Together and Beyond
“THE SS-F GALA 2023” where researchers and corporate professionals from various fields gathered and generated ideas through co-creation
On September 14, 2023, we held “THE SS-F GALA 2023” at the Tokyo American Club, bringing together researchers from various fields and supporting companies.
At this event, young leading researchers from Japan in the fields of life sciences, material sciences, and computer sciences gathered under the theme “Together and Beyond” to exchange ideas and propose solutions to societal challenges.
Initiatives of the Stellar Science Foundation (SS-F)
SS-F is a Japan-based organization committed to creating a system that fosters innovation (social transformation) by promoting inventions (discoveries and inventions) born from cross-disciplinary interactions. To realize this system, SS-F creates opportunities for cross-disciplinary co-creation, not only within science but also between science and business, science and art, and more, to generate seeds of new inventions.
New Possibilities from Cross-Disciplinary Exchange
In recent years, there has been concern about Japan’s declining international competitiveness in the research world. A major factor is the lack of co-creation among researchers from different fields. SS-F believes that unrestricted interaction among researchers, regardless of their research domains or affiliated organizations, will naturally spark cross-disciplinary dialogue and lead to the generation of ideas. Hence, various mechanisms were implemented at this event to make participants feel the potential of cross-disciplinary exchange.
During the initial icebreaker session, participants used “STELLAR POWER CARDS” for introductions to deepen exchanges. Prior to the event, we gathered information about participants’ strengths and specialties and created original superhero cards that represented these traits. On the event day, participants exchanged these cards to learn about each other’s strengths in an enjoyable manner.
This icebreaker reflected SS-F’s belief that “by combining individual strengths, new creations can be made regardless of industry or field.”
Ideas Born from Free Exchanges Among Researchers
The main program, “STELLAR FUTURE VISIONING,” involved group discussions with members from various fields, including researchers and supporting companies.
Each team selected one of three themes: City (sustainable urbanization), Nature (biodiversity conservation), or Health (health in developing countries). Members wrote down their ideas for solving the chosen theme’s problems on post-it notes. After generating a range of ideas, the group discussed them while looking at the posted notes. Keywords from these discussions were input into ChatGPT, which, combined with Midjourney’s image generation AI, produced unique visuals. The teams’ ideas were eventually consolidated into concrete solutions accompanied by these AI-generated visuals.
For City (sustainable urbanization), ideas included placing solar panels on the moon to generate and transmit energy to Earth. For Nature (biodiversity conservation), suggestions included sending the DNA of endangered species to planets other than Earth. For Health (health in developing countries), ideas included conducting remote diagnostics and using AI for diagnoses. Various ideas emerged in a short time.
The main program emphasized the importance of “Thinking Outside the Box.” The presentations featured innovative art expressions created by AI. These representations reflected the new worlds conceived by each group’s discussions.
However, content generated by AI is essentially woven from texts and images that humans have previously uploaded to the internet. What is most needed from humans in the future is to transcend the past data accumulated by AI (the “Box”) and create a new world through the collaboration of individuals. This message was conveyed through the group discussions.
Participants’ Feedback
- ● “It was a valuable event for making connections with people in academia.”
- ● “It was precious to meet and interact with researchers active in various fields. The venue setup and content were designed to encourage lively conversations.”
- ● “I realized different perspectives on problems. Even on the same issue, having different knowledge allows for different viewpoints. Interaction with researchers from different fields is essential for this reason.”
