Public Needs

Japan has the greatest longevity of any country in the world. At present, senior citizens(age 65+) account for 23% of the population in Japan. By 2030, this number is expected to increase to one third. Particularly, people aged 75 and older will increase rapidly. Since there is no precedent for this situation anywhere in the world, it is hard to predict what types of problems are likely to occur. Accordingly, there is an urgent need to accurately assess the current situation, identify problems and conduct research to find solutions to the problems.

However, it is difficult to resolve the problem of an aging society through individual efforts. Many of the problems require a multi-disciplinary perspective, which takes into consideration the psychological, physical and social status of the senior citizens. Exploring a problem resolution from various perspectives, including the humanities and the social sciences, will lead to more effective models for the aging society.

RISTEX is now seeking potential solutions to a broad range of problems arising in communities due to population aging.

Goals

• To develop innovative community-based research programs seeking solutions to critical problems arising in the aged society, which involve relevant multi-stakeholders such as scientific disciplines, government agencies, industries and citizens.
• To introduce methodological innovations in research solving problems of the aged society.
• To create a network of R&D centers which will serve as the resource center for redesigning communities for the aged society.

Process of deciding the R&D focus area

　New R&D focus areas were explored during FY 2009. The R&D focus area was decided in FY 2010.
　See the following link for a report summarizing the decision-making process.