On July 30th, the Iwate Prefecture ILC Promotion Council (Chair: Kunihisa Yamura, head of the Federation of Iwate Chambers of Commerce) released their own analysis of the economic effects of the ILC. They used elements that were also used in the calculations done by the Panel of Experts at the national government, but they also considered the potential for applying ILC collider technology to a wide variety of fields. They came up with a figure of 5.7190 trillion yen, which would occur over the course of 20 years following construction. These figures will be useful to the national government’s deliberations on the ILC, as well as in getting the support of academia, industry, and the people of Japan.
According to the Council, 21 trillion yen has been invested over 60 years in the research and development of elementary particle physics/nuclear physics. They then estimated that the market for accelerator beams brings in 56 trillion yen a year internationally. Based on that figure, their analysis predicts that ILC technology would be used in manufacturing automobiles, semiconductors, medical devices, and more.
Researchers and workers at the ILC will also be consumers, and there will also be facility construction, operation costs, and new product development by companies involved with construction. The Panel of Expert’s calculations only looked for a direct effect of the ILC, which they estimated as 2.3776~2.6109 trillion yen, but the Iwate ILC Promotion Council added in the potential for technological innovation as well.
The Council began their analysis in February 2016, with the committee including Atsuto Suzuki (Iwate Prefectural University President) and Satoru Yamashita (Specially-appointed professor at Tokyo Uniersity’s International Center for Elementary Particle). They also had the support of experts like Professor Tsutomu Miyakawa of Gakushuin University’s Faculty of Economics, and Professor Kazuyuki Motohashi of Tokyo University’s Graduate School of Engineering.
President Suzuki explained how they came to a realistic figure: “There are signs that the economic effects will only grow with time. This is a very reliable calculation if you take into account the market value of accelerator technology thus far.”
Japan is currently being encouraged by researchers the world over to make a decision on the ILC within the year, and the national government has entered the final stage of deliberations. Chair Yamura said, “I hope to use these calculations to petition the government to make a positive decision.”