8The Japan Times Tuesday, June 30, 2015 9

The Japan Times Tuesday, June 30, 2015

The Japan Times forum on engineering

The Japan Times forum on engineeringdefining the contribution of engineering to society
Engineering turns science and technology into somethingtangible and useful to society.
It is applied in creating various structures, home appliancesand other infrastructures and equipment, which make human
lives safe and convenient.
From Nov. 29 to Dec. 2, Kyoto will host the World Engineering
Conference and Convention (WECC) 2015, in which engineersfrom around the world gather to discuss importance ofengineering and showcase their technologies. The World
Federation of Engineering Organizations (WFEO) holds it every
four years.
How can engineering contribute to society? How can Japan
contribute to global engineering? What is the significance ofJapan hosting the WECC?
The Japan Times held a forum to discuss these issues onJune 11. Participating in the forum were Ryoji Chubachi,
president of the National Institute of Advanced Industrial Scienceand Technology; Keisuke Hanaki, a professor in the Department
of Urban Engineering and adjunct professor of Integrated
Research System for Sustainability Science at the University ofTokyo; Hideo Nakamura, president emeritus of Tokyo City
University; and Junichi Sato, president of The Japan Federationof Engineering Societies. The moderator was Yoshitaka Uchijo,
an advisor and contributing editorial writer for Kyodo News.
Below are excerpts of their discussion:moderator: Thank you very much forparticipating in this forum. Today’s
theme — as it is for the WeCC 2015 —is “engineering that Contributes tosociety and Japan’s Contribution.”
This is a very expansive theme and ihope to get a variety of viewpoints
from the panelists.
First, mr. sato, will you explain thesignificance of engineering for society, this country and the world? also
will you explain the significance of the
WeCC being held for the first time inJapan this year?
sato: I have a degree in engineering, but
I considered what engineering actuallyis very seriously for this forum. I had
never thought about it so seriously
before.
We often use the words “science andtechnology.” What does engineering
have to do with science and technology?
I thought about that and did someresearch, which led me to the conclusion that engineering is an act of planning and designing something that
contributes to society by using andarranging science and technology.
This does not mean science equals
engineering. engineering is creating
something based on a request fromsociety. science is not like that. you discover something existing in nature, findits mechanism and systemize it; that’s
science, which is different from engineering.
engineering is creating a complete
product by using scientific knowledge
and technology, which is the skill of creating something. The technology of creating something is not perfect, and thus
creative arrangement is necessary. Then
you will find rules and mechanisms andproduce a complete product. For that,you need planning and design matchedwith social demand. That, I think, isengineering.
as such, engineering study is very
complicated and people may misunderstand that point. newspapers and othermedia rarely use the word “engineering”
in such context. The words “science andtechnology” are more easily understoodand people have the impression thatscience and technology are directly
applied to society. But it is engineeringthat is directly applied to society. The
achievements of science are always filtered through engineering when felt bysociety.
Japan is a country that engaged inengineering education at an early stageof its history. a long time ago, the studyof engineering did not exist in Japan,
but Japanese erected castles and temples such as Horyuji Temple. Back then,there wasn’t any idea to treat structures
or mathematics as study subjects, butpeople built them with creativity andtheir ability to understand nature. Inthat sense, we have understood engineering for a long time.
The first engineering in Japan was theengineering for the purpose of increasing wealth and military power before
World War II. But, it’s now 70 years after
the war. Our engineering after the war
focused on how we can improve society,develop industries, be wealthy andmake our country safe. I think it is veryrare for engineering to develop this way
and, in that sense, I think Japanese engineering is a role model for the world.
Take environmental technology as an
example. This small country has such an

