Dr. Hideo Fujikake joined the Japan Broadcasting Corporation (NHK) in 1985 after completing his master’s degree at Tohoku University. After working at Nagano Broadcasting Station, he served as a researcher and then a senior researcher at the Science & Technology Research Laboratories (NHK STRL), where he led research on display devices. He earned his PhD in Engineering in 2003 and has been engaged in education and research as a professor in the Department of Electrical Engineering at the Graduate School of Engineering, Tohoku University, since 2012. He was appointed Chair of the Department in 2024 and was awarded the title of Distinguished Professor in 2025.

His achievements can be summarized as “pioneering research in user-friendly electronic display technology.” Looking ahead to a future information-sharing society, he has created a group of device-based technologies that integrate human sciences and organic materials engineering, thereby contributing to the development of human interfaces that connect people with information.

First, as a proponent and pioneer of flexible video displays, he began researching the flexibilization of liquid crystal displays around 1997 (with his first academic presentation in 1998). By developing polymer spacer walls that stabilize the structure through bonding to plastic film substrates, he created the world’s first rollable liquid crystal device (10 cm square) in 2002. Furthermore, he pioneered printing methods and flexible backlights, applying these innovations to the development of A4-sized displays. Subsequently, by developing coated ultra-thin film substrates, he demonstrated the ability to roll them down to just a few millimeters in thickness, thereby leading the field.

At the same time, he pioneered ultra-high-resolution liquid crystal drive technology, aiming for the practical application of electronic holography, an ideal stereoscopic display method that can avoid the vergence-accommodation conflict that causes visual fatigue. By blocking leakage electric fields between pixels and the elastic propagation of liquid crystal molecular arrangements, with fine polymer partitions formed by optical nanoimprinting, he succeeded in independently driving 1 µm-pitch pixels for the first time in the world in 2019. Furthermore, he has achieved groundbreaking results in the exploration of micro-driven liquid crystals, including confirming 0.7 µm pitch operation by correcting the layered molecular arrangement in reverse-polarity voltage-driven thin-film liquid crystals (ferroelectric liquid crystals).

In addition to the above, he has contributed to creating an environment where high-quality video can be enjoyed at any time by developing foundational technologies for the input, transmission, and output of image information. This includes the practical application of adaptive optical filters for imaging—such as color temperature conversion and reflected light suppression—in television production, as well as the development of high-speed liquid crystals for use in phase shifters for wireless communication and reflector arrays that utilize the dielectric anisotropy of liquid crystals.

These achievements are reflected in his election as a Fellow of the IEICE, an IEEE Fellow, a Fellow of the Institute of Image Information and Television Engineers, and a Fellow of the Japan Society of Applied Physics. They are also demonstrated by his receipt of the IEICE Best Paper Award, the IEICE Achievement Award, the SID Distinguished Paper Award, other honors, and the Medal with Purple Ribbon. In addition, he has held key positions such as Chair of the IEICE Technical Committee on Electronic Displays and Chair of the IEICE Tohoku Branch, while also contributing to the international advancement of the field through roles including Chair of the IEEE Consumer Electronics Society Japan Chapter, Program Chair and Organizing Chair of the International Display Workshops (IDW), and Vice President of the Japanese Liquid Crystal Society.

As described above, his contributions to the field of electronic information and communications have been truly outstanding, and we are convinced that he is a worthy recipient of the IEICE Distinguished Achievement and Contributions Award.