CENTER FOR ENVIRONMENTAL INNOVATION DESIGNFOR SUSTAINABILITY, OSAKA UNIVERSITY

Newsletter

January. 2014

No.

5

Osaka University Center for Environmental Innovation Design for Sustainability (CEIDS) Newsletter No. 5
reports on a symposium CEIDS held jointly with Suita City. This issue also introduces research presentations given
at an international conference. Finally, among other topics, we introduce new open courses for working people, begunin the autumn of 2013. Osaka University is pursuing a variety of initiatives to further advance its original “mesolevel” education and research, about which this newsletter will continue to cover, to bring this information to a wide
audience.

1. Osaka University CEIDS/Suita City Joint Symposium
to make society sustainable. With this understanding,
CEIDS has proactively pursued regional partnerships.
Part of the objective of the symposium was to give an
overview of research, especially research that CEIDS
has conducted with Suita City as its field, and to makethe findings known to a wider audience. In addition, it

On Tuesday, November 12, 2013, Suita City andOsaka University CEIDS co-hosted a public symposium
entitled “The Frontiers of Innovative Research ina Creative Technological Society: What Cooperative
Community Research at CEIDS Aims at”, at the Suita
Campus Convention Center. More than 100 individuals
participated, including university, local government,
and business personnel, as well as ordinary citizens.
CEIDS works to strategically tie promisingscientific and technological seeds to social visions, suchas achieving a society that is low-carbon, recyclingbased, and safe and secure. We pursue what we call“meso-level research”, by which we mean practicalresearch intended to promote environmental innovation.
Regional
partnerships
anduniversity–society
collaboration are critical to further developing this newacademic discipline originating at Osaka University
They are also the key to promoting social practices

Participants at the symposium

11. Osaka University CEIDS/Suita City Joint Symposium（2）

energy. They also presented resultsof their simulation on the future
spread of PV energy in communities
in Suita City. Graduate School ofEngineering Associate Professor
Satoshi Soda gave Lecture 3, entitled“Constructing Resource-Recovery
Sewage Plants”. He presented a
Greeting by Hisanori Yamanaka,
Keynote speech by Yuji Sakakibara,
Vice Mayor of Suita City
Director, National Institute of Science andspecific methodology and technicalTechnology Policy (NISTEP), Ministry of
Education, Culture, Sports, Science andresponse to constructing sewage
Technology (MEXT)
systems that produce energy andrecover resources. Graduate School of Engineeringsought to promote discussion and exchanges of opinion
Professor Yoshiyuki Shimoda gave Lecture 4, “Researchon how academic research and government policy
in and Implementation of Energy Efficiency at Osakashould interact with each other, as this is a concern
University”. The detailed report covered an electricof increasing importance. (For detail about meso-level
power visualization system on the Osaka University
research, read page two of CEIDS leaflet at: http://
campus and policies and practices for concretely
www.ceids.osaka-u.ac.jp/english/img/CEIDS_leaflet_
evaluating campus energy consumption and becoming
New.pdf).
more energy efficient. In Lecture 5, CEIDS Associate
Suita City Vice Mayor Hisanori Yamanaka andProfessor Michinori Uwasu spoke on “Conceiving a
CEIDS Director Tomoyuki Kakeshita gave the opening
Vision for the Future with an Eye to the Next Seven
addresses. Afterward, Yuji Sakakibara, Director General,
Generations”. He addressed the need to build social
National Institute of Science and Technology Policy
systems that give future generations some influence in(NISTEP), Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports,
today’s society, with the goal of building a sustainable
Science and Technology (MEXT), gave the keynotesociety. He furthermore discussed a research approachspeech entitled “Direction of Science and Technology
and methodology aiming to build such social systems.
Policies”. He gave specific examples of the government’s
Following the lectures, a panel discussion took
general strategy for science and technology innovationon the topic of “The Intersection of Scholarshipand the role that universities play in innovation. Afterand Policies: Research Frontier Based on Cooperation
the keynote speech, CEIDS and partnering faculty
between Universities and Local Governments”. The
presented topics related to their research initiatives. In
three panelists were Norio Hazama (Manager of the
Lecture 1, CEIDS Associate Professor Keishiro Hara
gave a talk entitled “What Is Meso-level Research That
CEIDS Aims at?” In it, he introduced the approach andmethodology of Meso-level research and gave specificexamples of it. Lecture 2 featured Graduate School ofEngineering Associate Professor Yutaka Nomaguchi
and CEIDS Assistant Professor Yusuke Kishita giving
a talk on “Scenario for Popularizing the Idea of
Recyclable Energy in Suita City and Its Simulation.”
Here, the speakers reported on a questionnaire-based
survey that they had taken to gauge the general
population’s awareness of implementing solar (PV)
Members of the discussion panel21. Osaka University CEIDS/Suita City Joint Symposium

Suita City Environment Department), Tatsuyoshi
Saijo (Osaka University CEIDS Specially Appointed
Professor, Professor of Kochi University of Technology),
and Eko Yagi (Osaka University Center for Studyof Communication-Design Associate Professor). Eachpanelist started by posing a problem and giving apresentation, then together they discussed the problems
overall. The discussion was wide-ranging andparticularly addressed forms of cooperation between
various stakeholders seeking to build a sustainable
society, social mechanisms that would include future
generations in decision-making, and the role ofuniversities and local governments in building suchsocial systems. Finally, the symposium ended with a（3）closing address by CEIDS Deputy Director Shinsuke
Yamanaka, who expressed his desire to further expand
collaboration and exchange with Suita City.
The symposium gave its participants the chance
to think deeply about the best types of university–
society and university-local government collaboration
to advance interdisciplinary and practical environmental
innovation research. CEIDS will continue to follow
social issues and needs closely while emphasizing
dialogue and cooperation with a variety of stakeholders
as we conduct the distinctive research that Osaka
University has originated.
(Keishiro Hara, Associate Professor, CEIDS)