established manufacturing industry,
and thus it also has a well-establishedenvironmental policy. and because
Japan has experienced so many natural
disasters, Japanese engineering will be
developing to overcome those things.
WeCC 2015 will be the second WeCC
in asia after shanghai, but the first inJapan. It’s an opportunity to showcase
the engineering that Japan has developed over the past 70 years to asian andafrican countries. WFeO hosts the
WeCC and is an organization under
unesCO, with more than 90 countries
belonging to the federation. Most of themember countries are in africa, theMiddle east, southeast asia and south
america. There will be about 700 people
from those countries attending the
WeCC. For them, the engineering Japan
has developed in the last 70 years must
be very important. I’m sure it must bevery useful for them, so the WeCC grabs
lots of attention.
In that sense, the fact that the WeCC
will be held in Japan means people pay
attention to how engineering should
contribute to society.
We encountered the Great east Japan
earthquake and tsunami in March 2011.
since then, we have been working torecover from the disaster. The nuclear
disaster also hit us hard and we wereforced to think seriously about whatengineering is. I think we can show theworld how engineering should develop
moving forward. The other panelists
here probably have different opinions
on engineering because they have different backgrounds.
Chubachi: In Japan, there is scienceand technology and innovation is what’s
coming after them. Japanese take thesteps of science, technology and innovation as a whole package. Industrializing by undertaking those is called
manufacturing. I think engineering
plays a role as a catalyst of making“manufacturing” closer to “industry.”
I worked for a company and havebeen engaged in electronics businessfor a long time. Mr. Ibuka (one of the

CONTINuED FROM PAGE 8

infrastructure for society” is one of themain themes for the WeCC this year.
Civil engineering and infrastructure
have played important roles for social
safety and security. Japan has experienced the Great east Japan earthquake
and it is very significant for Kyoto tohost the WeCC this year. in terms of
the role of engineering on the safety
and security of society, countries andthe world, what would you expect the
WeCC to contribute?
nakamura: earlier, the president of The
Japan Federation of engineering societies said participants will come fromabout 100 countries. They are an
extremely diverse group, with very different levels of technological and economic
development. They also have different
social needs.
In the early stages of development,social needs are relatively easy to figureout. They can be things such as a watersupply system, wanting to be a little
wealthier or wanting better food.
In the later stages of development,
though, social needs are more diverseand more difficult to assess. Japan is definitely in that stage. However, safety isdefinitely what every Japanese needs
more than anything.
Japan is notorious for having many
natural disasters. It has many moredisasters than other developed countries. The shape of the archipelago is also
unique, being very thin from north tosouth and with many islands. It also has
mountains running down the center of
the archipelago and many earthquakes.
It’s a country under extremely difficult
natural conditions.

That’s why we can’t rely on othercountries to come up with solutions to
reduce disaster risks. For example, weshould not assume a country such as
Germany would come up with excellent
research that we can only learn fromthem. nobody will do it unless Japan
does. Japan must take a leading role inpredicting disasters, taking preventive
measures, reducing risk and recoveringfrom disasters. all Japanese citizens
must think about that. I think the WeCC
is a perfect place for that.
as I said earlier, natural disasters andthe infrastructure to prevent them andreduce their risks are something you
cannot see if you live far away. you canunderstand those things only after you
see them close up. I would like everybody to visit such places, understand theenvironment and see what we Japanese
do to deal with natural disasters. Then, I
would like everybody to understand thescience and technology used as countermeasures against disasters. Then, I
would like them to spread the scienceand technology to countries that needthem. We will also make the effort, but I
think this is something many people inmany countries should do together.
sato: The u.n. World Conference on
disaster Risk Reduction was held in sendai, Miyagi Prefecture, in March. We had
the Great Hanshin earthquake in 1995,
the Great east Japan earthquake in 2011and many other natural disasters. Japanis the most advanced in handling natural
disasters. It’s unfortunate Japan is prone
to disasters but we can be proud that weare the most advanced.
nakamura: Trains were invented inPanelists and a moderator (center) pose before their discussion on the definition of engineering, Japanese contributions to engineering in the world and the challenge intraining people with the right skills to be engineering leaders at The Japan Times’ offices in Tokyo on June 11. yoSHIAKI MIURA

