01 "MONO-making" Vision

"With creative science and technology"
"Turning dreams into reality" dream Talking

Muroran Institute of Technology is a science and engineering university in Hokkaido, with the fundamental philosophy of "Turning dreams into reality through creative science and technology."

Furthermore, our university's mission is to contribute to the future of Hokkaido.

This vision speaks of the dreams that should be turned into reality.

Around 2060, today's university students will be in their sixties. In other words, they will be playing an important role in society.

We, Muroran Institute of Technology, believe that if we cannot envision the roles students should play in the future and the states we want to realize, we cannot fulfill the role of the university.

Furthermore, I believe that around 2060, it will be firmly recognized that fossil fuels, such as oil, are "limited resources," and measures will be taken to address this issue.

There's another reason why I considered 2060.
That is, major waves of transformation in economic cycles and science and technology occur approximately every 40 to 50 years.

With this vision, we, as university researchers, envisioned what Hokkaido would look like in 40 years, that is, in 2060, and decided to make it a "dream" that we would bring to life through science and technology, which is the philosophy of our university.

This is a vision of the future as envisioned by science and technology experts, offering a perspective different from that of think tanks and similar organizations.

A vision to transform Hokkaido into a "world-class value creation space"

In Hokkaido, where the population is rapidly declining and aging, efforts are underway to create a vision for the future.
One example of this initiative is the Hokkaido Comprehensive Development Plan (approved by the Cabinet on March 29, 2016).
This Hokkaido Comprehensive Development Plan looks ahead to 2050 and aims to transform Hokkaido into a "world-class value-creating space."
Furthermore, the Hokkaido Comprehensive Development Plan sets forth the following three goals:

  • (1) A community where people can thrive
  • (2) Industries with a global perspective
  • (3) A resilient and sustainable land

In order to achieve the goals of the national and Hokkaido prefectural governments' plans and strategies, which aim to "make Hokkaido a world-class value-creation space," this "MONO" creation vision aims to clarify the role of our university and serve as the basis for formulating our research strategy.

SDGs and "MONO" creation

The Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), adopted at the UN Summit in September 2015, consist of 17 goals and 169 targets for achieving a sustainable world. They pledge to leave no one behind. The SDGs represent goals that must be addressed not only by developing countries but also by Japan. We hope that this vision will also demonstrate Hokkaido's future contribution from a scientific and technological perspective to achieving the SDGs.

02 The World of 2060 as Envisioned by Engineers

Innovation has created waves of economic fluctuation.
Discussing "Kondratiev waves"

Russian economist Kondratiev believed that "economic cycles fluctuate cyclically, and innovation has played a major role as a contributing factor." Based on this idea, the relationship between economic cycles and innovation has been reported as shown in the diagram. Summarizing the four reports published so far, we get the table below.
"What kind of innovations will drive the next wave towards 2060?" To answer this question, let's organize the innovations related to power sources and transportation in the table below by wave.

[Wave 1: Steam engine] → [Wave 2: Railways] → [Wave 3: Engines (automobiles)] → [Wave 4: Aviation, computers] → [Wave 5: Digital network communication technologies]

We can see that they have come in this order. We believe that the next wave of innovation will be "information-based material and energy technology," in which material and energy technology and information technology are strongly combined.
Furthermore, the innovations related to materials in the table are

[Wave 1: Textiles and Cotton] → [Wave 2: Steel] → [Wave 3: Chemicals] → [Waves 4 & 5: Petrochemicals]

This is how things are unfolding. In the near future, when fossil fuels are recognized as a finite resource, their prices will skyrocket, making it difficult to produce materials like plastics, which are manufactured using petrochemical technology with crude oil as a raw material, cheaply and in large quantities. Therefore, we believe that technologies that could be called ecochemistry, which create various materials using renewable biomass as a raw material, and Materi-Ome technology, which manipulates the arrangement of molecules and atoms to manufacture materials, will create the next wave.

An example of examining Kondratiev waves

(Japanese translation created from The Economist, Aug 11th, 2014: Innovation in Industry Catch the wave)
The diagram shows five economic cycles and the innovations that brought about those cycles.
The author indicates that we are currently (2019) in the final stages of the fifth wave.

