COI Symposium

The 3rd Tokyo Institute of Technology COI Symposium was held on November 20th at the Okayama Campus Lecture Theater. The venue was attended by about 150 people, including companies, universities, and COI officials. This symposium is based on the new concept of “Society for Earth Inclusive Sensing”, by listening to and empathizing with silent voice that transcend the boundaries of humankind on the earth (inclusive sensing), from the perspective of realizing a cycle that solves problems such as people, society and the environment through humans with low environmental impact and in a way that is friendly to people and the earth, A panel discussion was held with the participation of national research institutes and participating companies on the theme of how advanced technologies can be used for the global environment.

At the opening of the event, President Kazuya Masu of Tokyo Institute of Technology gave a speech as the organizer, and introduced the activities and current status of the COI of this center.
Next, Mr. Yasuki Matsuo, Director of Academic Policy of the Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology (MEXT), introduced the social significance and achievements of the COI program, and expressed the expectations for social implementation by this COI center. Next, Mr. Satoshi Koike, COI Program Vision 2 Leader expressed that this COI site had aised new concept in today where IoT, AI, Society 5.0, etc., are used like buzzwords, and is working on a grand theme, and he was looking forward to the lectures and discussions at this symposium.

In the keynote speech, Prof. Keiichiro Shimada, the executive officer of next-generation technology cooperation at Sony Corporation, introduced the current state of image sensor development under the title of “Silent Voice Capturing Advanced Image Sensing beyond the Human Eye”. In the situation where functions and performance have been dramatically improved in the last 20 to 30 years, it is expected that applications in every fields can be expected by how to use them in the future and by incorporating AI technology. It was also suggested that cooperation with users would be very important in using these technologies in the future.

Dr. Masaru Yamamoto, Director of Planning and Management, Research Center for Agricultural Environment of National Agriculture and Food Research Organization (NARO), explained about “Satoyama” which is especially included in our concept from a professional standpoint by his lecture entitled “Nature of Satoyama weave by people and its changes”. Satoyama was originally Kusayama, which used to produce livestock feed and fertilizers from fuels such as firewood and charcoal. He explained that the value of use of Satoyama has been lost, and that the abandoned Satoyama has been transformed into a wasteland instead of returning to nature, then the ecosystem has collapsed.

Dr. Toshihiko Hamasaki, Dean and Professor of the Faculty of Informatics at Hiroshima Institute of Technology, gave a final lecture entitled “Towards a New World opened by Ultra-Low-Power Consumption Communications: Its Applications and Challenges”, and introduced the remote monitoring of sea conditions in oyster farming in Hiroshima as an application example of IoT technology and the LPWA radio wave propagation technology in fields and forests.

After a break, Mr. Hiroi Project Leader of this COI center explained the outline of the project, in which people and the earth coexist and co-prosper with the silent voice of the Earth through Earth Inclusive Sensing as the goal of this COI Center. Following Hiroi Leader's presentation, Prof. Wakabayashi, Research Leader explained the status of research and development activitity on earth inclusive sensing.

Based on the above lectures, the panel discussion entitled “How to use advanced technology for the global environment” was held by Prof. Saijo of Tokyo Institute of Technology as a facilitator. In addition to the about lecturers, Assoc. Prof. Takeda of Faculty of Agriculture, Shinshu University which is one of the satellite of this COI center joined in the panel discussion.
Firstly, Assoc. Prof. Takeda introduces the benefits of animal welfare in the animal husbandry industry by listening to the silent voice of animals, as an example of social implementation. Dr. Yamamoto pointed out that human care is neccesary for the preservation and restoration of satoyama and Prof. Hamazaki explained about mutual assistance for preservation of oyster in Hiroshima. They also provided useful suggestions and the viewpoint that not only the introduction of advanced technology but also human life is necessary. From Prof. Shimada, it should be noted that semiconductor manufacturers such as Sony Corporation are far from the users in applying advanced technology, and that it is necessary to sufficiently absorb the needs of the users. He emphasized that co-creation with the user was very important. This COI also introduced the fact that he visited a livestock farmer, and our experience of the farm was very useful for us. As a results of discussion, panelists agreed that it is important to look at the real field as much as possible for R & D.

Panel Discussion

Finally, Prof. Watanabe, Executive Vice President of Tokyo Institute of Technology, expressed his appreciation for the participants, and expressed his support for COI activities as a university as much as possible.
We would like to thank all participants and everyone concerned for this symposium.