Ms.Nur Hanis Alisa, a USM master’s degree student who went to Japan (JIRCAS@Tsukuba) as a short-term trainee for half a year from May to November 2023, safely returned to Malaysia on November 3rd. We believe that not only learned a lot from research activities, but also learned a lot from Japanese culture and many experiences, and made many friends. Hope she will share the experience in Japan with other students in the SATREPS OPT laboratory in USM and further contribute to the result of SATREPS OPT project.

On 23 Oct, 2023, Malaysian Bioeconomy Development Corporation Sdn Bhd under The Ministry of Science, Technology and Innovation (MOSTI) visited our Kluang pilot plant. The project overview was explained also toured the Kluang Pilot Plant. We discussed about the Bio-based accumulator (BBA Program) and BioNexus Status for further social implementation activities of the project.

JICA Malaysia Office, Chief Representative, Madam Sugawara and Mr. Ohi visited USM’s SATREPS OPT Research Lab on October 19, 2023, and discussed the progress of the project with the Malaysia side Project Leader, Prof. Sudesh. In addition, on October 2nd, JICA person in charge of the project, Mr. Egawa, visited USM and confirmed the progress of the project at USM, also toured the Research Lab.

JICA Malaysia Office, Chief Representative, Madam Sugawara and Mr. Ohi paid a courtesy call to USM Vice-Chancellor, Prof. Dato’ Seri Ir. Dr. Abdul Rahman on 18 October 2023. Expressed sincere appreciation for the cooperation of SATREPS OPT Project and also talked about ASEAN University Network/Southeast Asia Engineering Education Development Network (AUN/SEED-Net).

We paid a courtesy visit to Dato’ Zailani Bin Hj. Hahim (Deputy Secretary General) of the Ministry. We were able to report on project progress and research results, and actively discuss the wide use and popularization of palm biomass, including OPT and OPF.

Meeting with Prof. Dr. Raha Abdul Rahim (Chief Executive Officer) and researchers of National Institute of Biotechnology Malaysia (NIBM) was held at Agro-Biotechnology Institute Malaysia (ABI) on Sep 7, 2023 to report of the project activities and to exchange the opinions for the research collaboration.

On Sep 3rd and 8th, 2023, Mr. Egawa who is the person in charge of our SATREPS OPT Project of JICA Malaysia Office, visited our Kluang pilot plant (Johor) and Pasoh observation site (Negri Sembilan).

On Sep 3rd, 2023, Idemitsu team member Idemitsu visited Kluang to tour the plant and discuss the preparation of OPT samples for their research.

On Aug 30th 2023, Prof. Itakura and 6 students from Nagoya City Univ. visited our SATREPS OPT Lab at Universiti Sains Malaysia (USM). Prof. Kosugi explained the outline of the project, then, USM students explained mealworm and bioplastic research and gave a tour of our SATREPS laboratory.

On Aug 30th 2023, NEDO (New Energy and Industrial Technology Development Organization) members visited our SATREPS OPT Lab at Universiti Sains Malaysia (USM). Prof. Kosugi explained the outline of the project, and technical question and answer session was held.