2. Environmental Innovation and Technologies for Sustainability
Working Group Meeting at Academic Exchange Seminarwith Shanghai Jiao Tong University
the two universities gave lectures at the working groupmeeting hosted by CEIDS. Moreover, about 40 people
in total participated in the meeting of the working groupthroughout the day. Professor Zhang of Shanghai Jiao
Tong University spoke primarily of case studies ofrecycling organic waste from the restaurant business.
Food waste is a particularly important issue for China’s
food culture in terms of sustainability. Professor Wang
discussed findings from her many years of research on
mercury and introduced her current efforts. Initiatives
against mercury, such as the Minamata Convention on
Mercury, are bound to grow increasingly important.
Associate Professor Zhao spoke about the Chinese
government’s effort against the nation’s serious air
pollution. Since last winter, Japan too has grownvery interested in China’s PM2.5 pollution. Reducing
the air pollution emerging in China is essential for
improving the atmospheric environment throughout
East Asia. Lectures from the Osaka University side also

The 16th Osaka University – Shanghai Jiao Tong
University Academic Exchange Seminar took placeon October 22-24, 2013 at Osaka University. The
seminar series has taken place continuously, with thetwo universities taking turns as host, in accordancewith an academic exchange agreement between thetwo institutions. Since it began in 1995 as an academic
exchange event in the field of welding materials
engineering, it has grown gradually to include more
fields. Currently, the seminar is open school-wide,
promoting exchange in a wide variety of fields, both thesciences and the humanities. This fiscal year, working
groups formed to focus on the fields of materials,
physics, global architecture, history, environmental
innovation, and information. On October 23 on the
Suita Campus, CEIDS held “Environmental Innovation
and Technologies for Sustainability” as a meeting of theEnvironmental Innovation Working Group.
As the program shows, a total of nine persons from3

2. Environmental Innovation and Technologies for Sustainability
Working Group Meeting atAcademic Exchange Seminar with Shanghai Jiao Tong University （2）addressed a wide array of topics: the use of microbes
to efficiently recover rare metals from wastewater; theuse of plant functions to remove endocrine-disrupting
chemicals; the use of a numerical model to evaluate thebehavior of lead in the environment; the application ofsuperconducting magnetic separation to treat wastewaterand recover resources; the relationship between social
needs and visions and the advancement of policy
measures and technologies to environmental problems;
and the relationship between policy instruments andsociety, the economy, and technology in regard toenvironmental problems. All together, these made up avery interdisciplinary working group meeting.
Shanghai Jiao Tong University will host thenext academic exchange seminar in Shanghai. Various

environmental pollution problems are emerging in
China, and these will definitely affect Japan. It iseasy to say that Japan has overcome serious pollution
problems and so we can just use the same solutions in
China. In reality, the obstacles to solving the problems
are not just technical issues but other ones, such
asdifference in social structures. Solutions are goingto take sustained long-term efforts. We will makeefforts to pursue international collaborative researchin the field of environmental innovation through thisacademic exchange seminar, to build a foundation forinternational cooperation between China and Japan andto achieve social sustainability in both countries.
(Hikari Shimadera, Assistant Professor, CEIDS)

Table 1: Environmental innovation working group Program
9：00

Opening Address (Assoc. Prof. Keishiro Hara, CEIDS)

9：10−9：40

Lecture 1: Rare Metal Recovery from Wastewater Using Microbes(Prof. Michihiko Ike, Graduate School of Engineering)

9：40−10：10

Lecture 2: Current Situation of Food Waste Being Utilized as Resources in China(Prof. Zhang Zhenjia, School of Environmental Science and Engineering, Shanghai Jiao Tong University)

10：10−10：40

Lecture 3: Elucidation of Mechanism to Degrade Endocrine-Disrupting Chemicals by Portulaca oleracea cv.
(Asst. Prof. Kazuo Harada, Graduate School of Pharmaceutical Sciences)

10：50−11：20

Lecture 4: Introduction on Mercury Research in Shanghai Jiao Tong University(Prof. Wang Wenhua, School of Environmental Science and Engineering, Shanghai Jiao Tong University)

11：20−11：50

Lecture 5: Modeling the Environmental Fate of Lead in Lake Biwa-Yodo River basin of Japan(Asst. Prof. Hikari Shimadera, CEIDS)

12：00−13：00

Lunch

13：30−14：00

Lecture 6: Application of Superconducting Magnetic Force Control Technologies for Recycling(Asst. Prof. Fumihito Mishima, Graduate School of Engineering)

14：00−14：30

Lecture 7: The New Air Pollution Prevention and Control Plan in China − the Announcement and Future Compliance(Assoc. Prof. Zhao Huiyu, KoGuan Law School, Shanghai Jiao Tong University)

14：30−15：00

Lecture 8: How Pollution Abatement Technologies Evolved in Japan− Case Studies of Water Puriﬁcation and Solid Waste Treatment Technologies(Assoc. Prof. Keishiro Hara, CEIDS)

15：30−16：00

Lecture 9: Policy Instruments for Environmental Pollution: Social, Economic, and Technological Implications(Assoc. Prof. Michinori Uwasu, CEIDS)

