The 2nd Tokyo Tech COI Symposium Report

The 2nd Tokyo Tech COI Symposium was held on November 24. The meeting place was at the Ookayama campus Lecture Theater, and approximately 200 people including companies, universities, COI officials and others participated. The research results promoted by Ministry of Science and Technology (MEXT) and Japan Science and Technology Agency (JST) under the theme of Vision 2 "Build a prosperous living environment (to prosperous and respected countries)" were widely let to know to general people. Sub theme of this time is "Happiness co-creation society, seeking new symbiosis of people and technology". In addition, as a new attempt, we have set up a forum which anyone in the meeting place can participate.

The symposium was chaired by Prof. Oda COI Research Leader. Following the opening remarks of Dr. Mishima Tokyo Tech President, we had guests' greetings of the people promoting the whole COI project. They were Mr. Kamiyo General Director of MEXT, Dr. Komiyama Chairman and Mr. Yokota Vision 2 Leader of COI STREAM Governance Committee in JST. They expressed their expectations for future activities, including the social significance of COI and the evaluation of Tokyo Tech COI activities so far.

In the lecture section, Dr. Akiba Tokyo Tech COI Project Leader explained mainly about "Activity status of the Tokyo Tech COI" with four services (Information recall service, Multilingual intent translation service, Tele-presence communication service, and Connected co-creation space service). Subsequently, Dr. Doi Supervisor of the National Institute of Information and Communications Technology (NICT) explained " Extensive human interface research that I had experienced" and also mentioned the views on Tokyo Tech COI activities.

Next, Professor Ueda of Liberal Arts Research and Education in Tokyo Tech made lecture entitled " The meaning of life" and "Technology", the happiness depends on people, society and culture, and he pointed out the importance of how technology is involved. Professor Oyama of Advanced Research Center for Social Information Science and Technology in Tokyo Tech mentioned the desirable way in Japan, showing examples of protection of personal information in the West in the title "Personal Information Protection Law and Ishin Denshin Project ".

Furthermore, Professor Nohara of School of Environment and Society in Tokyo Tech explained "Good relationship between people and technology to talk about in Science Cafe - Translation that causes communication". Based on the experience of a Science Cafe that introduces the concept of "Ishin Denshin" to the general public, she stated the importance of "Translation with real intention" and the opinion that happiness is not for efficiency but to fulfillment of life. Mr. Usami Director of Technology Development of KDDI CORPORATION explaned "While being more freely, more gentle and more fun: seeking the future of communication". He stated the outlook for the future society while showing the needs of society and the possibility of technological development in the coming years.

The last lecture is Mr. Arima's "Global Priority toward 2030 and What the World should be". He is Executive Advisor of Fuji Xerox Co., Ltd. and a member of the United Nations Global Compact Board. The United Nations Global Compact is committed to various problems around the world (climate change, energy, poverty, etc.) and aims to achieve a common goal by 2030. Correspondingly, corporate activities were responsible for all processes of the business, and emphasized that sustainable management and innovation should be aimed.

Mr. Arima, Executive Advisor of Fuji Xerox gives a lecture

Subsequently, we had a whole discussion where everyone in the place can participate. This aim is to express opinions with COI officials and lecturers on questions from the audience, to deepen mutual understanding and to find hints for finding new directions. There were lots of opinions. Will people really be happy if there are four services of Tokyo Tech COI? It may be that misunderstanding does occur because the true intention is not transmitted. "Ishin Denshin" is not just a communication tool, it would be accompanied by creativity. When trying to help people in a real life place, is that good faith confirmed well to the other person? There were strict opinions etc etc. I would like to make use of these points for future research.

Scenery of the discussion

Finally, Prof. Ando, Vice President and Director of Tokyo Tech, greeted the meeting, expressed their appreciation for the support and participants as a university for COI activities, and closed the symposium.

Vice President Prof. Ando gave closing remarks