Viewpoint 1
Energy perspective

■ 2060 will be a society that recognizes energy constraints

Mr. Tanbo points out the following: "The peak of crude oil production is predicted to be in the 2030s. And by the 2060s, society will be acutely aware of the resource constraints imposed by fossil fuels." (Kenji Tanbo: The End of Modernity and the Launch of Post-Modernity in the Greatly Transforming 21st Century, Hamana Foundation, March 2018)

■ A society that uses renewable energy

We believe that energy sources are shifting from fossil fuels to hydropower, wind power, solar power/thermal energy, biomass, geothermal energy, and so on.

■ A society that uses energy efficiently

The widespread adoption of 3D printers will allow for the easy production of goods near consumption sites, creating a society where energy is largely unnecessary for transportation. Furthermore, integration with information technology will improve energy efficiency. Even now, there are systems that use gas to first generate electricity, and then use the remaining energy—which cannot be used to generate electricity but can be used to produce hot water—for hot water supply (this is called energy cascade utilization). In this way, we will see a society that considers the quality of energy, enabling smart energy use and making good use of even low-quality energy.

■ A society that efficiently stores and distributes energy

Sensors detect "where and what quality of energy is needed right now," and the necessary quantity and quality of energy is distributed accordingly. This system also utilizes energy storage systems such as highly efficient, high-capacity batteries.

■ A society where data consumption and energy consumption are considered equivalent.

"Energy technology, strongly linked to information technology, supports human activities. We are using data to reduce energy consumption. In this sense, we call it a 'society where data consumption and energy consumption have equal value.'"

Viewpoint 2
Environmental and resource management perspectives

■ A society where the lifespan of "MONO" (products) that do not consume resources is extended.

Due to energy constraints, we believe that we are moving towards a society where large-scale global transportation is no longer practical, and where resources are consumed as little as possible. In other words, we are seeing an increase in the ultra-long lifespan and thorough, highly efficient recycling of infrastructure used by society and the various "mono" (things) used by individuals.

■ A society that makes good use of stock materials

We currently utilize stock materials for a variety of applications. These stock materials are characterized by their limited production areas, and by 2060, energy constraints will make transporting them from distant locations difficult. Therefore, the focus is on extending their lifespan, fostering a society where materials are used carefully and for extended periods. Furthermore, materials that reach the end of their lifespan are destroyed and recycled, creating a circular economy within small areas like Hokkaido. Methods for destruction and recycling down to the molecular and atomic levels have been put into practical use. Only materials of truly high value will be widely distributed globally.

■ A society that bases its manufacturing on flowable materials

Petrochemical products like the plastics we currently use will become difficult to produce as petroleum resources dwindle. Instead, organic carbon compounds produced through photosynthesis have diverse molecular chemical structures, and by making good use of these chemical structures, we are moving towards a society where a wide variety of materials are produced.

Stock materials and flow materials

The materials we use can be broadly categorized into two types: stock materials and flow materials.

●Stock-type materials are inorganic materials such as iron and concrete, and if we consider underground resources that are not currently being used by humankind, the total amount of these materials on Earth is constant.

●Flow-based materials refer to organic carbon compounds produced through photosynthesis using carbon dioxide from the atmosphere as a raw material. These are generally known as "biomass." This "biomass" is constantly synthesized on Earth by sunlight and is returned to carbon dioxide through biochemical reactions in the food chain, including microorganisms, and chemical reactions such as combustion. In other words, it is cyclical. For this reason, we refer to them as flow-based materials here.

Viewpoint 3
Mobility perspective

■ A society where the mobility of people and things is realized in three dimensions

Maintaining and managing roads and railway lines, which are spread out in a two-dimensional plane, requires a lot of energy, time, and labor. In the future, a lot of assets will be invested in infrastructure that connects points, and a society will be realized where people and goods move by flying through the air (three dimensions).

■ Doraemon's "Bamboo Copter" Society

Because flying equipment is expensive, we are moving towards a society where everyone shares it (this is called the sharing economy) and can travel to the place they need it, when they need it (this is called individual on-demand travel and transportation).

■ A society that enjoys entertainment in space

We value art and intellectual curiosity, and we believe this will remain true in the future. As a means of liberating the human spirit, interest in space will grow, leading to extraterrestrial travel and entertainment utilizing outer space.