16：00

Closing Address (Prof. Shuji Kurimoto, CEIDS)

At a seminar lecture

Lively discussions with Professors from Shanghai Jiao Tong University

43. Report on EcoDesign 2013 International Conferencein Jeju Island, South Korea
earth elements contained in flat-panel televisions as
an example, he discussed product design strategies
for lowering environmental burden. Regarding thesecond speech, since the original speaker was unable toattend because of a canceled flight, five persons wereinvited to an improvised panel discussion. Among thepanelists, CEIDS Professor Yasushi Umeda (Professor
in Department of Precision Engineering, Graduate
School of Engineering, The University of Tokyo, andat the time of the symposium, Professor in Graduate
School of Engineering, Osaka University) and CEIDS
Visiting Professor Hideki Kobayashi (Director of theEnvironmental Technology Laboratory of the Corporate
Research & Development Center, Toshiba Corporation)
took the rostrum and introduced EcoDesign initiatives
by Japanese manufacturing industries. Mr. Shingo
Komatsu, President of Shin-Etsu Denso Co., Ltd.,gave the third speech on an overview of a businessthat remanufactures automobile alternators and starters.
He Discussed the remanufacturing work process
in his factory by showing video clips so that theaudience can easily understand the remanufacturingbusiness. Particularly impressive was his point thatwork processes using skilled workers are more efficientthan poorly automated processes. In the fourth speech,
titled “EcoDesign of Electronics Industry in Korea,”
Mr. Ki-Jung Kim of the Korea Electronics Association
introduced guidelines for designing electric andelectronic products from the viewpoint of recyclability.

Opening ceremony

The
8thInternational
SymposiumonEnvironmentally Conscious Design and Inverse
Manufacturing (EcoDesign 2013) took place on
December 4-6, 2013 at Shineville Luxury Resort in Jeju
Island, South Korea. EcoDesign conferences are held
every two years. The 8th conference was the first inSouth Korea, whereas the previous series of conferences
have taken place only in Japan; from the first in Tokyoin 1999 to the seventh in Kyoto in 2011. The organizing
committee announced that more than 300 individuals
from 20 nations attended the conference, making up
a very diverse crowd. A large share of the participants
came from South Korea, Japan, Taiwan, and other East
Asian locations for geographic reasons, but there werealso many participants from European countries, suchas Germany, the Netherlands, Sweden, and Austria, as
well as from the US.
The conference featured four keynote speeches,
122 oral presentations during the parallel sessions, and45 poster presentations. The parallel sessions included
10 presentations of research findings with CEIDS staff
as speakers. Their participation greatly helped to spreadthe word about CEIDS research findings to the world
and to exchange ideas and knowledge with researchers
from various countries.
Following is a brief overview of the keynote
speeches. In the first speech, Dr. Ferdinand Quellaof Siemens (Germany) gave a presentation entitled“New Perspectives for EcoDesign.” Using the rare

Listening to an oral presentation at an parallel session

53. Report on EcoDesign 2013 International Conference in Jeju Island, South Korea（2）

significance of Meso-level research and became awareof the need to further develop it.
At the Closing Ceremony on the final day, Dr.
Keijiro Masui of the National Institute of Advanced
Industrial Science and Technology (AIST) announced
that the EcoDesign 2015 conference is to be held backin Japan in 2015. CEIDS looks forward to taking our
Meso-level research up a level in the meantime andpresenting even greater findings at the next conference.

A：Sustainable Consumption
B：EcoDesign Policy and Regulations
C：Social Perspectives in EcoDesign
D：EcoDesign of Products and Life Cycles
E：Business Innovation
F：Energy Management and New Energy Technologies
G：Rare Metal Issue & 3 R Technologies
H：Asian Collaboration EcoDesign, Resilient Design,
Biodiversity, Corporate Environmental Management,
Eco-products in Korea(Yusuke Kishita, Assistant Professor, CEIDS)

I：Sustainable Manufacturing
J：Life Cycle Assessment（LCA）
K：Economics of EcoDesign
L：Water Issues
M：Sustainable Social Infrastructure Systems
N：Combined Heat & Power System and Exergy
DesignO：Global Issues in EcoDesign
P：Others
Q：Uni-materials

While all the parallel sessions addressed EcoDesign,
they covered a wide range of research topics as describedabove(A-Q). Among them are not only EcoDesign ofproducts and product lifecycles, but also design that
relates to social systems, lifestyles, energy systems,
business, and more. It is well known that achieving
sustainability of our society will require knowledge
and experience from a wide range of specialties. In
accordance with this, the scope of the EcoDesign 2013conference has become more diverse than ever. This
is in line with CEIDS’s Meso-level research, whichis to say, research that seeks to tie corporations’ anduniversities’ individual technological seeds with future
visions for society, and which also seeks to design
the “Meso-level” that exists between the two. Many
participants took a great interest in CEIDS research andfindings as presented by our staff. This helped build a
network of researchers that will support international
research collaboration in future. By participating in
EcoDesign 2013, CEIDS staff members reconfirmed the

