143
within the municipality, it needs to be clarified as to whether it is attractive for the
local residents or not. This is a difficult role to be carried out by corporations and
business operators alone. In that regard, the university has a neutral position in the
local community. An effective method would be for the university to take on the
main role and explain the academic significance from many sides, and for industry,
academia and the public to find some way to grapple this.
On Tanegashima, several projects like this have been set up. In regard to sugar
cane, there is a verification plant, the first of its kind in the world, for the inversion
production process for sugar and ethanol. It received the Grand Prize for the Global
Environment Award in 2013. In this case too, the university has conducted a systematic analysis for reducing the burden on the environment and for the adoption of
technology. The method Tohoku University has for producing biodiesel using ionexchange resin means that high quality biodiesel can be produced continuously
from low grade waste cooking oil by the easy procedure of simply passing it through
a resin packed tower. Facilities for verifying this technology on a scale for adoption
have been built on Tanegashima, the first of its kind in the world. Trial runs using a
common rail diesel engine are being conducted.
Researchers from Kyoto University, the Nara Institute of Science and Technology,
and Kumamoto University are collecting unusual data from all around the world
related to health management, by using a wearable sensor to measure changes in a
person’s heart beat to try to anticipate circumstances that could impact on the functions of the person’s autonomic nervous system due to heat stroke and so on, and
develop a mechanism to sound an alarm. These projects are also being used in education in the local community.
Lecturers from the University of Tokyo, Tohoku University, and Kobe University
introduce projects at the local prefectural Tanegashima senior high school as well as
getting the students to quantitatively specify local problems using the Regional
Economy Society Analyzing System (RESAS). The students then conducted a project to consider ways to resolve those problems. The outcomes were suggested and
transmitted at a symposium attended by the head of local government, industrial
associations and local residents. Opinions were exchanged with seniors from public
organizations and new knowledge was conveyed with a kind of fusion starting to
occur. The appeal that local communities that have started to move towards a
Platinum Society have is also spreading to further than university researchers and
corporations hoping to develop business. In the Hands-on Activity Programs conducted by the University of Tokyo for undergraduate students, a program related to
agriculture, forestry and fishing industries in Tanegashima and regional revitalization, was proposed for FY2016. Although this was proposed for the first time when
the program was in its fifth year, out of the total number of 443 programs, the
Tanegashima program ranked first domestically while it was ranked high by program applicants, including for programs conducted overseas. This revealed how
students from urban areas were attracted to experiences in regions undergoing innovations. In this way, exchanges of new knowledge are being created one after
another, like chain reactions.
6.7 The Platinum Society Becomes More Visible
within the municipality, it needs to be clarified as to whether it is attractive for the
local residents or not. This is a difficult role to be carried out by corporations and
business operators alone. In that regard, the university has a neutral position in the
local community. An effective method would be for the university to take on the
main role and explain the academic significance from many sides, and for industry,
academia and the public to find some way to grapple this.
On Tanegashima, several projects like this have been set up. In regard to sugar
cane, there is a verification plant, the first of its kind in the world, for the inversion
production process for sugar and ethanol. It received the Grand Prize for the Global
Environment Award in 2013. In this case too, the university has conducted a systematic analysis for reducing the burden on the environment and for the adoption of
technology. The method Tohoku University has for producing biodiesel using ionexchange resin means that high quality biodiesel can be produced continuously
from low grade waste cooking oil by the easy procedure of simply passing it through
a resin packed tower. Facilities for verifying this technology on a scale for adoption
have been built on Tanegashima, the first of its kind in the world. Trial runs using a
common rail diesel engine are being conducted.
Researchers from Kyoto University, the Nara Institute of Science and Technology,
and Kumamoto University are collecting unusual data from all around the world
related to health management, by using a wearable sensor to measure changes in a
person’s heart beat to try to anticipate circumstances that could impact on the functions of the person’s autonomic nervous system due to heat stroke and so on, and
develop a mechanism to sound an alarm. These projects are also being used in education in the local community.
Lecturers from the University of Tokyo, Tohoku University, and Kobe University
introduce projects at the local prefectural Tanegashima senior high school as well as
getting the students to quantitatively specify local problems using the Regional
Economy Society Analyzing System (RESAS). The students then conducted a project to consider ways to resolve those problems. The outcomes were suggested and
transmitted at a symposium attended by the head of local government, industrial
associations and local residents. Opinions were exchanged with seniors from public
organizations and new knowledge was conveyed with a kind of fusion starting to
occur. The appeal that local communities that have started to move towards a
Platinum Society have is also spreading to further than university researchers and
corporations hoping to develop business. In the Hands-on Activity Programs conducted by the University of Tokyo for undergraduate students, a program related to
agriculture, forestry and fishing industries in Tanegashima and regional revitalization, was proposed for FY2016. Although this was proposed for the first time when
the program was in its fifth year, out of the total number of 443 programs, the
Tanegashima program ranked first domestically while it was ranked high by program applicants, including for programs conducted overseas. This revealed how
students from urban areas were attracted to experiences in regions undergoing innovations. In this way, exchanges of new knowledge are being created one after
another, like chain reactions.
6.7 The Platinum Society Becomes More Visible