Research Activities: For Society

To implement research technologies to create value, it is important to design the impact of application on the entire society and to verify the actual impacts using the minimum required configuration. We are using two approaches to do this: creating a logical framework for solving various social issues and applying technologies to concrete fields. In creating a logical framework, we are pursuing a commons as a place for realizing both social and economic value as well as designing a reference architecture for creating a new society upon considering the structure of problems. In technology application, we are pursuing various projects to solve social issues including supporting marketing activities for regional tourism by using human movement data and supporting the maintenance of forests by visualizing a forest's diverse functions.

Research Activities

Creating a Logical Framework

To change society for the better using technology, it is important to see technology not only individually but also to design the big picture for the actual society to which the technology will be applied. We are pursuing the creation of a logical framework for this design work. We are pursuing an architecture for designing a new society by looking at the structure of issues in aiming to achieve a sustainable society. It will be a methodology for designing an architecture that defines systems by collaboration among various stakeholders across areas and industries. We are also exploring the creation of a community that achieves both social and economic value. As the Digital Commons as one element, we are researching how to build communities for solving social issues which are complex and have no correct answer and for creating a platform where stakeholders can interact and learn.

Applying Technologies

In the tourism marketing space, we are researching ways to make decision making easier based on data for people working on promotions to attract tourists. Specifically, we are conducting an experiment to apply data to marketing by performing a high-precision analysis to identify visitors that come to and stay at sightseeing spots by gathering IoT sensor and mobile phone data in five prefectures in the Chugoku region. We are also researching how to show the data so that non-experts in data analysis can get important insights.
Also, in the forestry space, we are researching the visualization of forest functions. The function of forests, which cover roughly 70% of land in Japan, include not only lumber production (raw material production) but also disaster prevention by alleviating the impact of floods and water purification (water and land maintenance), CO2 absorption (life environment maintenance), improved health and leisure (health and recreation), a place for forest environment and experience education (culture), and provision of a wildlife habitat (bio system maintenance). If forests are not appropriately maintained, and if it becomes difficult to maintain a forest's functions, the occurrence of disasters and negative impacts on the natural environment cannot be avoided. In our research on visualization of the various forest functions, we perform quantitative evaluation of functions for visualization to maintain a forest's functions. We aim to support local governments and foresters in planning and implementing appropriate forest maintenance by providing ways to evaluate each forest function.