NTT Research and Development 2009 Review of Activities | Forum/Symposium/Event
The role that information communications should play in the advancement of the society and economy is of great importance. NTT has an objective to contribute to the development of information communications in Japan, and all around the world as well, by disseminating our research and development results. To achieve the objective, we are energetically developing the activities shown as follows.
- Announcing research results, exchanging research with other organizations
- Dissemination of R&D results through technology disclosures and other methods
- Standardization activities
2009 Symposiums/Forums Schedule (arranged chronologically)
| Event | Date | Location |
|---|---|---|
| NTT Atsugi R&D Center Open House 2009 | April 18, 2009 | NTT Atsugi R&D Center |
| Web Universal Design Symposium 2009 | May 28, 2009 | Learning Square Shinbashi |
| Children's Hands-on Science Classroom 2009 | August 21, 2009 | NTT Musashino R&D Center |
| NTT Summer Seminar for Kids | August 22, 2009 | NTT Yokosuka R&D Center |
| Tsukuba Forum 2009 | October 14-15, 2009 | NTT Tsukuba R&D Center Tsukuba International Congress Center |
| The 21st NTT Lecture for Citizens Be Friendly to the Environment! Be Friendly to Humankind! |
October 16, 2009 | Yokosuka Arts Theatre |
| NTT Basic Research Laboratories Science Plaza 2009 |
November 27, 2009 | NTT Atsugi R&D Center |
| NTT R&D Open Lab 2010 | January 16-17, 2010 | NTT Musashino R&D Center |
| NTT R&D Forum 2010 | February 22-24, 2010 | NTT Musashino R&D Center |
| SPRING SCIENCE CAMP 2010 | March 24-25, 2010 | NTT Yokosuka R&D Center |
NTT R&D Forum 2010
As in previous years, NTT's three Laboratory Groups jointly held the NTT R&D Forum 2010 for three days from February 22-24 at the NTT Musashino R&D Center. (February 22 was a private exhibition for NTT Groups.) About 4,600 guests attended the event. The theme of this year's forum was "ICT for the future: friendly to individuals, society, and the earth." Following this theme, visitors saw demonstrations by NTT labs that showcased their efforts to contribute to future society.
Besides the keynote and special addresses and panel discussions, the forum provided exhibitions under three categories: "Technologies and services that are friendly to individuals, society, and the earth," "Technologies that support services that are friendly to individuals and society/Technologies that support safe and secure networking," and "Innovative technologies that help advance science and engineering." Exhibits in the "Technologies and services that are friendly to individuals, society, and the earth" category included a storytelling exhibition that introduced developments in technologies and services in an easy-to-understand manner. Also, the NTT History Center of Technologies inside the Musashino R&D Center was opened to the public. Using the idea of "time slip tours," the center prepared two courses, the "History" tour and the "Technology" exploration tour. Visitors could learn about developments in NTT's R&D history, from the Groups' former days as a public corporation to the present day.
The forum brought meaningful results, as visitors experienced the steady progress of NTT R&D's efforts, provided valuable comments, and joined in discussions on how best to provide services to customers.
- Keynote address by NTT President and CEO Satoshi Miura
- "Technologies and services that are friendly to individuals, society, and the earth" exhibition
Web Universal Design Symposium 2009
NTT Cyber Solutions Laboratories held the Web Universal Design Symposium 2009 for NTT Groups employees on May 28 at NTT's Learning Square Shimbashi. The event was held under the sponsorship of NTT Learning Systems Corporation, NTT Data Corporation, and NTT Claruty Corporation. The symposium introduced a variety of activities in universal design both inside and outside NTT. The conference sought to raise awareness of universal design and to promote the construction of NTT websites and customer websites that take universal design into account. More than 300 NTT Groups employees registered for the event, greatly exceeding expectation.