founders of sony Corp.) used to say,“Let’s say inventing one thing takes one
unit of effort. The technology of lowering costs and mass-producing it takes 10
times as much effort as inventing it.
Then, commercializing it to turn it into asocially and economically influential
business takes a further 10 times effort.
It’s the rule of 1-10-100. It’s true that Bell
Laboratories invented semiconductors,
but sony created transistor radio using
semiconductors. Thus, we can be proudof ourselves.”
I think the technology part, 10 of the
1-10-100 rule, is important. The step ofturning 1 into 10 on the way to 100 is an
important one.
hanaki: The outstanding characteristicof engineering is, as you have said
already, that it solves existing social
problems and is useful to society. That’s
a very important point. There’s a nobel
Prize in science, but unfortunately notin engineering. Meanwhile, engineering
becomes valuable after people actually
use it. I guess the basic value of engineering is different from that of purescience. I strongly believe that engineering is meaningful only if it is of socialuse.
nakamura: Mr. Chubachi talked about“science, technology and innovation.” I
want to make it “science, technology
and society.” Japan has conducted engineering for social needs since the beginning of Meiji Period. For example, theLake Biwa Canal was a huge project tobring water from Lake Biwa to Kyoto.
sakuro Tanabe proposed creating theLake Biwa Canal as part of his thesis
works at an engineering university. The
Kyoto governor liked the idea and asked
young Tanabe to lead the project. There
was no electricity at the time and they
had to make a very long tunnel connecting Lake Biwa and Kyoto. Tanabe supplied Lake Biwa water to Kyoto, which
had languished after the relocation ofcapital from Kyoto to Tokyo. Tanabe
implemented hydroelectric power generation in Kyoto and ran the first electrictrain in Japan. That was purely the work
for social needs.
The engineering discipline I was
involved in was doboku engineering.
doboku engineering is translated in
english into, as you know, civil engineering. you can assume that “civil”
means society and scientific technology
based on society.
We deal in infrastructure. That’s
something you can realize only in theland you are in. In other words, it’s not
portable. Recovery from natural disasters and revitalization work after them
are examples of civil engineering work.
Japan has gone through recovery andrevitalization after March 11, 2011. and
it is important for people with a great
deal of social influence come to Japanfor such an opportunity (the WeCC) todiscuss engineering and look at Japan.
I think (the WeCC) is not a place foryoung researchers to have highly specialized discussions like an academic
symposium. Rather, people with a variety of experience, knowledge and thepower to influence society will comeand see technology we can’t move in its
natural environment. The WeCC is agreat opportunity for that.
Chubachi: Mr. nakamura saying, ‘It’s
not science, technology and innovation,’
but it’s ‘science, technology and society,’
may make sense if you view innovation
as a technological advance from a narrow point of view. But I would add that
innovation can only exist if it has economic and social impact.
sato: I checked the origin of the word
“engineering” in english. engineers
were originally makers of militaryequipment. In contrast, doboku, which
creates something for society, is civilengineering. I think current engineering
is civil engineering in a real sense.
moderator: mr. hanaki, you’re an
expert in environmental issues. One of
the themes of the WeCC is a sustainable future society, which has something to do with engineering’s

contribution to the realization of thatsociety. Will you talk about the WeCC
and the role and expected contributions of Japanese engineering to world
environmental study?
hanaki: Let me explain about a recent
global movement. There is a hugeworldwide program called Future earth.
It’s not something as fancy as making
the earth beautiful in the future, nor is ita program to pessimistically talk about
the future. It’s a very large research program to study how to make the earth
sustainable.
The biggest characteristic of Futureearth is that it encourages conducting
research from an engineering point ofview, not only from a scientific one.
There are various problems in theworld, such as climate change, scarcity
of natural resources, sustainability of
biodiversity and poverty. There havealso been various research programs
looking to tackle those issues sincearound 1980. Many scientists have been
involved, but the earth has not necessarily become a better planet. Futureearth was launched out of the feelingthat we need to do a better job.
so, how do we make use of researchin enhancing the sustainability of theearth? It wouldn’t work to conduct
research in a conventional way; itshould be done in a comprehensive way
in which researchers combine theirfindings to come up with solutions. This
is what has proposed for a long time.
In addition, what’s new in Futureearth programs is that they don’t use
the word interdiscipline, but transdiscipline. What it means is that we should
strengthen interaction between society
and research. It’s not that researchers
do it alone; they do their work together
with society.
There are also three key words: Codesign, coproduction and co-delivery.
Co-design means making researchplans together with society. Co-production means conducting research
together. Co-delivery means applying
the research achievement to society.

