Prefece

　Early in 2005, the American Ceramic Society, the European Ceramic Society and the Ceramic Society of Japan announced a collaborative effort to provide leadership for the global ceramics community that would facilitate the use of ceramic and glass materials. That effort resulted in an agreement to organize a new biennial series of the International Congress on Ceramics, convened by the International Ceramic Federation (ICF). In order to share ideas and visions of the future for ceramic and glass materials, the 1st International Congress on Ceramics (ICC1) was held in Canada, 2006, under the organization of the American Ceramic Society, and the 2nd Congress (ICC2) was held in Italy, 2008, hosted by the European Ceramic Society.
　Organized by the Ceramic Society of Japan, the 3rd Congress (ICC3) was held in Osaka, Japan, Nov. 14-18, 2010. Incorporating the 23rd Fall Meeting of the Ceramic Society of Japan and the 20th Iketani Conference, ICC3 was also co-organized by Iketani Science and Technology Foundation, and was endorsed and supported by ICF, Asia-Oceania Ceramic Federation (AOCF) as well as many other organizations. Following the style of the previous two successful Congresses, the program was designed to advance ceramic and glass technologies to the next generation through discussion of the most recent advances and future perspectives, and to engage the worldwide ceramics community in a collective effort to expand the use of these materials in both conventional as well as new and exciting applications. ICC3 consisted of 22 voluntarily organized symposia in the most topical and essential themes of ceramic and glass materials, including “Characterization, design and processing technologies,” “Electro, magnetic and optical ceramics and devices,” “Energy and environment related ceramics and systems,” “Bio-ceramics and bio-technologies,” “Ceramics for advanced industry and safety society,” and “Innovation in traditional ceramics”. It also contained the Plenary Session and the Special Symposium “Emerging Technologies and Future Aspects for Ceramics,” which discussed the issues and challenges of various ceramic technologies for sustainable development of tomorrow’s human society. More than 1850 research papers including invited talks, oral presentations, and posters were presented from 56 countries (according to the Program), with nearly 2000 registered participants.
　This ICC3 Proceedings –Innovative Technologies and Future Outlook for Ceramics contains papers that were submitted to ICC3 and approved for publication online in IOP (Institute of Physics, UK) Conference Series: Materials Science and Engineering (MSE), as well as organizational information and overview of ICC3, plenary lecture content given by Kazuo Inamori, Founder and Chairman Emeritus, Kyocera Corporation, Japan, etc. The organization of ICC3 and the publication of this book were made possible thanks to the tireless dedication of many people and the valuable support of numerous bodies. Special thanks should go to the financial supporters for their generous patronage. We also would like to express our sincere thanks to the symposia organizers, session chairs, presenters, exhibitors and congress attendees for their efforts and enthusiastic participation in this vibrant and cutting-edge congress.

July 2011

Koichi Niihara, ICC3 President
Tatsuki Ohji, ICC3 Secretariat
Yoshio Sakka, ICC3 Secretariat