A society where "MONO" has an ID attached to it

Bloomberg and ING predict that by around 2050, more than a quarter of global logistics will be data-driven logistics using 3D printers. This means that cars and home appliances, which were previously transported by ship, will now only be sent as data, with parts being manufactured and assembled locally. The important point here is that anything made from the same data will be exactly the same. If the same ID is assigned to the brakes of a certain type of car, it will become impossible to link the ID to the failure history. By assigning different IDs to each part of the car we use, such as the brake materials, quality control will become significantly easier, and the circulation of high-quality products will accelerate. The past history of a car you buy or rent will be easily known through its ID. In other words, the ID will also play a role in replacing current creditworthiness. By utilizing these IDs, we can create a society where a more reliable and healthy used car market can be formed.

Farm life in 2060

Let's take a look at a day in the life of farm owner Mr. A. His farm is a large-scale operation spanning over 25 hectares. It is run by about 10 full-time employees and 20 part-time workers. Their main products are vegetables such as tomatoes and cucumbers. They handle everything from cultivation and sorting to packing and transportation to sales destinations. His farm has an annual sales of 200 million yen and a profit margin of over 10%, and Mr. A, in his mid-30s, earns an annual income of approximately 5.5 million yen.
His work isn't primarily farm work, but rather a wide range of tasks related to the overall operation of the farm, including setting up and operating environmental control computers, forecasting yields, managing the work schedules of part-time employees, and communicating with customers. His farm actively incorporates AI, robots, and various sensor technologies, eliminating the need for physically demanding labor. On the other hand, his work involves crucial aspects of farm management, such as researching and introducing the latest cultivation know-how and equipment, as well as formulating cultivation strategies based on market needs research and analysis. His working hours are fairly fixed from 9 am to 5 pm, allowing him ample time to handle childcare and household chores, such as picking up his children from daycare or kindergarten and preparing dinner after work, making it easy to balance work and private life.

03 To make Hokkaido a "world-class value creation space"

Goal 1
Hokkaido consists of a metropolis and basic living areas.
To create a new autonomous and decentralized regional structure.

According to future population projections for Hokkaido by the National Institute of Population and Social Security Research, the population of Hokkaido, which was approximately 5.38 million in the 2015 national census, is projected to decrease to approximately 4.19 million in 2040 and to approximately 3.08 million in 2060.

■ Metropolis: Hokkaido's Hub

Let's call the central Hokkaido area, from Sapporo to Tomakomai, a metropolis. This is Hokkaido's hub, possessing international trade functions such as air routes connecting the world and Arctic sea routes, corporate headquarters, and cultural activity functions such as professional sports and theaters, all connected to the basic living areas within Hokkaido by a high-speed network.

■ Basic Living Area: A place that supports agriculture, forestry, and fisheries in Hokkaido.

Let's reconstruct the basic living areas that will serve as regional hubs. These will consist of living spaces that are resilient to disasters and support education, advanced childcare, living environments for the elderly, medical care, and cultural activities, surrounded by production spaces. Here, natural renewable energy, water, food, and the economy will circulate, maintaining a high quality of life. The production spaces will not only be agricultural, forestry, and fisheries production sites, but also valuable spaces where beautiful nature and landscapes are preserved, attracting many people from around the world. Furthermore, they will serve as a test field for a decarbonized society where natural renewable energy is produced and consumed locally.

■ Production Space: Advanced Automation in Agriculture, Forestry, and Fisheries

Automation in agriculture, forestry, and fisheries, along with corresponding work styles, will become widespread at a cultural level, leading to the production and processing of higher-quality agricultural, forestry, and fishery products.

■ Central Hokkaido metropolis, basic living areas, and a network to the world

We will see the development of diverse transportation services tailored to human lifestyles, flexibly combining various modes of transport such as autonomous vehicles, flying cars, and high-speed public transportation between cities. Networks supporting agriculture, forestry, and fisheries will also be necessary. One example is logistics infrastructure that can transport goods directly to overseas markets while maintaining their freshness. Logistics infrastructure such as roads and port facilities will not only have the function of simply moving goods, but will also be equipped with functions that allow for the visualization and control of what is flowing where and what its status is.

