Transcend. Connect. Change the world. The concept of the Association for Transdisciplinary Research is to transcend barriers, to identify new research themes and issues that humanity needs to face, and to promote research together. It is a place for exchange that transcends the boundaries of industry and field, where researchers, large corporations, small factories, and venture companies can fuse their knowledge and technology through discussion, without being bound by differences in field or industry.
The goal is to create innovative themes by bringing together people from different fields and industries with different "knowledge" of technologies, issues, experiences, networks, know-how, and pathways to social implementation, and discussing the future, leading to the creation of new research ideas.
It is, so to speak, a cross-industrial exchange meeting to search for new research themes and issues that humanity should face.
The Super Interdisciplinary Society has the following features and strengths that distinguish it from other so-called interdisciplinary conferences, congresses, and exhibitions.
People from across all fields and industries, including researchers, large corporations, small and midsize companies, local factories, venture companies, and local governments, bring their knowledge together and actively communicate with each other. There is a passion for "exploring themes that can only be created by transcending fields" and "initiating things that transcend fields.
A social gathering where people can meet across boundaries, backed by passion.Many academia researchers and R&D-based ventures participateInside,Not only human exchange and information exchange, but also the creation of research ideas and innovative themes.It is a unique site.
that will lead to the creation of new businesses that transcend fields and industries.A place for new collaboration opportunitiesWe look forward to your participation as well. We look forward to your participation.
We spoke with Mr. Murakami of Metagen Inc. and Mr. Oshima of Focus Systems Inc. about the Hyperdifferentiation Conference.
Focus Systems Co.
IT Innovation Division 2
Technical Promotion Division
Business Creation Department
--- Please introduce yourself.
Nice to meet you, my name is Oshima from Focus Systems, and I look forward to working with you today.
We are an IT company that promotes the development of systems, networking, and all other aspects of what we call "IT" as our business.
The company is celebrating its 48th term in this fiscal year and has a history of about 50 years.
In this context, we are working daily to find ways to contribute IT technology and know-how to researchers and non-IT fields.
I would like to participate in this year's conference again while thinking about how we can build such new things through the hyperdisciplinarity conference, and I look forward to working with you.
--- Can you tell us about how you have participated in hyperdisciplinarity conferences in the past?
I have participated in the past two Ignition projects of the Society of Very Different Fields.
We were able to conduct one project for each of the Kanto and Kansai congresses in the summer of 2023, and we had three abstracts accepted for the Kansai congress and one for the Kanto congress.
Participants who met on the day applied for hypotheses on how to combine and implement new research and technologies, and gave actual presentations, which we then answered questions in front of everyone.
We are still in contact with the people we adopted here, and we are able to continue our efforts through constant meetings and other means.
The themes that were actually created on the day of the event were not yet finalized, and there were still some elements that were difficult to implement, but each team member is working hard to determine what is needed to actually implement them.
In this way, the Super Interdisciplinary Society provides us with a forum for planning new projects and the opportunity to work on them as a business.
Metagen Inc.
Director, COO and CIPO
--- Please introduce yourself.
Metagen is a university-launched venture established in 2015, coming out of Keio University and Tokyo Institute of Technology. The group vision is to "achieve zero disease," and we are focusing on the bacteria that are currently in your stomachs, conducting various research, and creating businesses based on this research.
It has become clear that each person's intestinal environment is completely different, and we are creating a business to provide health care tailored to each person's intestinal environment with the aim of making health care that matches this intestinal environment the norm.
For example, we want to create a world where people can test the bacteria in their intestines and eat foods that match their intestinal bacteria.Body GranolaThe company has released a product called
First, we ask people to send us their stools to examine their intestinal environment, and then we offer a service that says, "Let's eat the food (granola) that is right for you.
I myself am involved in research on preventive medicine, spa therapy, etc. I joined Metagen as the first employee and am now a director. I was involved in the development of stool preservation technology for collecting and sending stools.
I have attended a surprisingly large number of hyperdiscipline conferences when I count them, and I have taken advantage of them by presenting the results of collaborative research here while also speaking at sessions and other events, and by starting new initiatives with people I have met here.
--- Can you tell us about how you have participated in hyperdisciplinarity conferences in the past?
I used to be a researcher, so when I went to so-called academic conferences, I thought they were places where people in similar fields were presenting academic posters and having academic discussions, but when I went to conferences in very different fields, I found many people who were not researchers (laughs).
There are people from large companies, people from other ventures, high school students and other students, people from local factories, and people from the government. There are people from all walks of life. I sometimes present my research and projects in such an environment, and I think it is a unique opportunity to see how people look at my work and to receive diverse opinions and comments. There is no other place like it (laughs). I don't think there are many places like this. I think it is a very good place because I don't think it is very common.
Metagen has had many experiences in which we have presented our own research, or have taken the stage at a panel discussion to talk about what we are working on, or have given a talk on the theme of the day, In such cases, discussions such as, "Well, it would be interesting to try something like this," are often generated during the session, and then, "Well, let's actually try it," and the conversation with the company continues after the super interdisciplinary conference.
We are headquartered in Yamagata, and at the Yamagata Forum, there are cases where joint research projects are actually underway with companies that participated in the forum. I think this is a place that provides an opportunity to take a new step forward. I think there are many things that come to mind here that would not normally occur to me.
--- What do you think about going to various posters, even for those who are not presenting at the poster session, and bounce your ideas off of them, from which new ideas and relationships may emerge?
Yes, I think you are right. I think you are right.
When you do research on intestinal bacteria and present at so-called academic conferences, you don't often encounter a place like Focus Systems (laughs), but I think this is exactly the kind of place where such encounters can happen.
I think it is important to be in a place full of people in fields that you do not normally come into contact with, and to actively try to interact with them by saying, "I don't understand, so please tell me about it.
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