If we try to do these, we should not
keep researchers in laboratories staring
at computers to conduct research alone,
but they should design research aroundvarious stakeholders. also, instead ofsimply showing the research results topeople, researchers must interact withsociety to discuss what research they
will conduct from the beginning.
This type of program comes fromsocial needs. as engineers speak withsociety during the process of creating
something, they apply the outcome of
their engineering to society and engineers receive feedback from society,good or bad. In that sense, engineering
uses the same methodologies as Futureearth.
We’ve suffered from pollution in thepast. We may have listened to the opinions of the people who use the products
we manufactured. But, we may not havenecessarily thought of whether production would cause environmental problems, poverty and other social
problems.
Of course, engineers today consider
environmental impact when they manufacture something. still, engineers
must think of working together with various stakeholders, including thenational government, local governments, companies and residents.
engineers will make up the majorityof the WeCC participants this year. But
it is widely open to the public. Feedback
from ordinary people, the central government and local governments is welcome and it will be a great opportunity
for such face-to-face feedback.
The WeCC is one of the triggers forengineering to be close to society andengineering will continue to get closer
to society. That, I believe, leads to sustainable society. In that sense, weshould be proud of our engineering, as
it is more advanced than other areas ofacademia. But also, I feel there are lotsof things we should do.
moderator: mr. nakamura, you are anengineering expert and “resilient
CoNTINUED oN PAgE 9

Kenichi Suganuma, then ambassador of the Permanent Mission of Japan to theInternational Organizations in Geneva delivered a speech at the closing ceremony of
the World Engineers’ Convention 2011 in Geneva in September 2011. kazumasa ito

Britain. But Britain, France and othercountries do not work on the quake
resistance of trains. Japan did and is now
a leader in quake resistance technology
for high-speed trains. It’s not only trains,
but also many other things, that Japan isa leader in quake-resistance technology.
Japan has been successful in many
aspects, but isn’t perfect. However,many countries are operating highspeed trains, some of which will have to
run in quake-prone areas. so, our technology in this area — what we alreadyhave and what we will develop — will bevery important. The same can be said
about nuclear power.
moderator: mr. Chubachi has experienced working in a place full of innovation and is now the president of thenational institute of advanced industrial science and Technology. it is
without a doubt that cutting-edgeengineering is advancing in many new
fields. For example, today we see theutilization of “big data” (data compiled from people’s demographics andother information) and the multidisciplinary industry 4.0 (a movement ofdigitizing manufacturing processes toreduce cost and enhance efficiency).
Will you tell us how you think Japan
can contribute to the world in yourdefinition of innovation?
Chubachi: Let me first talk about significance of multidisciplines and Industry
4.0. as other panelists have mentioned,
the private sector has taken the initiative
to do many things and companies havebeen able to innovate by hiding theirintellectual property in a black box.
However, technology nowadays has
become very complex. Individual companies used to launch new products bythemselves, but recently it has become
difficult without working with othercompanies. This tendency can be seen
all over the world. additionally, technology is becoming more advanced andcomplicated and we may need to stop,
review and modify manufacturing methods that have become very complicated.
In that sense, I think it is good to comeup with an efficient way of manufacturing under an industry-wide agreement
such as Industry 4.0.
also, in the past, civil, constructionand electrical engineering could all belearned in their respective university
departments. There used to be several
different engineering disciplines andeach dedicated department could teacheverything about each subject.
But now, can we say civil engineering
does not need big data? That’s clearly
not the case. similarly, medicine needs
bioinformatics. There is also a materials
informatics. I think there are currently
many mixed disciplines that need to be
combined to teach various engineering
specialties.

