Open Research Center for the Creation of a Super-Mature Society (SU)

Center Director: Naoaki Yamanaka (Professor, Faculty of Science and Technology)

Primary Campus: Yagami Campus

The Open Research Center for a Super-Mature Society, established within the Keio Advanced Research Centers (KARC) at Keio University, is a consortium-type open laboratory. It aims to create new social systems for the "super-mature society"—a challenge Japan is facing before any other country—by integrating the humanities and sciences at Keio University. The core of its activities is industry-academia collaborative research with Nippon Telegraph and Telephone Corporation (NTT), and it seeks to integrate with a wide range of domestic and international activities.

Super-mature society, ICT, ubiquitous, robots, big data

■ Activities Continuing from FY2016: Background, Rationale, and Goals

We are currently conducting research under the themes of a senior society with a high QoL (1 theme), support-type research for extending healthy life expectancy (1 theme), and improving the quality of the labor force and creating a creative society (2 themes). This fiscal year, we plan to add one more theme.

■ New Activity Goals and Content for FY2017, and Background for Implementation

This year, we plan to add one theme related to a sustainable society. To this end, we are also considering joint research with SFC.

■ Implementation Details for the Fiscal Year Business Plan, Research Outcomes, and Degree of Achievement

Based on the initial plan and while also reviewing the framework, our research focused on the following four themes.

By comprehensively combining these themes, we held symposia, workshops, and laboratory tours for approximately 100 participants at the Keio University Yagami Campus on April 19 and at the NTT Yokosuka R&D Center on October 30. We also planned and held an affiliated seminar at the Keio Technomall. At the open symposium, we aimed for an integration of humanities and sciences by organizing lectures by Professor Saito of the Faculty of Business and Commerce and Professor Kokuryo of the Faculty of Policy Management. For example, discussions included how, while GDP in economics is a function of the working population, the mechanism for generating capital differs in the age of robots and AI. Furthermore, our center took the lead in planning the affiliated seminar at the Keio Technomall, achieving great success as an Open Research Lab. Although the center is categorized into four project issues, we have successfully formed six teams.

In addition, we have accepted 38 collaborative researchers from companies and 2 from overseas, giving the center a significant presence. As a result, we have succeeded in greatly expanding the scope of research in our laboratories.

It is worth noting that the research at this center was not merely a division of labor; rather, we collaborated with numerous graduate schools and cooperated with companies to hold open seminars and workshops. Furthermore, we undertook remarkable initiatives as an open research center, such as inviting researchers from partner companies to conduct graduate-level research. Going forward, we will further promote internationalization.