PWRI Outline

The National Research and Development Agency Public Works Research Institute (PWRI) conducts high-quality studies as a core institution of civil engineering research in Japan. PWRI was founded to improve civil engineering technology by conducting research and development on civil engineering techniques, providing technical support,disseminating research results, etc., and to contribute to society by improving infrastructure and promoting development of Hokkaido.

PWRI began anew in April 2006, when the Civil Engineering Research Institute of Hokkaido, which had been established in 1937 as the Testing Laboratory of the Civil Engineering Department of Hokkaido Agency, was integrated into PWRI,which itself had been established in 1920 as the Road Materials Testing Department of the Ministry of Internal Affairs, and was transformed into a “national research and development agency” in April 2015.