Keisuke Hanaki, professor, Department of Urban Engineering and adjunct professor, Integrated Research
System for Sustainability Science,
the University of Tokyo: Upon graduation from the University of Tokyo,
Hanaki began his academic career in
Tohoku University and became an
associate professor in urban engineering at the University of Tokyo.
During that time, he taught at the
Asia Institute of Technology, Bangkok, from 1985 to 1987. His research
field is holistic environmental management in urban areas for sustainability.

Hideo Nakamura, president emeritus of Tokyo City University: Nakamura obtained an engineering
degree at the University of Tokyo in
1958 and began working in what is
now subway operator Tokyo Metro
Co. In 1966, he began his academic
career, starting as an associate professor at the University of Tokyo’s Institute of Industrial Science. In 1996,
he began working for the Institute forTransport Policy Studies while assuming the post of emeritus professor at the University of Tokyo. In
2004, he became the president ofTokyo City University.

Junichi Sato, president of The
Japan Federation of Engineering
Societies: After receiving his Ph.D.
in engineering from the Universityof Tokyo, Sato began his career at
IHI Corp. serving as board director
and managing executive officer, director general of corporate R&D. He
is currently an advisor to IHI Corp.
and, during his time with IHI, he wasalso a guest professor at the University of Bremen, Tsinghua University
and Tohoku University. His areas ofexpertise include combustion science and technology, energy engineering and gas turbines.

Yoshitaka Uchijo, advisor and contributing editorial writer of Kyodo
News: Born in Tokyo, Uchijo graduated from Tokyo’s Hitotsubashi University and entered Kyodo News in
1977. From 1994 to 2002, he held aposition at the Washington D.C. bureau. He later served as the science
division manager and human resources division manager. He was
the president of Kyodo’s Sendai
branch from 2010 to 2012, overseeing coverage of the 2011 Great East
Japan Earthquake and tsunami thatstruck the Tohoku region. He assumed his current position in June.

such fusion of disciplines is necessary
as a motivation for innovation, I think.
also, the market theory of the private
sector sometimes doesn’t function. In
that case, I think it’s necessary for the
public sector to take the initiative andthe private sector to follow the public.
and then, we can shift the initiative tothe private sector when it’s ready. such a
process is sometimes necessary.
For example, Britain had the Industrial Revolution, while Japan had a policy of modernization and increasing
wealth and military power. The central
government took the initiative to build
factories to make ships and steel. Of
course, there were some excellent companies, but the mostly the government
got things started and the private sector
followed.
such governmental initiatives can go
beyond national borders; Japan doesn’tnecessarily have to do this alone.
If it’s about benefitting the humanrace and, say, the realization of a sustainable society, we need collaboration
on a global scale for issues such as pandemics and poverty. This is the current
situation of the world and I don’t think
now is the time for Japan to go it alone,
at least in the fields of business and academia.
moderator: Will you explain thephrase “taking a position of integrat-

ing technology,” which is mentionedon the WeCC website?
Chubachi: The world is becoming very
complex and diverse, and thus universities and academia should also becomecomplex. Then they will realize they haveanalysis, but not synthesis. There is no
integration. If something like science
analyzes, something has to synthesize.
and then something has to assemble.
assembling the individual knowledge
from the academic society, that’s where
integration process comes in.
Making full use of science to form
something useful for society. Just as the
Future earth Mr. Hanaki mentioned earlier, manufacturing requires design first.
In short, they design, produce anddeliver. If you ask for whom this process
exists, it’s for society.
sato: I often encounter an occasion inwhich I’m at a loss responding to a certain argument. That’s when people ask
me if Japan is advanced or behind in utilizing big data and other things that aretrending.
There are too many arguments overthose things. engineering is for society;there’s no “advanced” or “behind.” What
does Japanese society need now? What
does global society need now? To meetthose demands, we integrate different
disciplines, make various combinationsof disciplines and challenge to tackle various issues. a lot of people want to argue
Japan is behind; that’s not the point.
Chubachi: In the field of artificial intelligence (aI), some Japanese scientists are
successfully conducting research in theu.s. Japan has technology and money,
but aI research is not as integrated asother technologies and scientists are.
Integrating them will be very valuable.
also, as Mr. sato just mentioned, Japan is
not in a situation where we have todefeat the u.s. and europe from the
beginning.
sato: Regarding “integration,” a big problem is how to train qualified people.
What Japan is struggling with right now
is nurturing the leaders of technology
integration.
Chubachi: you’re right. We don’t have
many of those people.
sato: such leaders will need knowledge
in various fields and leadership, or political power to integrate. Training people tobecome such leaders is very challenging.
It’s not only a problem in Japan. It’s aglobal problem.
moderator: Let’s take a break here andwe will continue discussion on training
after the break.

