Professor Takao Someya - Profile

Takao Someya

Takao Someya

  • Degrees

    Ph. D.

  • Fields

    Organic Electronics

  • Organization

    Department of Electrical and Electronic Engineering,
    School of Engineering, the University of Tokyo

  • Position

    Professor

  • Address

    7-3-1 Hongo, Bunkyo-ku, Tokyo 113-8656, Japan

  • Phone

    +81-3-5841-0411

  • Fax

    +81-3-5841-6709

  • E-mail

    someya@ee.t.u-tokyo.ac.jp

Takao Someya is Executive Director and Vice President and Professor at the University of Tokyo.　Additionally, he serves as Director General of the Division of University Corporate Relations, with oversight of startup initiatives. He is recognized as an inventor of electronic skins, which was featured in TIME Magazine as one of the best inventions of the year in 2005. His current research focus is on next-generation wearables with organic electronics for application to healthcare, biomedical, and robotics. He earned his doctorate in engineering from the University of Tokyo and his additional positions include Global Scholar at Princeton University, GlobalFoundaries Visiting Professor at National University of Singapore, and Hans Fisher Senior Fellow at Technical University of Munich. The Fujihara Award has been added to the list of honors recognizing his achievements this year, alongside the 16th Leo Esaki Prize and the Commendation for Science and Technology by the Minister of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology in 2019.　He is the 2024 President of the Materials Research Society in the US, first to be elected to the position from Asia.

His current research interests include organic transistors, flexible electronics, plastic integrated circuits, large-area sensors, and plastic actuators.

Awards and Recognition

  • The 65th Fujihara Award (The Fujihara Foundation of Science), June 2024
  • The 16th Leo Esaki Prize (The Science and Technology Promotion Foundation of Ibaraki), November 2019
  • 2019 Hattori Hoko Award (The Hattori Hokikai Foundation), October 2019
  • 2019 Hattori Hoko Award (The Hattori Hokikai Foundation), October 2019
  • The Commendation for Science and Technology (Minister of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology), April 2019
  • Nakatani Aaward (Nakatani Foundation), February 2019
  • The 4th Tateisi Prize, Achievement Award (OMRON Coporation), May 2016
  • Highly Cited Researchers (Thomson Reuters), June 2014
  • The 46th Ichimura Prizes in Technology－Meritorious Achievement Prize(Ichimura Foundation for New Technology), April 2014
  • 2010 IEEE/EDS Paul Rappaport Award (IEEE Electron Device Society, December 2011)
  • The 13th IEICI Electronics Society Award (IEICI Electronics Society), March 2010
  • The 5th JSPS Prize(Japan Society for the Promotion of Science), March 9, 2009
  • 2009 IEEE/EDS Paul Rappaport Award (IEEE Electron Device Society, December 2010)
  • The 9th Docomo Mobile Science Award, Fundamental Science Division (Mobile Communication Fund,October 2010)
  • Gottfried Wagener Prize 2008(German Chamber of Commerce and Industry in Japan), March , 2009
  • Japan IBM Science Award　(IBM Japan), 2009
  • Marubun Academic Award, (Marubun Research Promotion Foundation), March 6, 2006
  • IEEE/ISSCC Takuo Sugano Outstanding Paper Award (ISSCC), February , 2005
  • Young Scientist Award, (Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology), April 2005

