System and Information science and technology (IT) is a versatile field of technology that demonstrates its effectiveness across various domains, accelerating problem-solving in diverse areas and the creation of new industries. It improves social systems such as social infrastructure including energy and transportation, as well as administrative and resident services, realizing efficiency and higher added value not only in the information and communication industry but also in manufacturing, service industries, agriculture, and more. The effectiveness of digital innovation has been demonstrated worldwide in response to the spread of the novel COVID-19 infection, and the importance of IT continues to grow. Transformation through IT has also made significant contributions to the advancement of scientific technologies such as nanotechnology and life sciences. In national security as well, the role of technology has become crucial, and IT is greatly transforming conventional policy tools including diplomacy, military, and economy.

This overview report, in light of the recent advancements and widespread adoption of artificial intelligence (AI) technologies, presents the vision that IT aims for: a "Symbiotic Society with AI."

Under this vision, research and development were reviewed from both perspectives: the four sub-visions -- "Co-creation with AI trusted and relied upon in various situations," "Transformation of intellectual activities such as scientific research by AI," "Solving complex social issues through human-AI co-creation," and "Sustainable development of social infrastructure" -- and the technological trends in the evolution of system and information science technologies, such as "AI infrastructure supporting the knowledge revolution," "Autonomization, physicalization, and generalization of AI," and "AI transformation and responses to diversifying risks."

We identified strategically important 38 R&D areas under the consideration of criteria such as "emerging technology", "social needs and vision", and "impact on society". As shown in Figure, we categorized them into 6 divisions of "Artificial Intelligence", "Robotics", "Security and Trust", "Computing Architecture", "Communication and Network" and "Mathematical Sciences".

A major update from "Panoramic View Report (2024)" is the revision of the overview categories. In the "Overview Report (2026)", the 2024 edition's Social System Science category has been removed. Digital transformation and service science, which were included in the Social System Science category, are now addressed under Digital Social Services in the Computing Architecture category. Social system architecture, mechanism design, and computational social science are now covered under the Artificial Intelligence category, specifically in AI in Society, Human-AI Symbiosis Models, and AI Transformation of Science, Industry, and Social Systems, respectively.

The national R&D investment strategy with a persuasive scenario to maintain global competitiveness is needed, away from just following the global trend of R&D, given Japan's current social and economic situation and R&D efforts, and position in the global competition. In this report, we proposed four basic scenarios of "strengthening the advantage of technology", "strengthening the advantage of internationally competitive industries", "solving social problems prior to the other countries through utilization of social acceptability", and "securing key infrastructure technologies for economic security". We chose 10 important themes based on those four scenario.

In planning R&D strategies in this field, it is necessary to understand not only technology trends but also interactions between society and IT in various forms. In particular, we should always be aware of the relationship between technological progress and employment, the impact on the gap between rich and poor, ELSI (ethical, legal and social issues) in science and technology. In order to build a sustainable society with the appropriate development of IT, various viewpoints from stakeholders are essential. This overview report provides some of those viewpoints necessary for that based on a neutral survey and analysis.