Goal 2
Making Hokkaido a supply base for high-value-added materials to the world

■ Strengthening the competitiveness of research and development-oriented small and medium-sized enterprises

Currently, 99.8% of companies in Hokkaido are small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs). Producing high value-added materials requires continuous investment in technological development and improvement of technological capabilities. Let's network SMEs, form groups centered around research and development institutions like universities, and transform SMEs into R&D-oriented organizations.

■ Utilizing flow-type materials that leverage Hokkaido's advantages

Current petrochemicals, exemplified by plastics, which use fossil fuels as raw materials, produce materials indispensable to human life. However, with the depletion of fossil fuels and the transformation of the energy structure, the production of functional materials, including carbon nanofibers, using biomass and other fluid materials as raw materials will become mainstream. Hokkaido, which produces a large amount of fluid materials, must become a crucial production base for this.

Goal 3
Making Hokkaido a global supply base for high-quality, high-functional food ingredients.

■ Make a diet that minimizes the risk of illness the norm.

Our country's agriculture and food industry began with mass production to secure sufficient nutritional sources after the war, and has evolved to produce safe and secure food that contains as few harmful substances as possible, then to produce tastier food, and further to produce food containing more functional ingredients.

■ Provide information on the functional components contained in food and their combined effects along with the food itself.

Hokkaido accounts for one-quarter of Japan's total agricultural land area, making it the country's largest food supply base. If we could quickly and accurately evaluate the vitamins and functional components contained in food produced in Hokkaido, as well as the functions created by their combined effects, and provide this information to consumers along with the food, the food would become even more valuable. To achieve this, innovative sensing technology is necessary.

Goal 4
Aiming for material and energy self-sufficiency and ID (Information and Design) in Hokkaido

■ Energy independence is necessary.

Of Hokkaido's 800 billion yen trade deficit in fiscal year 2017, 630 billion yen was due to imports of mineral fuels. Hokkaido is a treasure trove of renewable energy sources such as wind power, geothermal energy, and solar energy. Efforts to reduce energy consumption through integration with information technology are also necessary. Energy sources will be assigned IDs, allowing for intelligent use while selecting the quality and source of energy.

■ Let's aim for material independence as well.

Let's achieve ultra-long lifespans for various social infrastructures, buildings, and other materials. Furthermore, let's introduce a system to determine whether to repair or replace materials, and if we decide to discontinue their use, let's create a system for their proper destruction according to a "material destruction diagram," thereby adding new value.

When energy is assigned an ID

Homes and businesses are often unaware of how their electricity is generated. While some contracts advertise the use of "green energy," there's no way to verify whether the electricity they're using actually originated from, for example, a wind power plant in Muroran. This is because electricity is difficult to store and is mostly consumed immediately after generation. What would become possible if we could assign an ID (color) to electricity as it flows in real time? Users could specify the ID they want to use. This would allow for choices that consider price and CO2 environmental impact. Furthermore, as battery technology advances and it becomes possible to store enough electricity in batteries, local production and consumption of electricity would become possible, resulting in efficient, economical, and eco-friendly power consumption.

Goal 5
To make Hokkaido a base for space exploration

■ Let's make this a leading center for space travel.

Imagine traveling to space with the same ease as taking a domestic or international trip. Enjoy a weightless flight like visiting an amusement park. Join a space hotel stay tour with family or close friends. If we were to build a space departure and return base, Hokkaido has a vast area open to the east or south, and meets many conditions suitable for construction, such as minimal interference with fishing grounds and shipping lanes. Let's build a spaceport in Hokkaido.

■ Spaceports as gateways to space

It's a place that attracts not only those involved in rocket development and operation, but also many tourists, journalists, and media personnel, creating a thrilling atmosphere filled with both excitement and anticipation. The movement of goods and people becomes more active, and hotels are being built in the surrounding area. It will also become a hub for mechanical and electrical industries that build rockets and satellites, as well as civil engineering, construction, plant engineering, and infrastructure/energy businesses that maintain ground facilities and equipment, and businesses related to electricity and water.

Goal 6
Using Hokkaido as a major test field

■ Hokkaido has always been a land full of pioneering spirit.

