"New Social Challenges" mission area

Index

R&D Supervisor (Program Officer: PO)

pic
TAKAHASHI Keiko
(Senior Researcher/ Professor, Integrated Institute for Regulatory Science, Research Organization for Nano & Life Innovation, Waseda University)

Overview

Japan faces a number of issues, including public health crises such as the new COVID-19 infection, unforeseen disasters, declining birthrate and aging population, climate change, rural-urban issues, food and resource problems, aging infrastructure, and the risk of natural disasters. Besides, there is demand for appropriate responses to the changes in Japan's security environment, and the need to increase the resilience of our land and social functions. In this mission area, we aim to solve such emerging social problems.
(Excerpt from MEXT's "About Areas of Prioritized Themes")

"Vision of the mission area"
The COVID-19 global pandemic has transformed our awareness and way of life, and we must now reassess what challenges lay ahead and how to solve them. Longstanding social problems are becoming more serious and complex as multiple issues overlap and affect each other. Furthermore, the nature of these issues is changing along with changes in our environment, social conditions and awareness itself. In this mission area, R&D will pursue solutions to "New Social Challenges" from multiple perspectives, taking into account the uncertainty of future society, economy, and environment, as well as the balance between efficiency and redundancy.
(For further information, see Chapter 6 of "Application Guideline" )
pic

Prioritized Themes and R&D Projects

  • Sustainable and resilient social system for healthy nature (FY2022-)
    (Setting key concepts as "novel creation of environment" and "maintenance of life and living organisms and utilization of biological resources," respecting to "Food, Water, and Environment" and "Consumption and Production" while considering their relationship with "Decarbonation and Energy" and "Climate change, Disaster, and Infrastructure.")
    Feasibility Study
  • Sustainable and resilient social system for healthy nature (FY2021-)
    (Focusing on "building a social system prepared for a drastically changing environment and increasingly severe natural disasters," while considering the effects of relationship between urban and rural areas and public health in "Climate change" and "Disasters.")
    Feasibility Study
    Full-scale R&D Project (Yoshimura PJ)

R&D Management Committee Members

OHGAKI Shinichiro Professor emeritus, The University of Tokyo
KAMEI Shin-ichi Counselor, Mitsubishi Research Institute, Inc.
SHIMIZU Yoshihiko Professor, Faculty of Science and Technology, Gunma University
SEKI Sachiko President, Local First Laboratory Co. Ltd.
NISHIZAWA Naoko President, Ishikawa Prefectural University
WAKAYAMA Masato Fundamental mathematics Research Principal/ Research Professor, Institute for Fundamental Mathematics, Nippon Telegraph and Telephone Corporation

Index