Seven organizations (NIMS, Kyocera, Osaka University, NEC, Sumitomo Seika, Asahi Kasei and NanoWorld) will jointly establish the MSS Forum on November 1. This forum will encourage participants from public to carry out experiments demonstrating the performance of ultra-compact MSS (Membrane-type Surface stress Sensor) devices. This initiative is designed to promote the establishment of a de facto standard for olfactory IoT sensing systems.

The MSS is a sensor device developed by an international joint research group led by Genki Yoshikawa (International Center for Materials Nanoarchitectonics (MANA), NIMS) in 2011. The receptor layer coated on a membrane of an MSS absorbs gaseous molecules. Since various organic and inorganic materials can be used as receptor layer materials, the MSS is a highly versatile sensor capable of detecting diverse odorous molecules. The ultra-compact/sensitive MSS is potentially useful in various fields, such as the food industry, environmental assessment, medicine and safety assurance. After its development in 2011, the MSS was subjected to basic research to enhance its odor sensing capability. The MSS Alliance was launched in 2015 to facilitate collaboration between the private sector, academia and national research institutes on R&D related to olfactory IoT sensor system constituent, thereby accelerating the practical application of the MSS.

The MSS Alliance has made several notable achievements in R&D related to key constituent technologies. These include the development of sensor devices, receptor layer materials and precise evaluation and data analysis systems. Asahi Kasei, which joined the alliance in April 2017, has been developing receptor layer materials capable of absorbing gaseous molecules and techniques to coat receptor layer materials to an MSS. In addition, companies invited by the alliance carried out more than 10 demonstration experiment projects in which the MSS repeatedly proved to be both highly sensitive to a variety of odors and capable of discriminating between them.

In light of these joint research results, we plan to accelerate the practical application of the MSS. We also plan to meet requests we have received from interested groups in different fields for first-hand experience in the use of MSS olfactory IoT sensing systems. Thus, we will launch the MSS Forum on November 1 to encourage interested companies to perform demonstration experiments. The seven organizations that make up the MSS Alliance will continue the R&D on constituent technologies while the companies and research institutes in the MSS Forum promote experiments to demonstrate the effectiveness of the MSS in various environments. Through these efforts, we will pursue the establishment of this sensor technology to achieve a de facto standard.