Withdrawal of ILC project application to MEXT Roadmap

In February 2020, KEK submitted an application to the Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology (MEXT) for adoption of the ILC project as part of the “Fundamental Concept for Promoting Large Scientific Research Projects Roadmap”; however, in March, KEK withdrew the application in light of the subsequent international development of the project. On the occasion of the release of the “Roadmap 2020” draft, we sent the following notice to the press on September 8. As announced below, the ILC International Development Team was recently established with KEK as the host, and KEK will be vigorously promoting the ILC project under the new international project promotion framework.


* Announcement *


On September 8, the Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology (MEXT) released a draft of “Fundamental Concept for Promoting Large Scientific Research Projects – Roadmap 2020 -” and started solicitation of public comments.

In February this year, KEK submitted an application of the ILC project to be considered in the MEXT Roadmap process; however, KEK withdrew the application in March.  We apologize for the delay in reporting this fact, because the general rule is to not disclose matters concerning the Roadmap evaluation process.

After the submission of the application in late February, discussions were held in the international research community, including the International Committee for Future Accelerators (ICFA), and it was decided that the ILC project will be further strongly advanced by establishing a new international development team and rebuilding the international cooperation framework. Therefore, we have withdrawn the application because the “project promotion structure through international cooperation,” which was an important point of the application, has changed significantly and the project plan is expected to be completely renewed with respect to the submitted application.

The International Development Team of the ILC project was established in August, and activities under this new structure have started. KEK will continue to work diligently with the international research community to realize the ILC.