For the special lecture, Professor Hajime Yamada of Toyo University gave an address on "Domestic and Foreign Efforts in Information Accessibility." Afterwards, a laboratory researcher? introduced techniques for Web accessibility, and NTT Software presented case studies. Next, members from NTT Claruty, NTT East, NTT Learning Systems, and NTT Data involved in building and evaluating universal design websites participated in a panel discussion on specific challenges and presented the concerns of customers. Attendants of the symposium voiced the need to tackle the challenges of universal design by the NTT Groups as a whole. The event greatly advanced awareness of efforts on universal design in the NTT Groups.
- Special address by Professor Hajime Yamada
- Panel discussion
NTT Atsugi R&D Center Open House 2009
As part of the national Science and Technology Week, NTT Atsugi R&D Center held an open house on April 18, 2009, celebrating Japan's Invention Day.
The center prepared many booths for families to enjoy the wonders of science, such as corners that demonstrated scientific phenomena and hands-on corners to experience first-hand the technologies developed by the R&D Center.
For the special events held in the auditorium, the rakugo artist Enpuku Sanyutei told the story of the telephone from its beginning to the future. The magician Dr. Leon gave a performance entitled "Super Illusion." The performances drew thunderous cheers, as visitors experienced the atmosphere of a rakugo theater and saw incredible magic tricks that made use of science.
Many visitors also participated in special programs, such as a tour of the R&D Center's facilities, which always draws a favorable response. Other programs included the "Fascinating Science Hands-On Corner," where visitors could learn about optical and auditory illusions in the "Mysterious Look and Listen Classroom." They could also see green bioluminescent proteins produced by crystal jellyfish, a subject of research that has become much talked about since Osamu Shimomura was awarded a Nobel Prize for his research in this area. Visitors could also experience "RedTacton," an electromagnetic communication technology developed by NTT.
About 1,500 people, including children from surrounding schools and their parents, attended the open house, making the event a rousing success.
- Fascinating Science Hands-On Corner
- Tour of the facilities
Children's Hands-on Science Classroom 2009
The NTT Information Sharing Laboratory Group held the "Children's Hands-on Science Classroom 2009" on August 21, 2009. The event sought to teach the principles of science to elementary and junior high school students through making products and conducting experiments.
First, Satoshi Matsumoto, chief researcher in the NTT Energy and Environment Systems Laboratories, gave a lecture on solar batteries. Afterwards, the participating children build solar cars from plastic bottles and raced them in experiments outdoors.
Next, the students learned about the history of telecommunications at the NTT History Center of Technologies through participation in a quiz game.
A total of 158 children and parents participated. They experienced the importance of nature's gifts and learned about energy that is friendly to the environment. They also saw a wide range of NTT's fruits of research, from its historical telecommunication achievements to its newest technologies, such as Walking Power Generator.
- Building plastic bottle solar cars (1)
- Building plastic bottle solar cars (2)
NTT Summer Seminar for Kids
The Summer Seminar for Kids was held on August 22, 2009, at the NTT Yokosuka R&D Center. The theme was "Let's have fun building your body and brain!"
As a social program for the local community, the event was held to nurture the brainpower and the body strength of elementary students on their summer vacation together with their families, through the research achievements of the Yokosuka R&D Center.
During "The Leading-edge Technologies to Stretch Your Mind" program, children examined and laid hands on R&D results, and put their new ideas into pictures and writing. "The Strengthen Your Body" lecture welcomed Tsuyoshi Yoda, NHK's baseball commentator and the bullpen coach for the WBC 2009 Japan team. He talked about the great fun of baseball and other sports, and a desired attitude toward them. As a demonstration, he also analyzed some Little Leaguers' pitching form with his own form using NTT's technology "CyberCoaster".
The two programs drew many children and their parents, and most of them said that they want to come again. The Summer Seminar succeeded in providing a fun time for people in the community.
- Hands-on R&D experience during "The Leading-edge Technologies to Stretch Your Mind" lecture
- "The Strengthen Your Body" lecture given by Tsuyoshi Yoda
