  This paper reviews the highlights of a 4-years-long research project
supported by the Japanese Government to explore new superconducting materials
and relevant functional materials. The project found several tens of new
superconductors by examining ~1000 materials, each of which was chosen by
Japanese team member experts with a background in solid state chemistry. This
review summarizes the major achievements of the project in newly found
superconducting materials, and the wire and tape fabrication of iron-based
superconductors. It is a unique feature of this review to incorporate a list of
~700 unsuccessful materials examined for superconductivity in the project. In
addition, described are new functional materials and functionalities discovered
during the project.
