News Releases

Establishment of the “Hitachi The University of Tokyo Laboratory”

A new initiative by The University of Tokyo and Hitachi to generate and realize visions
through collaborative creation to achieve a Super Smart Society

Tokyo, June 20, 2016 --- The University of Tokyo (“the University”) and Hitachi, Ltd. (TSE: 6501; “Hitachi”) today announced the establishment of “Hitachi The University of Tokyo Laboratory” (“the Laboratory”) within the grounds of the University on June 20, 2016, to co-create and share visions towards realizing the “Super Smart Society”*1 (Society 5.0*2) proposed by the Japanese government. The Laboratory will co-create visions that achieve both solutions to issues in society and economic development, by leading innovative changes in society and creating new value for the prosperity of society.

The process of creating knowledge or value has changed tremendously in recent years with advances in ICT, globalization and changing values of people. An era of great transformation has arrived where the way society or the economy is, and the structure of industry, are expected to undergo rapid change. Earlier this year, the Government of Japan, led the world in announcing a vision for a “Super Smart Society” through “Society 5.0” where issues in society are resolved and new values are created to accommodate such changes, leading to a prosperous lifestyle for all.

The University believes that the collaborative creation of knowledge, drawing not only from one discipline but bringing together a diverse and global perspective to connect the knowledge is imperative in resolving complex global issues faced by society. To date, the University has brought together the achievements from its many faculties to resolve issues as well as contributed to government policy. It is the vision of the University to serve as “a global hub for knowledge collaboration contributing to the 21st-century global society”*3 by promoting the synergy that will connect the “creation of knowledge” to “the use of knowledge.” Through the new Laboratory, the University is promoting collaborative creation between industry and academia by sharing visions and actively drawing on the synergy to enhance the creation of new value for society.
Hitachi, on the other hand, has been implementing Social Innovation Business that combines and leverages its vast experience in infrastructure technology and advanced IT, accelerating initiatives in collaborative creation with customers and partners, as well as through open innovation, to deliver the optimal solutions for societal issues by creating new value through digital technology.
The University and Hitachi decided to combine their respective efforts and collaborate under a new style of tie-up to create visions and innovations to realize a “Super Smart Society” (Society 5.0) which will bring prosperity to humankind. The “Hitachi the University of Tokyo Laboratory” will be established today within the grounds of the University as the control tower of this initiative. As well as proposing the co-created visions, the Laboratory will pursue joint research in a broad range of areas beginning with the project “Realization of a comfortable, healthy and safe society leveraging intelligence of living systems” which is already underway. Further, information on the joint projects as well as their achievements will be actively shared with society through various channels including open forums.

*1

Super Smart Society: A society which can attend in detail to the various needs of society by providing necessary items or services to the people who require them, when they are required, in the amount required, thus enabling its citizens to live an active and comfortable life through high quality services regardless of difference in age, sex, region and language, etc.

*2

Society 5.0: Activities related to the realization of a shared vision for a “Super Smart Society” where the cyber space and the real world (physical space) are intricately connected. The naming describes a new type of society that will be led by innovations in science and technology, following on from hunter-gatherer, pastoral-agrarian, industrial and information.

*3

The University of Tokyo: Vision 2020 http://www.u-tokyo.ac.jp/en/about/vision_2020.html

About the University of Tokyo

The University of Tokyo was established in 1877 as the first national university in Japan. As a leading research university, the University offers courses in essentially all academic disciplines at both undergraduate and graduate levels and conducts research across the full spectrum of academic activity. The University has approximately 6,000 academic staff and 27,000 students. The University aims to provide its students with a rich and varied academic environment that ensures opportunities for both intellectual development and the acquisition of professional knowledge and skills. To learn more about the University of Tokyo, please visit the university website at http://www.u-tokyo.ac.jp/en/index.html.

About Hitachi, Ltd.

Hitachi, Ltd. (TSE: 6501), headquartered in Tokyo, Japan, delivers innovations that answer society's challenges. The company's consolidated revenues for fiscal 2015 (ended March 31, 2016) totaled 10,034.3 billion yen ($88.8 billion). The Hitachi Group is a global leader in the Social Innovation Business, and it has approximately 335,000 employees worldwide. Through collaborative creation, Hitachi is providing solutions to customers in a broad range of sectors, including Power / Energy, Industry / Distribution / Water, Urban Development, and Finance / Government & Public / Healthcare. For more information on Hitachi, please visit the company's website at http://www.hitachi.com.