10th Annual U.S. and Japan Digital Innovation Hub & Advanced Technology Workshop
AI Convergence
September 7-9, 2026
Purdue Memorial Union, West Lafayette, Indiana
Sponsored by:
Purdue Office of Industry Partnerships
We would be honored for you to join us September 7-9, 2026 for the 10th annual U.S. & Japan Digital Innovation Hub and Advanced Technology Workshop at Purdue University. This annual workshop promotes collaboration between universities, research institutions and companies from both nations, fostering research and workforce development in crucial technologies in artificial intelligence, semiconductors, materials & manufacturing, space and quantum technology.
Agenda
| TIME | AGENDA | LOCATION |
|---|---|---|
| All times are EST | Monday, September 7, 2026 | |
| 5:00 p.m. – 7:00 p.m. | Registration | West Faculty Lounge | 2nd Floor of Purdue Memorial Union |
| 5:00 p.m. – 7:00 p.m. | Welcome Reception Welcome Remarks: Sunil Prabhakar, Executive Vice Provost, Professor of Computer Science, Purdue University | West Faculty Lounge | 2nd Floor of Purdue Memorial Union |
| TIME | AGENDA | LOCATION |
|---|---|---|
| All times are EST | Tuesday, September 8, 2026 | |
| 7:15 a.m. | Registration | Outside of South Ballroom |
| 7:30 a.m. – 8:00 a.m. | Light Breakfast | South Ballroom |
| 8:00 a.m. | Registration Continued | Outside of North Ballroom |
| 8:00 a.m. – 8:10 a.m. | Welcome Remarks •Mitch E. Daniels, Jr., Interim President of Purdue University, President Emeritus (video) •Atsuyuki Asano, Director-General, Research Promotion Bureau, Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology (MEXT) (video) | North Ballroom |
| 8:10 a.m. – 9:00 a.m. | Keynote Speakers: •Yuka Suzuki, Counselor of the Embassy of Japan in U.S. •Mike Dolan, Senior Vice President for Legal and Strategic Programs, Linux Foundation | North Ballroom |
| 9:00 a.m. – 9:30 a.m. | AI TRANSFORMATION Plenary Speakers: •Ken Fukuda, Director for AI Industry Strategy Office, Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry (METI) – “Overview of METI’s Initiatives for Physical AI Deployment” •Rick Stevens, Associate Laboratory Director for Computing, Environment and Life Sciences, Argonne Distinguished Fellow, CELS/Argonne National Laboratory – “AI for Science: building the future engines of scientific discovery” | North Ballroom |
| 9:30 a.m. – 10:30 a.m. | PANEL SESSION | AI TRANSFORMATION Moderators: •Ananth Grama, Samuel D. Conte Distinguished Professor of Computer Science, Associate Director, Center for Science of Information, Director of the Institute for Physical AI (IPAI), Purdue University •Tetsuya Sakurai, Executive Research Director of Center for Artificial Intelligence Research, Professor, Institute of Systems and Information Engineering, University of Tsukuba Panelists: •Larry Nagahara, Vice Dean for Research and Translation, Johns Hopkins University •Yorie Nakahira, Associate Professor of Electrical and Computer Engineering, Carnegie Mellon University •Hideaki Ozawa, Chief Technology Officer, NTT Research, Inc. •Kaushik Roy, Edward G. Tiedemann Jr. Distinguished Professor of Electrical and Computer Engineering, Purdue University •Yoshio Tanaka, Executive Officer, AIST | North Ballroom |
| 10:30 a.m. – 10:45 a.m. | Break | |
| 10:45 a.m. – 11:15 a.m. | SEMICONDUCTORS Plenary Speakers: •Tetsuo Endoh, Professor and Director of Center for Innovative Integrated Electronic Systems (CIES), Tohoku University •Rick Gottscho, President, SemiSan, LLC, retired Executive Vice President and CTO of LAM Research and advisor to Rapidus – “The Singularity Isn’t Near. It’s Here. AI Convergence and the Bottlenecks Between Discovery and Manufacturing” | North Ballroom |
| 11:15 a.m. – 12:15 p.m. | PANEL SESSION | SEMICONDUCTORS “AI and Digital Twins to Accelerate the Pace of Research and Innovation” Moderator: •Todd Younkin, CEO, Semiconductor Research Corporation Panelists: •Tetsuo Endoh, Professor and Director of Center for Innovative Integrated Electronic Systems (CIES), Tohoku University •Janhavi Giri, Principal Architect, Semiconductors, EDA & AI, NetApp, San Jose, CA •Rick Gottscho, President, SemiSan, LLC, retired Executive Vice President and CTO of LAM Research and advisor to Rapidus •Alejandro Strachan, Reilly Professor of Materials Engineering, Purdue University •Akinobu Teramoto, Director of the Research Institute for Semiconductor Engineering, Hiroshima University | North Ballroom |
| 12:15 p.m. – 1:15 p.m. | Lunch | Networking | South Ballroom |
| 1:15 p.m. – 1:45 p.m. | MATERIALS & MANUFACTURING Plenary Speakers: •Ajay Malshe, R. Eugene and Susie E. Goodson Distinguished Professor of Mechanical Engineering; President’s Fellow; Director, Manufacturing and Materials Research Laboratories (MMRL); Co-Director, eXcellence in Manufacturing and Operations (XMO), Purdue University •Tsuyoshi Morimoto, Vice President, DENSO International America, Inc. | North Ballroom |