Working to cultivate and grow the next generation of engineers
In the second part of our session, we will discuss in more detailwhat needs to be done better to nurture tomorrow’s engineers
moderator: Would you please talkabout the successful human resource
cultivation that will contribute to thedevelopment of science and technology and engineering in Japan?
hanaki: as I’ve been teaching at university, I feel that teaching undergrad andgraduate students the ability to synthesize various fields is a difficult task. The
amount of knowledge they need to learn
in one field has increased drasticallycompared to the past, so mastering one
area is already a lot of work for the students. But I still expect them to learn
more, especially the basic skills and theability to synthesize in the future.
One thing I’m doing to address thisissue is offering a program to cultivate
future leaders in the environmental
field. In the program, the students go
somewhere in south east asia where
they face real problems there such as
poverty, development issues, environmental problems and so on. They havethe chance to discuss those issues withlocal students or stakeholders. When it
comes time for them to propose solutions for those problems, they are likely
not realistic because, after all, they’re
still students. But having the opportunity to listen, think, analyze and thencome up with answers on their own isreally important. It will help them to do
this process at a much higher level andwith more knowledge and experience
after they graduate.

becoming specialists is the first step andbeing generalists is the next step, which
can be achieved by strengthening their
specialties and beyond.
“Generalists versus specialists” was acommon argument in the past andthere’s no consensus on this issue eventoday. What I can say is that the attitude
of cultivating generalists via short cuts
should be discouraged. We should also
not hesitate to cultivate specialists,
because ideal generalists would be produced among them. I believe being a
specialist is the essential ground, but
the problem is that there are so few
chances for specialists to become generalists.
sato: In that sense, creating a better
environment and more chances for specialists to utilize their abilities in various
fields is necessary. There are different
types of people. For example, Mr. Chubachi and I are the outgoing types, preferring to work on a bigger stage andthere are others who prefer smaller
environments, but both are equallyvaluable.
nakamura: I guess we need many specialists. But we need fewer generalists
who can really analyze the whole pic-

focusing on how the skills can beapplied, I would like them to select andhire those with the skills that can be utilized as effective resources in the company. It’s a sad reality that Ph.d.s inJapan feel rejected rather often.
Chubachi: There’s little room forresearchers to dream big in their careersin Japan. I hope researchers receive
more respect from society as valuableassets of the country who contribute tosociety. It may be part of companies’
responsibility to encourage this understanding. My institution isn’t the only
place you can meet the students who
are willing to continue post-graduate
studies, but it requires a lot of courage tochoose that path.
hanaki: I think engineering is a fieldthat allows a realistic chance to continue studying. students should study
hard and get Ph.d.s, then they can keep
studying or do something else, but they
still contribute to society regardless.
using Ph.d. engineers more actively andeffectively should not be impossible andchanges can be made not only at
research institutions, but also in central
government agencies.
moderator: That’s slightly different
from basic science.
hanaki: Because basic science is the‘i’d like private companies to cultivate theleaders of the next generation of engineers
moderator: mr. Chubachi, you haveand recruit more ph.D.s.’
plenty of interaction with both the priRyoji Chubachi, president of the
National Institute of Advanced Industrial Science and Technology:
Chubachi obtained a Ph.D. in engineering at Tohoku University in
1977, the same year he enteredSony Corp. Having worked in theelectronics business of Sony, heclimbed the corporate ladder to become the president and electronics
chief executive officer, the representative corporate executive officer of Sony in June 2005, andvice-chairman in April 2009. In April
2013, he was appointed to his current post.