Recent representative publications and presentations

  • Takao Someya, Zhenan Bao, and George G Malliaras, "The rise of plastic bioelectronics", Nature, Vol. 540, No. 7633, pp. 379-385 (2016). [DOI: 10.1038/nature21004]
  • Tomoyuki Yokota, Peter Zalar, Martin Kaltenbrunner, Hiroaki Jinno, Naoji Matsuhisa, Hiroki Kitanosako, Yutaro Tachibana, Wakako Yukita, Mari Koizumi, Takao Someya, "Ultraflexible organic photonic skin", Science Advances 2, e1501856 (2016). [DOI: 10.1126/sciadv.1501856]
  • Martin Kaltenbrunner, Tsuyoshi Sekitani, Jonathan Reeder, Tomoyuki Yokota, Kazunori Kuribara, Takeyoshi Tokuhara, Michael Drack, Reinhard Schwoediauer, Ingrid Graz, Simona Bauer-Gogonea, Siegfried Bauer, and Takao Someya, "An ultra-lightweight design for imperceptible plastic electronics", Nature, Vol. 499, pp. 458-463 (2013). [DOI: 10.1038/nature12314]
  • Martin Kaltenbrunner, Matthew S White, Eric D Głowacki, Tsuyoshi Sekitani, Takao Someya, Niyazi Serdar Sariciftci, and Siegfried Bauer, "Ultrathin and lightweight organic solar cells with high flexibility”, Nature communications, Vol. 3, No. 770 (2012). [DOI: 10.1038/ncomms1772]
  • John A. Rogers, Takao Someya, and Yonggang Huang, "Materials and Mechanics for Stretchable Electronics", Science, Volume 327, 1603-1607 (2010). [DOI: 10.1126/science.1182383] 
  • Tsuyoshi Sekitani, Hiroyoshi Nakajima, Hiroki Maeda, Takanori Fukushima, Takuzo Aida, Kenji Hata, Takao Someya, ” Stretchable active matrix organic light-emitting diode display using printable elastic conductors”, Nature Materials, Volume 8, 494-499 (2009). [DOI: 10.1038/nmat2459] 
  • T. Sekitani, T. Yokota, U. Zschieschang, H. Klauk, S. Bauer, K. Takeuchi, M. Takamiya, T. Sakurai, and T. Someya, "Organic Non-volatile Memory Transistors for Flexible Sensor Arrays", Science, Volume 326, 1516-1519 (2009). [DOI: 10.1126/science.1179963] 
  • Tsuyoshi Sekitani, Yoshiaki Noguchi, Kenji Hata, Takanori Fukushima, Takuzo Aida, Takao Someya, “A Rubberlike Stretchable Active Matrix Using Elastic Conductors”, Science, Volume 321, 1468-1472 (2008). [DOI: 10.1126/science.1160309] 
  • Takao Someya, Yusaku Kato, Tsuyoshi Sekitani, Shingo Iba, Yoshiaki Noguchi, Yousuke Murase, Hiroshi Kawaguchi, and Takayasu Sakurai, "Conformable, flexible, large-area networks of pressure and thermal sensors with organic transistor active matrixes", Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America, Volume 102, 12321-12325 (2005). [DOI: 10.1073/pnas.0502392102] 
  • V. C. Sundar, J. Zaumseil, V. Podzorov, E. Menard, R. L. Willett, T. Someya, M. E. Gershenson, and J. A. Rogers, "Elastomeric transistor stamps: Reversible probing of charge transport in organic crystals", Science, 303, 1644-1646 (2004). [DOI: 10.1126/science.1094196] 
  • Takao Someya, Tsuyoshi Sekitani, Shingo Iba, Yusaku Kato, Hiroshi Kawaguchi, and Takayasu Sakurai, "A large-area, flexible pressure sensor matrix with organic field-effect transistors for artificial skin applications", Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America, Volume 101, 9966-9970 (2004).  [DOI: 10.1073/pnas.0401918101] 

Keynote Speeches

  • (Plenary) Takao Someya and Tsuyoshi Sekitani, "Ultraflexible and stretchable organic devices", 20th International Conference on Electronic Properties of Two-Dimensional Systems (EP2DS-20) and 16th International Conference on Modulated Semiconductor Structures (MSS-16), Wrocław, Poland, 1-5 July 2013.
  • (Plenary) Takao Someya and Tsuyoshi Sekitani, "Ultra-flexible organic devices for bio-medical applications", International Symposium on Functional Pi-Electron Systems, Palais des Congrès, Arcachon, France, June 2-7, 2013.
  • (Plenary) Takao Someya and Tsuyoshi Sekitani, "Large-Area, Flexible, Organic Photonics and Electronics", IEEE PHOTONICS CONFERENCE 2012, Hyatt Regency San Francisco Airport, Burlingame, CA, USA September 24, 2012.
  • (Plenary) Takao Someya and Tsuyoshi Sekitani, "Emerging Applications of Printed Skin-like Sensors and Organic Photovoltaics", Printed Electronics USA 2012, Santa Clara Convention Center, CA, USA, Dec. 5-6, 2012.
  • (Plenary) Takao Someya, "Emerging applications and future prospects of printed organic transistors and memories", 8th International Conference on Electroluminescence & Organic Optoelectronics (ICEL 2010), The University of Michigan, MI, October 19, 2010.
  • (Plenary) Takao Someya, "Ambient electronics: Print electronics everywhere! ", IEEE International Electron Devices Meeting (IEDM), Baltimore, December 7, 2009.
  • (Plenary) Takao Someya, "Digital fabrication and ambient electronics", Digital Fabrication, Kentucky, September 17, 2009.
  • (Plenary) Takao Someya, "Organic Transistors: towards Ambient Electronics", 2007 International Conference on Solid State Devices and Materials (SSDM 2007), Tsukuba International Congress Center (EPOCHAL TSUKUBA), Ibaraki, Japan, September 18-21, 2007.
  • (Plenary) T. Someya, "Ambient Electronics with Organic Transistors", 2007 Symposium on VLSI Circuits, Rihga Royal Hotel Kyoto, Japan, June 14-16, 2007.