will be a lot of construction and other related work, which our company can help with. Many people would come to the Tohoku region, local companies would see more business and Ichinoseki City would be invigorated. If that happens I think Ichinoseki would become a better place to live.”

Mr Hiroki Tokai, an employee of a building materials and parts company, said: “The ILC is well known by locals, but not by people from other parts of Japan. I sometimes get asked if the ILC is related to the linear maglev train, because they both have the word linear in their names. I think it’s important to first have people know what the ILC is.”

The ILC Promotion Division in Ichinoseki will continue to take various opportunities to have people learn more about the ILC.