Hokkaido boasts a vast landscape, abundant nature, the open nature of its inhabitants, and a geographical distance from influential areas like Tokyo and Osaka. Yet, it's a blessed region where you can make a round trip to Tokyo in a single day by plane. Hokkaido accounts for 22% of Japan's land area, or 83,456 km², roughly twice the size of the Netherlands. Its population of 5.52 million is about the same as Denmark and Finland, and about one-third of the Netherlands' population.

■ The challenge has already begun.

In Taiki Town, there have already been successes in several areas, such as the successful launch of a small rocket base and experiments with transportation services using self-driving cars.

Creating value for the future with a true spirit of inquiry.

Muroran Institute of Technology reorganized from Faculty of Engineering to Faculty of Science and Engineering in April 2019 and moved the stage to a new stage. As a science and engineering university rooted in the community, we believe that solving Hokkaido's challenges leads to solving issues in Japan and globally, and we are working on educational and university reforms necessary to enhance research capabilities and promote co-creation with society.
Muroran Institute of Technology is committed to the stable and sustainable development of Hokkaido, Japan, and the world with the motto "Creating future value through true curiosity."
We sincerely ask for your support and cooperation.

Muroran Institute of Technology Length Mizushi Matsuda

04 Scientific and technological contributions aimed at by Muroran Institute of Technology for the future of Hokkaido

Contribution 1
Research on constructing autonomous and decentralized regional structures

The autonomous decentralized regional structure is a proposed spatiotemporal structure of the nation that uses areas with a population of approximately 200,000 to 300,000 as its basic living area, keeping travel time to urban centers within approximately one hour, and connecting these areas with high-speed networks. Research is needed to promote the formation of a culturally rich and energy-resilient regional structure by maintaining a self-sustaining population even in small societies through new mobility technologies, expanding the use of natural renewable energy, and balancing local consumption. This requires not only the evolution of mobility, but also the evolution of energy technology and the evolution of information technology that connects them. It is important to build a planning support platform that integrates with data science, focusing on the role that Hokkaido should play within the national space, and to research strategic spatial development technologies using this platform. Furthermore, in order to maintain, manage, and evolve the functions of the basic living area, it is necessary to cultivate highly skilled personnel, who could be called "community engineers," who are proficient in all aspects of information, energy, and materials.

Contribution 2
Research for creating high value-added materials

It is necessary to further develop the achievements of our university to date (optimization of alloy formulations and heat treatment conditions for the production of high value-added materials, development of quality evaluation methods, and investigation of utilization and recovery technologies for various elements, including rare earth elements). One example of this is the development of new composite materials that are designed for ultra-long lifespan. Furthermore, in order to make Hokkaido a supply base for new materials, methods must be put in place to standardize the technologies necessary for networking small and medium-sized enterprises. The formation of a new network through collaboration between industry, government, and academia will be necessary. In addition, it will be necessary to develop methods for linking simulation technology for controlling molecular and atomic arrangements with advanced structural scanning technology. Petrochemical materials made from fossil fuels will be forced to change as fossil fuels are depleted and the energy structure changes. It is necessary to develop manufacturing processes for various functional materials, including carbon nanofibers, starting from flow-type materials such as woody biomass. In other words, it is necessary to develop bonding, molding, and separation technologies for flow-type materials.

Contribution 3
Research for a supply base of high-quality, high-functional food ingredients

It is important to develop innovative sensing technologies specifically for the agriculture, fisheries, and food sectors, which are characteristic industries of Hokkaido, and to challenge ourselves to create materialome maps for these sectors using these technologies. Specifically, this will involve (1) developing innovative sensing technologies that can analyze the structure and function of various substances contained in food in a very large amount of time, (2) creating a big database utilizing these technologies, (3) extracting structural and functional units from the vast amount of information, and implementing cultivation, processing, and distribution technologies in society that maintain and even improve their functionality, (4) analyzing functions created by the interaction of various substances, and predictively designing and manufacturing new functional substances, and (5) creating materialome maps for the agriculture, fisheries, and food sectors that summarize this information.