Korean dance at the social gathering

Participants enjoying pleasant talk at the social gathering

64. New Course Practice of Environmental Innovation Design
Uses Suita City as Its Field
In the second half of the current fiscal year
(2013), CEIDS started the new course “Practice ofEnvironmental Innovation Design” as part of the
Osaka University Graduate Program for Advanced
Interdisciplinary Studies “Environmental Innovation
Design Studies.” The problem-based learning (PBL)
class uses Suita City as its field. Students in the course
do fieldwork in specific locations and environments(Suita City or the Osaka University Campus) andinteract with other students in various fields, as well aswith stakeholders. The aim of so doing is to develop
in students the ability to integrate and practice design
technologies (i.e., environmental innovation design
skills) so that they can formulate visions and discoverproblems in the real world and the regional community.
“Sustainable town planning” and “community” areparticular themes of the course, which is given with help
from the Suita City government. This year, the coursedrew participation from eight students from multiple
departments, even though it was just the first year.
Students divided into two teams to do grouptraining according to their own interests. Team A took
on the theme “Small home appliance recycling in
Suita City,” while Team B addressed “Redeveloping
an international exposition site.” Team A conductedinterviews with the Global Environmental Policy
Section of the Environment Policy Bureau of Kyoto
City (the city has been continuously engaged in and apioneer in recovering small home appliances, startingwhen it ran a model project prior to the enforcement of
the Home Appliance Recycling Law, and continuing to
the present day). The team also conducted stakeholder
analysis. Of all their results, they focused on “recovery
methods” in particular and put together a suggestion for
applying the same type of project in Suita City. TeamB conducted surveys with some major stakeholders in
redevelopment: Suita City, Mitsui Fudosan Co., Ltd.,the Gamba Osaka Co., Ltd., and officials from monorailand bus mass transit systems. By so doing, the students
learned about these stakeholders’ redevelopment plansin detail and studied the problems expected to arise overthem. Out of all the impacts these stakeholders would
face as a result of redevelopment, the students chose
to focus on the traffic problem so that they could offer
suggestions from their perspective. On the final day ofthe eight classes, they presented their final outcomesto an audience that included Fumio Akasaka andNaoki Kusumoto (director and general manager of the
Suita City Environmental Policy Office, respectively),
Tomomi Honma (of the Gamba Osaka business office),and coordinating teachers from CEIDS. The questionand-answer session gave everyone a chance to checkthe facts from industry, government, and academic
perspectives. The guests gave their appraisal of thefeasibility of the students’ proposal, also pointing out
some problems with it. The students learned by practicethat in order to solve problems in the real world and theregional community, they have to do more than analyze
problems and use the problem-solving techniques thatstudents ordinarily use in their research. Rather, theymust also partner with the stakeholders and take aneconomic perspective. In addition, Mr. Kusumoto fromthe Suita City and Ms Honma from Gamba Osaka
expressed their appreciation for the findings from thestudents’ training and said that they looked forward tohearing more from this course.
The course this year featured group work, withstudents from graduate courses in engineering and humanscience working together. By working with students fromdifferent fields, and bringing the best from their own

Discussion focuses on a diagram showing how
the issues relate to stakeholders

7

4. New Course Practice of Environmental Innovation Design Uses Suita City as Its Field（2）

individual fields (e.g., their analysis techniques and waysof assembling issues), the students brought the discussion
to a deeper level. Courses offered by CEIDS emphasize
assembling people with different backgrounds and letting
them discuss the issues together as a way to acquirewide-ranging knowledge, join the variety of knowledge,
and use it to solve problems. The leaders hope the course
will continue to attract students from different fields andtrigger innovation next fiscal year and beyond.
(Yukari Fuchigami, Project Researcher, CEIDS)

Presentation of final outcomes

5. Open Courses Society and Energy and
Local Revitalization for Creating Regional Innovation Beginefficiency in energy generation, storage, carrying, andusage processes. Each of these topics provokes a lively
exchange of views. Lectures planned going forward
include one by Professor Saijo of Kochi Universityof Technology, who will speak on the relative merits
and demerits of current emissions trading systems andthe feasibility of intergenerational energy emissions
trading. Professor Umeda of the University of Tokyo
will discuss how to design scenarios as a tool for
debating preferred social visions and energy systems
for the future. Professor Tokai of the Osaka University
Graduate School of Engineering will talk about urban
metabolic systems, which consist of the flow and stockof resources, energy, products, and waste, from a risk
management point of view, and ways to make such
systems self-sufficient.
The course “Local Revitalization for Creating
Regional Innovation” was led by both Osaka University
researchers and guest lecturers who are active on
the front lines of enterprise and government. These
speakers introduced their own points of view on urban
and regional business management, research, education,and more, and gave an overview of the latest initiatives.
(See Table 2 for program details.) Guest lecturers

CEIDS has begun two new open courses at
the Co-creative Design Laboratory for Sustainability,
a facility that opened in the Grand Front Osaka
KNOWLEDGE CAPITAL in May 2013. The courses
are “Society and Energy” (running November 8, 2013
through February 28, 2014) and “Local Revitalization
for Creating Regional Innovation” (November 6, 2013
through January 22, 2014).
“Society and Energy” puts the spotlight on resourceand energy problems. Osaka University researchers
from a range of fields present leading-edge researchand case studies on the efficient use of fossil fuels andbuilding a society not dependent on them. Participants
and researchers then get the chance to trade views on
the topic. (See Table 1 for program details.) Course
lectures have included the following topics: potential
for converting wastewater treatment facilities so thatthey are energy self-sufficient or producers of energy;
the latest measures and technologies for creating anenergy revolution in urban areas with concentrated
energy demand; measures and technologies at the source
against air pollution created by the use of fossil fuels;
measures against transfrontier pollutants PM 2.5 andozone; and the role of materials in enhancing energy
85. Open Courses Society and Energy and Local Revitalization for Creating Regional Innovation Begin （2）from private enterprise and nonprofit organizations
used case studies to introduce features and issuesof real estate businesses, community businesses, andsocial businesses that have mechanisms for creating
community. From the government sector, the course
invited the vice mayor of Ikoma City to discuss thestate of government–private sector partnerships for
local revitalization in that city. The second half of the
program took as its theme Grand Front Osaka, which
opened last year. Representatives from government(Osaka City) and the Grand Front Osaka development
and management group spoke about the position of the
Umekita district and initiatives taking place at Grand
Front Osaka. Osaka University faculty presented topics
from their own research and projects, offering theuniversity’s research and educational point of view.
Workshop time has been set aside in the final session,
so that participants can trade views with each other on
local revitalization policies and initiatives taken in theheart of urban Osaka.
Each program had enough applicants to fill thedesignated number of spots, and participation wasstrong despite the weekday time slot. The programs
are still ongoing, but our hope is that the courses will
prove useful to participants’ future endeavors. CEIDS
will continue to hold workshops, lectures, and moreat Co-creative Design Laboratory for Sustainability.
Information is available through our mailing list,
website, and other means. We hope that you will takean active part in future.

