Initiative for Life Design Innovation (iLDi)

Initiative for Life Design Innovation (iLDi) kickoff symposium

On February 21, 2019, “Society 5.0: the society of the future – Initiative for Life Design Innovation (iLDi) Kickoff Symposium” was held at the Grand Front Osaka North Building Knowledge Capital.

This is the first symposium of iLDi, an initiative funded by MEXT’s Society 5.0 Realization Research Support Project, which started in Fiscal Year 2018.

Participants enjoying a presentation

The nearly 300 symposium participants represented the faculty of universities participating in the project, directors of private companies, and representatives from various organizations, including the Osaka Prefectural Government. The symposium began with welcoming remarks by Shojiro Nishio, President at Osaka University (iLDi General Manager), Hiroshi Matsumoto, President at RIKEN and Katsuhiko Hara, Director General at MEXT Research Promotion Bureau (Information Division). Then Yasushi Yagi, Executive Vice President at Osaka University (iLDi General Manager) introduced iLDi. Takuya Nomura, President at Superstation and Policy Advisor for The Cabinet Office (Chief Policy Officer in charge of Science and Technology Innovation), Takashi Niino, President and CEO at NEC Corporation, and Naonori Ueda, Fellow at NTT Communication Science Laboratories and Vice Director from the Center for Advanced Intelligence Project at RIKEN also presented.

Katsuhiko Hara
Director General of MEXT Research Promotion Bureau (Information Division).

Shojiro Nishino
Greeting from the President at Osaka University (Executive Director of iLDi)

Invited lecture given by Takuya Nomura
President of Superstation
Policy Advisor for The Cabinet Office (Chief Policy Officer in charge of Science and Technology Innovation)

The afternoon began with a lively panel discussion moderated by Professor Teruo Higashino from Osaka University (iLDi Headquarters Deputy Manager). Panelists included Professor Hongbin Zha from the School of Electronics Engineering and Computer Science at Peking University, Professor Hiroshi Ishiguro from the Graduate School of Engineering Science (Osaka University Distinguished Professor), and Mr. Naonori Ueda.

Then Professor Miki Haseyama from the Graduate School of Information Science and Technology at Hokkaido University and Adviser to the President of Hokkaido University gave a presentation entitled “Society 5.0: the society of the future”. The symposium ended on a positive note as the closing remarks by Professor Teruo Higashino discussed the possibilities of the Society 5.0 initiative and set the tone for the project.