Chemical science enables us to qualitatively change exiting science and technology by purposefully designing and synthesizing molecules and creating the desired physical, chemical, and biological functions of materials and drugs at molecular level. In 2012, we started the big funding project in Japan, “Molecular Technology” (Establishment of Molecular Technology toward the Creation of New Functions (CREST) and Molecular Technology and New Functions (PRESTO)), and numerous research groups in Japan join the project of diverse research areas. All of these are typical transdisciplinary research projects between chemistry and various research areas of science and technology. In other words, Molecular Technology is the brand new scientific discipline. In principle, most of the proposed projects try to create the big bridge between chemistry and other basic science and technology. We thus propose a nice model for this bridge that is able to make valuable contribution for human welfares.

Between Japan Science and Technology Agency (JST) and French National Research Agency (ANR), we initiated a number of international collaboration projects of Molecular Technology in 2014. Since then 12 new collaboration projects started. The project provides quite unique collaboration opportunities between Japan and France, and quite active research groups involved in very close discussions of molecular technology between two countries. We are sure this project gave us close contacts between research groups of Japan and France for numerous discoveries. Overall, this international collaboration will be new entry for even more important discoveries in the future.

In 2016, we started the discussion for making a new and comprehensive book of molecular technology for the benefit of all researchers in the world to provide typical and leading examples of molecular technology. Overall, researchers of 15 CREST, 50 PRESTO, and 12 INTERNATIONAL groups have contributed to this book. Because of the wide areas of molecular technology, this book covers extremely diverse areas of science and technology from material to pharmaceuticals.