| 1:45 p.m. – 2:45 p.m. | PANEL SESSION | MATERIALS & MANUFACTURING Moderators: •Nik Chawla, Associate Dean for Research and Innovation for the College of Engineering, Ransburg Professor of Materials Engineering, Purdue University •Makoto Kobashi, Vice President, Director, Academic Research and Industry-Academia-Government Collaboration, Nagoya University Panelists: •Mark Gruninger, Senior Director for Industrial Research & Consortia, School of Materials Engineering (MSE), Manufacturing & Materials Research Laboratory (MMRL), Purdue University •Rob Proctor, Chief of Materials Engineering, Rolls-Royce •Takeaki Sakurai, Professor of the Department of Applied Physics, Tsukuba University •Shuzo Ueki, Director, Chief Financial Officer, Acompany Co., Ltd. | North Ballroom |
| 2:45 p.m. – 3:00 p.m. | Break | |
| 3:00 p.m. – 3:30 p.m. | TECH DIPLOMACY Plenary Keynotes: •Akira Kadomoto, Director of the Economic Diplomacy Strategy Division, Economic Affairs Bureau, Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MOFA) •Casey Mace, Senior Official, U.S. Department of State, Bureau of East Asian and Pacific Affairs | North Ballroom |
| 3:30 p.m. – 4:30 p.m. | PANEL SESSION | TECH DIPLOMACY Moderator: •Janice deGarmo, Chief Global Engagement Officer, Krach Institute for Diplomacy, Purdue University Panelists: •Julie Felgar, Vice President for Government Affairs and Defense at JetZero •Takehito Kamata, Associate Professor by Special Appointment, Sophia University •Roy Sugimura, Supervisory Innovation Coordinator, Agency of Industrial Science & Technology (AIST) •Kirk Taylor, Chief Financial Officer, Re-Element Technologies | North Ballroom |
| 4:30 p.m. – 5:30 p.m. | Poster Session Presentations | South Ballroom |
| 4:30 p.m. – 5:30 p.m. | Reception & Networking | South Ballroom |
| 5:30 p.m. | Dinner | South Ballroom |
| TIME | AGENDA | LOCATION |
|---|---|---|
| All times are EST | Wednesday, September 9, 2026 | |
| 7:30 a.m. – 8:00 a.m. | Light Breakfast | East & West Faculty Lounge | 2nd Floor |
| 8:00 a.m. – 9:00 a.m. | Japanese External Trade Organization (JETRO) Introduction & Presentation | West Faculty Lounge | 2nd Floor |
| 9:00 a.m. – 9:15 a.m. | SPACE Plenary Speakers: •Dave Williams, Director Global University Research and Industry Partnerships, Voyager Institute for Space, Technology and Advancement (VISTA), Professor of Materials Science and Engineering, Emeritus Dean of Engineering, The Ohio State University – “VISTA: A Global System to Access LEO (and Beyond) in the Post-ISS Era” | West Faculty Lounge | 2nd Floor |
| 9:15 a.m. – 10:15a.m. | PANEL SESSION | SPACE Moderator: •Kenshiro Oguri, Assistant Professor, School of Aeronautics and Astronautics, Purdue University Panelists: •Hideki Kanayama, Director, Space Development Department, Shimizu Corporation •Toshinori Kuwahara, Professor, Distinguished Researcher, Director of Research Center for Space Cross-Tech; Space Infrastructure Engineering Lab. Research Center for Green X-Tech, Department of Aerospace Engineering, Tohoku University; Co-Founder and Director, Elevation Space Inc. •Dave Williams, Director Global University Research and Industry Partnerships, Voyager Institute for Space, Technology and Advancement (VISTA), Professor of Materials Science and Engineering, Emeritus Dean of Engineering, The Ohio State University | West Faculty Lounge | 2nd Floor |
| 10:15 a.m. – 10:30 a.m. | Break | |
| 10:30 a.m. – 11:00 a.m. | QUANTUM (QIS & SECURITY) Plenary Speakers: •Dana Z. Anderson, Glenn L. Murphy Professor and Endowed Chair of Engineering and Applied Sciences, Professor of Physics and JILA Fellow, University of Colorado Boulder; Founder & Chief Science Officer, Infleqtion •Masahiro Kitagawa, Professor, University of Osaka, “Challenge toward Fault-Tolerant Universal Quantum Computer” | West Faculty Lounge | 2nd Floor |
| 11:00 a.m. – 11:50 p.m. | PANEL SESSION | QUANTUM Moderators: •Shengwang Du, Scifres Family Professor of Electrical and Computer Engineering, Professor of Physics and Astronomy, Purdue University •Takao Onoye, Executive Vice President for Research, The University of Osaka Panelists: •Dana Z. Anderson, Glenn L. Murphy Professor and Endowed Chair of Engineering and Applied Sciences, Professor of Physics and JILA Fellow, University of Colorado Boulder; Founder & Chief Science Officer, Infleqtion •Indradeep Ghosh, CEO, Fujitsu Research America •Tongcang Li, Professor of Physics and Astronomy, Professor of Electrical and Computer Engineering, Director of NSF IUCRC Center for Quantum Technologies (CQT), Purdue University •Nii Attoh-Okine, Chair, Civil & Environmental Engineering A. James Clark School of Engineering, Center for Risk and Reliability, University of Maryland | West Faculty Lounge | 2nd Floor |
| 11:50 p.m. – 12:05 p.m. | Pick up boxed lunch | Outside West Faculty Lounge |
| 12:05 p.m. – 1:15 p.m. | Future Collaboration Session & Next Steps | Anniversary Drawing Room | 2nd Floor |