A worker points to the wall of a section of the Furukawa reservoir project being built in central Tokyo on Aug. 7. When completed
in 2016, the 3.3-km-long subterranean reservoir will be able to hold 135,000 cu. meters of water, enough to fill 54 Olympic-sizedswimming pools. bloomberg

vate and public sectors. Would you
please tell us what you think abouthuman resource cultivation?

Chubachi: Private organizations have atendency to prefer generalists to specialists. This has the effect of making it
harder for holders of higher degrees to
get a job in private organizations. If you
observe how young employees grow in a
private company, you see them spreading their skills and knowledge far andwide, not focusing on a particular area
to become specialists. In general, they
try to better themselves through synthesizing different fields to become generalists, but I feel ideal generalists shouldbe specialists in principal. I think

Hideo Nakamura

ture and synthesize the information.
The few people with talent and goodluck will fill those roles. discovering
those people is the priority.
moderator: Do you think the leadersof the next generation in engineering
are being produced now? What is youropinion on cultivating future leaders?
nakamura: I ‘d like private companies
to cultivate the leaders of the next generation of engineers and recruit more
Ph.d.s. Recruiting managers tend to
think that the skills of Ph.d.s are lacking
in broader applicability, but instead of

pursuit of truth, people who chose it as
their field had a certain motivation. But
engineering is for making contributions
to actual society, so it is predictable thatengineers will further flourish if morechances are given to them.
moderator: Thank you all for yourhighly informative comments, opinions and proposals based on yourextensive experiences and knowledge.
mr. sato, as a summary of today’s
discussion, would you please give us amessage regarding the World engineering Conference and Convention(WeCC) that will be held in Kyoto

from nov. 29 to Dec. 2?
sato: I did the program construction of
the WeCC and you can categorize it intonine wide tracks. each track has a theme
such as social infrastructure, how to create a resilient infrastructure, sustainable
society, energy and so on. The contents
cover many issues in industry and society, including engineering education,
the issue of women in engineering andeven the issues of patents. each track is
divided into six sessions, and the volume of one session is basically equivalent to one scientific conference. Itmeans that there will be about 54 conferences held at WeCC and those 54
conferences cover all the fields necessary to create world engineering.
I would like all young students, young
engineers and the experienced engineers who lead them to participate in
WeCC 2015. Fruitful discussions should
be carried out over issues such as thecurrent level of engineering or problems
facing modern engineering. I would likepeople to think about and discuss thoseissues in addition to broader issues suchas how engineering develops in the
future, or what engineering should look
like.
Participants, including young engineers, tend to attend only sessions of
their own field. In extreme cases, there
are even some who only attend the presentations of their laboratories. This issuch a narrow-sighted approach, causing them to miss a lot of new discoveries. I would like to encourage them tolisten to opinions in different fields,
because there are definitely seeds ofnext generation’s engineering that canbe used in their own fields. What’s
important is thinking about transdiscipline or interdiscipline to go beyond
their own fields and disciplines. There
will be many people from developing
countries at WeCC and I would like Japanese engineers to talk to them about
what is necessary to make a better worldand how to protect it.
moderator: What is the significance ofholding WeCC 2015 in Kyoto?
sato: Kyoto has been creating Japaneseculture for 1,000 years, and it is home to
many unique and internationally competitive companies. so, holding thisconference in Kyoto can be a model for
people to see the relationship of culture,engineering made by culture, science

The World Engineering Conference and Convention (WECC) will be held in Kyoto from
Nov. 29 to Dec. 2.

and the development of technology.
engineering is something definitely necessary to the country, and it inevitably
influences the culture of the country,
because engineering and society are sostrongly connected. I would like to people, especially those in developing
countries, to think about Kyoto fromthat prospective.
moderator: Thank you for your clear
and powerful messages and comments about how Japanese engineer-ing can contribute to the world. i
believe WeCC 2015 will be an occasion
to spread a strong influence to theworld. Thank you very much.
These pages have been produced with thesupport of the Ogasawara Foundation for
the Promotion of Science andEngineering, which was founded by
Toshiaki Ogasawara, the chairman andpublisher of The Japan Times and thechairman of Nifco Inc.