Table 1: Program A: Society and Energy(Note: All lectures were given in Japanese)(Hiroyuki Takeda, Assistant Professor, CEIDS)

Dec. 4 (Wed.)
4
18：30-20：30

1

Nov. 8 (Fri.)
18：30-20：00

Wastewater Treatment Systems in a
Low-Carbon Age: Can Wastewater
Treatment Plants be Energy-SelfSuﬃcient? Prof. Michihiko Ike, Osaka
University Graduate School of Engineering

2

Nov. 22 (Fri.)
18：30-20：00

Future Cities and Energy Prof.
Yoshiyuki Shimoda, Osaka University
Graduate School of Engineering3

Dec. 20 (Fri.)
18：30-20：00

Energy and Air Pollution Prof. Akira
Kondo, Osaka University Graduate Schoolof Engineering

4

Jan. 10 (Fri.)
18：30-20：00

Energy and Materials Prof. Shinsuke
Yamanaka, Osaka University Graduate
School of Engineering

5

Jan. 24 (Fri.)
18：30-20：00

How Can We Overcome Human
Myopia? The Light and Shadow ofEmissions Trading Prof. Tatsuyoshi
Saijo, Kochi University of Technology
School of Management (Specially Appointed
Professor Professor at CEIDS)

6

Feb. 14 (Fri.)
18：30-20：00

Scenarios for Social Sustainability Prof.
Yasushi Umeda, The University of Tokyo Schoolof Engineering (Professor at CEIDS)

Feb. 28 (Fri.)7
18：30-20：00

Thinking about Environmental andEnergy Problems from a Risk
Management Perspective Prof. Akihiro
Tokai, Osaka University Graduate School ofEngineering

Table 2: Program B: Local Revitalization for Creating Regional Innovation(Note: All lectures weregiven in Japanese)
Nov. 6 (Wed.)1
18：30-20：30

Past, Present, and Future of Urban
and Regional Management Prof.
Masanori Sawaki, Osaka University
Graduate School of Engineering

Creating Future Visions throughIndustry-Academic-Government
Nov. 20 (Wed.) Partnerships Assoc. Prof. Nobuhiko2
18：30-20：30
Matsumura, Osaka University Graduate
School of Engineering; Vice Mayor Masashi
Komurasaki, Ikoma City

3

From Extraction of Regional Issues to
Nov. 27 (Wed.) Community Development Applications
18：30-20：30
Asst. Prof. Hiroyuki Takeda, CEIDS; Mr.
Naoyuki Aoki, COPLUS Co., Ltd.
Regional Management and Social
Businesses Prof. Atsuko Kaga, Osaka
University Graduate School of Engineering;
Mr. Ei Nagasawa, Community BusinessSupport Center (a non-proﬁt organization)

Revitalizing the Heart of Urban Osakaand Grand Front Osaka Mr. Norio
Dec. 18 (Wed.)
Uemizo, Osaka City Urban Planning5
18：30-20：30
Bureau; Mr. Yuji Takahashi, Osaka City
Urban Planning Bureau

Participants taking in a lecture

96Jan. 15 (Wed.)
18：30-20：30

Local Revitalization and Area
Management through Grand Front
Osaka Mr. Shuichi Yamaguchi, Mitsubishi
Estate Co., Ltd.; Mr. Hiroyuki Uematsu,
Grand Front Osaka TMO General Inc.
Association

7

Jan. 22 (Wed.)
18：30-20：30

Revitalization Policies for the Umeda
District and a Vision for Umekita s
Future (workshop)