Contribution 4
Research for the autonomy and intelligent design of matter and energy

To achieve energy independence, it is necessary to develop systems that combine energy production, distribution, and storage technologies with information technology, as well as advanced energy-saving systems. To achieve these, research and development of (1) distribution systems for variable renewable energy (VRE), (2) utilization and cascading utilization technologies for low-quality energy, and (3) energy storage technologies is required. Furthermore, the development of artificial photosynthesis technology will enable its application to carbon-free energy for household and mobile use. To achieve material independence, research is needed to create a loop of "manufacturing of 'things'" → "distribution within the prefecture" → "utilization" → "distribution within the prefecture" → "destruction" → "distribution within the prefecture" → "reconstruction of materials" → "manufacturing of 'things'". Here, "destruction" refers to both destruction down to the atomic and molecular level and decomposition to functional units with a certain function. Furthermore, the development of sensing technologies to measure the state of materials is also necessary. The goal of developing processing and decomposition technologies is to create hardware such as super 3D printers and shredders, diverse materials equivalent to the ink of 3D printers, and functional units that maintain a certain function that is globally standardized. Materials technology encompasses bonding, molding, cutting, and decomposition technologies at the atomic and molecular scales. Furthermore, for functional units such as elements and parts, it involves standardization technologies that could be called world standards, as well as joining, molding, and separation technologies targeting functional units as system elements. Ultra-long lifespan is also a crucial element. The technology for this should be called lifecycle design technology, and it will lead to the development of technologies that design the entire lifecycle of a "thing" by integrating "thing design," "thing destruction," and "material design." In this way, the information and hierarchical structure of the material circulation and self-sustaining system will advance, and integration as a social system will become possible.

Contribution 5
Research to establish a space base

Access to space will be realized through the advanced development of rocket technology and winged aircraft technology. Furthermore, space tourism, which assumes high-frequency operations, requires not only the reliability of the aircraft itself, but also the construction of a transportation system that anticipates all possible situations, including non-routine operations such as emergency return. In space transportation systems, the development of air-breathing (Ramjet, Scramjet) engines and combined cycle engines will make spaceplanes practical, ushering in an era where people can easily enjoy space travel (we call this the revolution in space transportation). For high-speed, high-volume transportation between two points, technological innovations such as supersonic engines, lightweight and heat-resistant materials, and sonic boom reduction are necessary. On the other hand, for everyday means of transportation, in order to realize a "bamboo-copter society" through air sharing + on-demand, technological development is needed to manage the operation of multiple aircraft in 3D transportation and avoid collisions, as well as to develop AI-based autonomous control and unmanned aircraft operation management systems.

05 Research to create a new academic foundation ahead of the world

Research 1
Materi-ome Information Cloud

Materiome is a coined word combining "material" and "ome" (total). It refers to the structure and function of various substances surrounding human life (food, feces, medicine, cars, airplanes, houses, smartphones, etc.), and the overall consideration of their changes and relationships with each other. It can also be described as creating a materiome map, which is a metabolic map, by integrating the blueprints of MONO corresponding to the assimilation pathways of biological systems and the breakdown diagrams corresponding to the catabolism pathways. To create a materiome map, the development of sensing technology that can analyze and digitize the structure, state, and function of various substances in the shortest possible time is essential. Furthermore, it will be necessary to add information on the interactions between these substances and build a database platform to compile them from multiple perspectives. Finally, all information related to the manufacturing and use of inorganic and organic materials in various industries and activities (agriculture, food, medicine, construction, vehicles, electrical products, etc.) will be organized under the unified perspective of materiome, and a high-resolution map will be created.

Research 2
IDization

The practice of assigning IDs to citizens, like the My Number system, has been carried out in many countries for a long time. Coupled with the digital revolution, in an era where similar things can be easily duplicated, and at the same time, where respect for the original creator is required, as with copyright, assigning IDs not only to people but also to things is extremely important. Furthermore, expectations for IDs are rising from the perspective of making reuse more efficient. In the era of mass consumption until now, diversity was ignored, and the focus was on low prices and the same quality. In the future, there will be a demand for goods and services that are tailored to each individual. In this context, it is necessary to design an ID system for people, goods, energy, etc., while protecting the privacy of those involved with those goods. Assigning IDs makes it possible to design the entire lifecycle of a "thing"—from its design, production, consumption, disposal, or recycling—but realizing this requires careful design of security and social acceptance, as well as the provision of open processes.

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Hokkaido MONO-zukuri Vision 2060 - From "Manufacturing" to "Value Creation" -
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