The 27th event will be held in 2025, with the catchphrase "Creating a tomorrow that surpasses today with inspiration and sparkle," and they are accepting research and development themes that will contribute to building a better future through the creativity of researchers and the potential of precious metals.

The focus areas include new research and development that utilizes or can be applied to precious metals and contributes to the creation of a sustainable future, and that falls under any of the following: new technology related to precious metals (new materials, processing methods, process development, etc.), research that brings about revolutionary advances in product development (new functions, process development, computational science, etc.), and research and development of new products using precious metals.

Applicants must be researchers, including postdoctoral researchers, affiliated with educational institutions such as universities, graduate schools, and technical colleges, national and public research institutions, or research organizations affiliated with domestic academic societies. Applications for collaborative research must be submitted by the representative. As long as the applicant is affiliated with a research institution in Japan, their base of operations can be either domestic or overseas.

The subsidy amount will be up to a total of 20 million yen. Awards include the Umekichi Tanaka Award at 10 million yen, the Ichiro Tanaka Award at 3 million yen, the Innovative Precious Metals Award at 1 million yen, the HIRAMEKI Award at 300,000 yen, and the KIRAMEKI Award at 1 million yen, which is open to individuals 37 years old or younger as of April 1, 2025. The relevant grant will be treated as a scholarship donation, and there may be cases where no award is granted. The award title and summary will be made public, and winners may be asked to give a lecture or be featured on the foundation’s website. Research progress will be reported approximately two to three years after receiving the grant. Indirect expenses and general administrative costs of the applicant’s institution are not eligible.

Applications must be summarized in Japanese in a manuscript of approximately two to three A4 pages. Applicant information and the application summary should be entered in the application entry form. A summary of the award may be made public at the time of the award. Applicants must compress their manuscript and any supplementary materials into one file, not exceeding 5 MB, and submit it through the application form. Submitted documents will not be returned. The selection will be conducted by the Grant Selection Committee established by the Tanaka Precious Metals Memorial Foundation, with the possible cooperation of external reviewers.

The application period will run from September 1, 2025, at 9:00 to November 28, 2025, at 17:00. Winners will be announced on the Tanaka Kikinzoku Memorial Foundation website around the end of March 2026 and will also be contacted directly.

For more information, visit Tanaka Kikinzoku Memorial Foundation.