6. International Symposium on
Interfacial Joining and Surface Technology (IJST 2013)
CEIDS engages in leading-edge basic researchalso essential environmental technologies. The recent
and technological innovation in a wide range ofinternational symposium was planned in part to nurturegreen technologies, environmental management,
young researchers in this field. Hosting this event is also
and environmentally conscious materials processing.
significant for advancing “environmentally conscious
Moreover, we pursue initiatives to fuse these into mesojoining technology innovation,” a field of collaborativetechnologies useful to society. CEIDS also conducts
research between CEIDS and Osaka University’s JWRI.
education and research activities that put this experience
Every presentation concerned surface and interface
to use in university education. In addition, throughprocesses and technologies, but the content of papers
partnerships with a large number of public agencies
presented on environmentally conscious processes canfrom Japan and abroad, we aim to contribute to society
be broadly divided into the following five categories.
through outreach initiatives. This symposium, co-hosted
by CEIDS, likewise is consistent with the center’s slogan.
(1)Low-temperature joining (brazing and soldering),
The event took place November 27 through 29
solid-state joining (HIP; hot isostatic pressing,on the third floor of Osaka University’s Icho Kaikan.
ultrasonic bonding, friction stir welding, etc.),
CEIDS’s co-hosts for this symposium were the Osakaand energy-conservation processes.
University Joining and Welding Research Institute(2)Power electronics and electronics packaging(JWRI), the Japan Welding Society Interfacial Joining(enhancement of power control and energy
Research Committee, the Japan Welding Engineering
efficiency)
Society, and the Smart Processing Society for Materials,(3)Environmentally conscious processes (green
Environment & Energy. Participants numbered 138,
technologies, surface treatment technologies,
with 26 from outside Japan. The program included 56
smart processes, catalysts, reversible joining, etc.)
oral presentations and 36 poster presentations. There(4)Thermal analysis, thermal management, reliability
were a large number (42) of young people and graduate
inspection (enhancement of thermal efficiency,
students, whose lively participation in discussions wasenergy conservation, proof stress, and productimpressive. As its name indicates, the symposiumlife), measuring technologies
concerned surface and interface processing and joining(5)Application of technologies with lower
environmental burden, e.g., harmful-substancetechnology and environmentally conscious materials
free joining
processing techniques, but all types of environmentallyconscious technologies were presented.
To describe the purpose of the event
simply, interfacial joining is a general term
for technologies that join two surfaces inways that avoid as much as possible melting
the parent materials. Interfacial joining has
some outstanding characteristics not sharedby the better-known fusion welding. For
example, it allows materials to be joinedeven at low temperatures, so it is widely used
as an environmentally conscious joining
technology. Surface technologies such as
thermal spraying, plating, and coating areGroup photo (Osaka University Icho Kaikan, November 28, Thur.)106. International Symposium on Interfacial Joining and Surface Technology (IJST 2013)

Brazing as in (1) is used to join heat exchangers,
so it is strongly concerned with the heat problems of(4). When the parts that one is trying to join havelarge surface areas, joining technologies that use aheat source such as a laser or arc are not practical.
Interfacial joining is used to join panels with large
surface areas. Ultrasonic bonding uses ultrasonic andmechanical energy instead of thermal energy. As such,
this technology can join materials such as aluminum
wire at ordinary temperatures. Friction stir welding
uses a drill-like tool to cause solid friction and stirringof pieces in order to join them. It is fair to say that
this technology is a very recent innovation in thefield of joining. Recently, it has become possible tojoin several meters of material per minute, dependingon the material. This technology is also used forsurface modification. The recent symposium features
many presentations of friction welding research. The
power electronics packaging noted in (2) is used to
manufacture drive control devices for electric vehicles.
In other words, it is related to (5), since it is used
to manufacture environmentally conscious products.
Thus, some presentation content belonged to multiple
categories. However, the impression created by thepresentations, when considered from the environmental（2）

innovation point of view, is that there really are notechnologies that can be developed to the meso-level
without taking the environment into account. There
were also presentations on the spraying of powders
and particles of metal, ceramics, and the like onto asubstrate. Until now, “thermal spraying” was a generalterm for technologies that use plasma or gas heat tomelt a substance. More recently, a technology called“cold spraying” has been developed that sprays andapplies substances at room temperatures. There wasalso a presentation about this. When anatase (TiO2)
is sprayed onto plastic tiles and then irradiated withultraviolet light, bacteria and harmful substances aredecomposed. This is a so-called photocatalytic reaction.
Spraying is a surface treatment technology, but if used
well, it can also be an environmental technology.
The impression that the symposium gave was thattechnology can be combined into meso-technologies.
The photo in this article was taken on the second
day of the symposium and shows all the participants.
With the strong participation, the symposium was bothmeaningful and successful.
Yasuo Takahashi (Professor, Joining and Welding ResearchInstitute, Osaka University)

7. CEIDS Research 3: Meso-Level Research to
Develop Energy-Producing WastewaterTreatment Systems
Wastewater treatment systems are a vital part ofthe social infrastructure maintaining a sound water
environment. Unfortunately, the technical development
required to provide high-quality water is often very
costly and energy intensive. Our research group thinksof sewage as a biomass resource, not just something
to treat. In line with visions of a future low-carbon
society and recycling-based society, we aim to redesign
wastewater treatment systems those as energy-producing
systems. We are developing multifactor evaluation

methods and technological seeds to this end.
An increasing number of wastewater treatment
plants recently are attempting to recover energy
from sewage sludge. Tsumori wastewater treatment
plant (WWTP) in Osaka City is one such plant. It
takes sludge from the nearby Ichioka and Chishima
WWTPs and converts it to biogas using a thermophilicanaerobic digestion process. Tsumori Energy Center
was established in 2007 as a Private Finance Initiative
project. It has operated a cogeneration system, in which
117. CEIDS Research 3: Meso-Level Research to
Develop Energy-Producing Wastewater Treatment Systems

gas engines burn methane, which makes up about 60%of the biogas, to produce electricity and heat. Tsumori
WWTP consumes 920,000 kWh to treat about 240,000
m3 of sewage per day, but the energy generated fromsludge provides 50% of this. To evaluate the feasibilityof further increasing the energy self-sufficiency of this
WWTP, the chemical energy in the sewage was measured
by calorimeter. Measurements showed that the sewage
contained more than twice as much energy as the WWTP
consumes. On the other hand, as the figure shows, 30%of the chemical energy in the sewage is released to theatmosphere along with carbon dioxide at the biologicalreaction tank. At the primary settling tank and secondary
settling tank, 38% and 33% of the energy respectivelytransitions into sludge. By the time this goes throughanaerobic digestion and the cogeneration system, only
15% of the energy is recovered as electric power. The
thermal energy that is recovered is equivalent to about
14%. In other words, increasing the amount of sludge
produced and making anaerobic digestion more efficient
could make it possible to use more of the chemicalenergy in the sewage. Moreover, some WWTPs haveaging equipment or are not necessarily managed wellenough. In those WWTPs, there is great potential（2）

