Until now, Tohoku University has been promoting the shared use of equipment by maintaining, managing, and operating them from a university-wide perspective. We are also working to develop human resources that will be responsible for these efforts.
 In 2005, the University formulated a university-wide "Master Plan for Equipment Upgrades" and has been systematically upgrading large-scale research equipment in accordance with the educational and research needs of the University and global research trends. Currently, we are in the process of upgrading in accordance with the "Master Plan for Equipment Upgrades in the Fourth Period (academic years 2022 to 2027).
 In 2008, the Technical Support Center (hereafter "TSC") was established as an organization to promote the use of the University's state-of-the-art facilities both within and outside the University, and a university-wide system for sharing equipment was established to ensure efficient use of equipment. The TSC's tracking of equipment utilization is the basis for the development of the above master plan.
 Through the "Equipment Support Center Development Project" (adopted in the 2015 academic year) of the Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology (MEXT), we have strengthened the management and technical support of equipment, and through the "Program for Implementation and Operation of New Shared-use System" (adopted in academic years 2016 and 2017) and "Demonstration Program for Implementation of Network for Mutual Use of Research Equipment (SHARE)" (adopted in the 2017 academic year), we have strengthened not only the equipment sharing system within the university but also the system for equipment sharing with regional research institutions.
 As a university where young researchers are making great strides, Tohoku University also offers a seamless comprehensive support package for young researchers. As part of this effort, we established the "Support Program for Young Researchers to Use Shared Equipment". This is an initiative to promote the use of advanced research equipment by young researchers, and has been well received not only for accelerating their own research, but also for creating exchanges with researchers and technical specialists in different fields, which is very useful for expanding one’s horizon of research and exploring interdisciplinary research. Furthermore, we have established a system to support young researchers from outside the university who are participating in MEXT's "Strategic Professional Development Program for Young Researchers" (adopted in the 2020 academic year), thereby helping promote the research of researchers from outside the university.
 The Division of Engineering and Technical Staff was established in 2009, and the assignment of technical staff is now managed on a university-wide basis. And in 2013, the University implemented a job group system for specialized technologies, thereby enhancing the sophistication of each technical staff member's technology and organizational management capabilities. In 2016, we established the President's Research Support Technology Award, a mechanism to recognize technical staff who have made outstanding contributions to the production of research results through exceptional research support. As a result of these tireless efforts, in 2020, one of our technical specialists received the Research Support Award from the Minister of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology.
 The University is made up of dispersed campuses, which presented a hurdle to the university-wide sharing of equipment. Therefore, since research content and methods are shared within each campus, we have set up satellites for equipment sharing at each campus to promote intra-campus sharing. Large-scale equipment is consolidated within satellites, leading to a system in which highly skilled technical staff provide measurement support and equipment management beyond departmental boundaries. The consolidation of shared equipment for each research method increases the convenience for researchers from research institutions outside of the university. And we are contributing to the vitality of research, including joint research with the University.