Sewage chemical energy flow in a WWTP
(Created from materials presented at the 5th
IWA-ASPIRE Conference & Exhibition)

for reducing energy consumption with thoroughgoingsteps to conserve energy. If WWTPs were to exceed
100% energy self-sufficiency, they could become energy
producers and help to realize a low-carbon society.
(Satoshi Soda, Associate Professor, Division of Sustainable
Energy and Environmental Engineering, Graduate Schoolof Engineering, Osaka University)

8. Researcher Interview No. 3,
Design Theory and Environmental Innovation Design
Prof. Yasushi Umeda (Professor, Department of Precision

methodologies for self-repairing machines. My
work was somewhere between design studies andmaintenance engineering. After graduate school,
I researched methods of design for machines that
could adapt flexibly to the surrounding environment.
To give an example, I researched intelligent
control of machines, using artificial intelligence, which
was a popular idea at the time.
Later, in the mid-90s I think, environment-related
topics suddenly got lots of attention, in part because of
the social landscape. That was when manufacturing had

Engineering, School of Engineering, The University of Tokyo)(At the time of the interview, Dr. Umeda was a Professor
at the Department of Mechanical Engineering, Graduate
School of Engineering, Osaka University)
Visited: November 15, 2013
Visited by: Keishiro Hara, Yukari Fuchigami
Hara: Tell us about your specialty, and about
your research up to now.
As a graduate student, I researched design128. Researcher Interview No. 3, Design Theory and Environmental Innovation Design

to start considering the environment. My research theme
shifted from “designing against failure” to “designing forthe environment and recycling.” I was at The Universityof Tokyo at the time, where a project had just gotten
underway on “inverse manufacturing”. I became deeply
involved on that theme too. Inverse manufacturing
is kind of like the “theory of manufacturing”, ormanufacturing as a process of resource circulation.
One important element of that is ecodesign, that is, thedesign component of inverse manufacturing. Design fordisassembly was the primary task of product ecodesignin those days. That means, for example, designing a
product to make it easy to recycle and disassemble.
But eventually it emerged that it was necessary not
only to design products with the environment in mind,
but to design the entire product life cycle, including theflow of recirculation. The Home Appliance Recycling
Law was established, and the idea of a recycling-basedsociety, founded on the three Rs (reduce, reuse, andrecycle) became an important issue. Although I am
deeply involved in product life cycle design research,
those events caused me to have doubts about the“mass production + mass recycling” model, which
was becoming a mainstream model at the time. By
this I mean, it seemed as if we were just trying torecycle as much as possible without regard for quality.
For example, although I knew that recycling should
not work against building a low-carbon society, it
was not clear to me to what extent recycling andrecirculation policies were actually contributing to that
low-carbon society. What future does manufacturing
have in an age when we have to build a low-carbon
society by greatly reducing greenhouse gases? Can thematerials industries continue into the future? These
were the types of problems I had become aware of.
This background and this awareness of problems led
to the development of the research field I am in now,which is social sustainability scenario design. Presently,
my research is primarily on life cycle design and social
sustainability scenario design. The term “life cycle
engineering” is fairly common in other countries, but it
was still not used very much here in Japan. However,（2）

our trailblazing in this field of research has allowed it
to expand in Japan too now.
Hara: Tell us more about the research you aredoing now in scenario design.
People are now proposing all sorts of visions andfuture scenarios for building sustainable societies, but
you have to have tools for discussing these scenarios
scientifically and logically. First you have to clarify
which parts of those scenarios you can believe in andwhich are based on leaps of logic, and which partscontain hypotheses and predictions. Scenarios become
more useful scientific tools when you lay them out
precisely and give them more meaning in this way. Up
to now, we have represented the logic of scenarios on
a computer (that is, we built a representation theory),
and run them through various simulators. This allows
us to create a procedure for scenario design. The
next thing we have to do is give concrete support for
scenario design. The issue here is the user interface. It
is important to strengthen functionality so that whenlarge numbers of people get together to debate thescenarios they will create, they can make use of thetools developed up to now. If there is a function thatlets discussion content immediately be constructed
into scenarios, it could fundamentally support scenario
design. Of course, there are a number of issues thathave to be overcome to achieve this state of affairs. But
we should really think about support mechanisms thatwill ultimately let ordinary people and citizens easily
create future scenarios and run simulations.
13

8. Researcher Interview No. 3, Design Theory and Environmental Innovation Design（3）

understand it too. Researchers who work primarily withspecific research and technological seeds are eager toconnect those seeds to macro visions for society andto show more clearly how to make a contribution.
Vision design researchers need concrete and advanced
research seeds that can make visions come true. In thatsense, matching seeds to visions is extremely important.
One of CEIDS’s most vital missions is to be a kind of
platform to make that happen.

Hara: You have been closely involved withresearch and education at CEIDS. What is yourview of CEIDS research?
A major feature of CEIDS research is that it takes
a meso-level perspective. CEIDS has advocated amodel that introduces the meso-level concept betweensocial visions and technical/research seeds, and ties
the two (society and technical/research seeds) together
well. Another feature of CEIDS research is that it
incorporates the element of action, that is, practice.
Similar research models that try to achieve a visionexist in the United States and Europe. Compared tothem, however, meso-level research is characterized by
the high value it puts on technological seeds. From theJapanese point of view, that is its strength. On the other
hand, an important point about meso-level research isthat the necessary seeds are drawn out from the visionside, and systems are built by selecting and combining
the appropriate seeds (technologies) to be used. When
you look at things from the vision and social needs side,
you find diverse ways of using technological seeds. In
that sense, I hope that researchers who conduct theirresearch from a macro perspective such as a social
vision will take an even more active role in CEIDS
research. I believe that this will allow their visions to
expand within the context of CEIDS research.

Hara: What do you think about the educational
program and professional development taking
place at CEIDS?
Developing professionals in the fields of theenvironment and sustainability requires a balance ofdeepening specialization and expanding specializationin our relationship with society. That means that we haveto have a firm knowledge of science basics and at thesame time we have to know precisely the significanceand place that research has in society. We also have to
make sure our students fully understand that. In the caseof CEIDS, by invoking a vision/meso/seeds model, it
can spell out the position of each researcher’s research
and field of specialty in society. CEIDS, moreover,uses educational methods that help students understandthe growth potential and role of each line of research.
In addition to discussing issues at the vision/meso/
seeds level, it is crucial to apply our lessons to the realworld, to go out into the world and put principles into
practice there. Then students will be learning in the realworld, not some laboratory. You cannot reproduce thereal world, where problems are intertwined in complex
ways. Insofar as we are developing not just experts
but professionals and researchers with a wide field ofvision, CEIDS’s educational initiatives will be essential
to Osaka University.
CEIDS also has some very distinctive advanced
subprograms, such as Frontiers of Sustainability
Science (an English language lecture course jointly
implemented by Osaka University, The University ofTokyo, Kyoto University, Hokkaido University, andIbaraki University). By weaving together different

Hara: What is the key to getting researchers
from different fields to collaborate oninterdisciplinary research?
First we need to make the vision/meso/seeds model
philosophy and research techniques more omnipresent.
Meso-level research has a so-called meta-engineering
aspect. We need to make this idea and its usefulness
understood more widely. Once they have understoodthat, many kinds of researchers will recognize theimportance and meaning of collaboration, and concrete
partnerships and collaborative research will arise. Thoseof us working within CEIDS have a unified awarenessof meso-level research, so researchers from various
fields are already working together. Going forward, we
have to better spread the word to outsiders so that they14

8. Researcher Interview No. 3, Design Theory and Environmental Innovation Designformats such as discussion-based exercises, theparticipating students, who come from various fields,
use the vision/meso/seeds model to produce somevery concrete output. These will be interesting if wekeep them growing. Ultimately, we want enterprises
and others to tell us they get the impression thatspecialists educated by CEIDS are really useful tosociety. This fiscal year CEIDS began practice-based
exercises that use places like Suita City as their field.
Local governments, such as that of Suita City, havecooperated in research before, but now there is finallycollaboration in educational programs and professional
development as well. (See the article about “Practice ofEnvironmental Innovation Design” on page XX of thisNewsletter.) I look forward to seeing how this develops
in future.

（4）

Hara: Do you have anything to say to CEIDS inclosing?
I hope that “meso-level” education and research
expands with a long-term perspective. To do that, it
is going to be important to increase the number of
researchers and students doing research together andto make sure that CEIDS has very diverse research
partners. That is an effort that will have to be madeover the long term — I would estimate at least 10 or
20 years. Make yourself sustainable as an organization;
get partners from far and wide who have different
perspectives; foster young researchers. These are very
important for CEIDS to expand meso-level research.
(KeishiroHara, Associate

Professor,

CEIDS; Yukari

Fuchigami, Project Researcher, CEIDS)

9. Announcements from CEIDS① Contribution to an international conference/② CEIDS researchers won “Reviewers' Favourite

side event organized by UNEP-IETC“International Conference on Future of Cities”
was held in Kitakyushu-city on Oct 20, 2013, under
the auspicious of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs
and Organisation for Economic Co-operation andDevelopment (OECD). As the side event of theconference, UNEP-IETC organized a session entitled“Resource Efficiency and Waste Management in Future
Cities,” in which Assoc. Prof. Keishiro Hara of CEIDS
made an invited talk on evolution of waste management
technologies and policies in Japan. CEIDS aims to
expand its activities in research and education in a global
sense in close collaboration with such internationalorganization, such as UNEP IETC

Award” at International Conference on
Engineering Design(ICED)2013
Yusuke Kishita, Naoto Kurahashi, Yohei Yamaguchi,
Yoshiyuki Shimoda, Shinichi Fukushige and Yasushi
Umeda, "Scenario Design Approach to Envisioning
Regional Electricity Networks with Photovoltaics andElectric Vehicles," Proc. of International Conference on
Engineering Design 2013, Paper #492, Seoul, Korea,
Aug 19-22 (2013) 10 pages.

Publisher

Contact information
Osaka University, Center for Environmental Innovation
Design for Sustainability (CEIDS)
Office for University-Industry Collaboration,
Building D, 6F
2-1 Yamadaoka, Suita, Osaka, Japan 565-0871
Tel: +81-6-6879-4150 / Fax: +81-6-6875-6271
HP: http://www.ceids.osaka-u.ac.jp/english/

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