SDGs+Beyond Future Society for Life Week
Our Harmonious Future: Communities in 2050 and Beyond
Agenda 2025 Co-created Programme
Shape New World Initiative
[Hypothesis for the Future in 2050] A future where art drives behavioral transformation, and technology harmonizes individual and collective well-being.
Toward a future where the self and the collective intertwine—Will a society emerge in which technologies such as artificial intelligence and virtual beings enable a balance between personal happiness and collective well-being? This program explores that question through the outcomes of various research and investigation initiatives. Furthermore, it examines the potential of art to facilitate behavioral change toward such a future, the conditions required for communities to thrive over centuries, and the possibilities of storytelling through art and entertainment as a means to envision and transition into this harmonious world.
Recorded video available
Discussion
- SDGs
- post-SDGs
- Art
| Transmission of simultaneous interpretation | Provided |
|---|---|
| Language of interpretation | Japanese and English |
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Agenda2025
Co-created Programme
- Time and
Date of
the event -
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2025.10.11[Sat]
11:00 ～ 13:00
(Venue Open 10:30)
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- Venue
- Theme Weeks Studio
Programme details
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How Can a Future Where Individual and Collective Well-Being Overlap Be Realized? This program explores visions of a harmonious future enabled by technology, drawing from research in future society design—including investigations conducted under the Moonshot Research and Development Program, as well as collaborative studies by Osaka University’s Social Solution Initiative and JST’s RISTEX (Research Institute of Science and Technology for Society). It also highlights international research such as the Meta-Sapiens Project, which examines how the digital and the real will merge in future societies shaped by technology. Furthermore, the program engages in dialogues on the conditions necessary for sustainable communities—even in a future where human lifespans may extend to 200 years—and on the transformative power of art that integrates science and technology, offering multigenerational and cross-disciplinary perspectives on how such a future might take shape.
Reports
【Reflection】
The session “My and Our Harmonious Future: Communities Beyond 2050” examined how to redesign the relationship between the individual and the community by combining technological and cultural approaches to make harmony actionable. The moderator noted the possibility of using sensing to capture an individual’s state and AI agent–like systems that approximate “what I would think,” suggesting that such technologies could help support mediation between “I” and “we.”
Tatsuki Hayama illustrated how mathematics and visual media can translate abstract ideas into felt experiences, enabling participants to embody notions such as the One and communal bonds. A filmic presentation demonstrated how immersion can catalyze understanding. Niko Fukushima redefined harmony as a condition where “my happiness” and “our happiness” are mutually acknowledged within the harm principle, using the metaphor of the sea to compare social expression styles. She proposed a two-step approach: raise quality of life first, then cultivate self- and other-understanding, while reflecting on agency under algorithmic recommendation and the balance between artificial and natural harmony.
Naoya Makinodan outlined a way of living that traverses real and digital boundaries, arguing that expanded empathy and shared experience can reconfigure community design. His future scenarios imagine porous boundaries between self and other, where perceptions and affects circulate and new forms of collaboration emerge. A video message from musician tohen described a practice that unites mathematical graphics and music so that audiences resonate with breathing, stellar motion, and ocean swells, awakening sensitivity to harmony and renewing imagination. Akihiko Shimoyama spoke about cities and art from a long-term perspective and proposed symbols and venues that future generations can inherit.
The discussion closed by reaffirming that experience sits at the center even when technology mediates relations; plastic uses of AI must be guided by ethics, and creativity embedded in play and ritual remains crucial. Four requirements for 2050 emerged: translating abstractions into experience through art and science; building self- and other-understanding on a baseline of quality of life; using AI agents and participatory tools for mediated decision-making; and renewing institutions and ethics to balance personal freedom with communal norms.
【Post EXPO Initiatives】
The speakers highlighted the following as key perspectives for their respective research and business development after the conference:
(1) Continuously expanding and enhancing programs that utilize cross-disciplinary expressions such as mathematics, visuals, and music to facilitate experiential engagement with abstract themes
(2) Designing consensus-building processes accessible to diverse stakeholders, including youth, and enhancing the quality of mediation and dialogue between “I” and “we” through participatory tools like AI agents and live Q&A sessions
(3) Building on improved quality of life (QOL), developing educational curricula and workshops fostering self-understanding and understanding of others in schools, communities, and online, thereby increasing pathways for empathy rooted in experience
(4) Establish collaborative communities for production and research involving artists, researchers, and practitioners. Expand the “sensitivity to harmony” through work presentations, public critiques, and community-based exhibitions.
Through these efforts, we will promote the creation of a societal foundation that does not fix the relationship between the individual and the community, but rather flexibly reweaves it according to circumstances..
*Part or all of this report was generated by AI.
Cast
Moderator
Hiroshi Sakuma
Specially Appointed Researcher at the Social Solutions Initiative, Osaka University, Head of the Shape New World Initiative
Born in 1996. Mr. Sakuma has been engaged in the research on the new form of communication using avatars and agents at Osaka University. At Expo 2025 Osaka, Kansai, Japan, he is in charge of the exhibition "Future Virtual Being" as a director of Osaka Pavilion. He is also a principal investigator of the research on the design of future societies, a joint research project between Osaka University and the Japan Science and Technology Agency. In addition to his current position as a chairperson of Shape New World Committee, Osaka Chamber of Commerce and Industry and he is also a member of Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of Japan. In 2021, he was appointed as a team leader for a research study on the Moonshot Research and Development Program. He was selected as one of the Forbes 30 Under 30 Japan 2023 and is a recipient of the Minister of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology Award of the Japan Open Innovation Prize.
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Speakers
Akihiko SHIMOYAMA
Founder
Founded CoinOtaku Inc. in 2017, a cryptocurrency business.
Sold it in 2020 for 600 million yen to a publicly traded company.
Currently leads Senjin Holdings Inc., his second entrepreneurial venture.
Graduated from the University of Tokyo.
Earned a Master’s degree at Tokyo University of the Arts.
Currently pursuing a Ph.D. at Keio University.
Seeks to sculpt society through entrepreneurial endeavors and artistic creation spanning from projects exploring decentralized finance, environmental sustainability, space exploration, and human longevity.
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Naoya Makinodan
SIGNING Ltd.
Born in 1997, he joined Hakuhodo in 2020. With experience ranging from product development to future insights, he became a member of the Social Business Studio “SIGNING” in 2023. He focuses on promoting global agendas for future generations and researches the integration of virtual and real worlds, aiming to realize a future society that is both nature-positive and human-positive.
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Niko Fukushima
Tsukuba University High School, Year 2 / GEMTalks 4th Cohort / University of Tokyo Matsuo-Iwasawa Laboratory GCIsummer2025 Graduate / Mitsubishi Future Development Foundation High School MIRAI Expo Part 2 Member
During secondary school, viewing footage of girls in areas without electricity sparked an interest in electricity and social inequality. At sixth form, alongside advancing research into power-generating garments, studied machine learning and presented on AI and mental health as part of the school's representative team at the HAS International Symposium in South Korea. At the High School MIRAI Expo, tackled hunger issues and organised awareness-raising events. Received numerous awards for poetry and haiku, including the Excellent Prize at the Institute of Electrical Engineers U21 Student Research Presentation, the Botchan Science Award, the GEMTalks Topaz Award and Corporate Award, and Honourable Mention in the Asahi Shimbun My Words Through the Seasons Contest. Obtained Level 2 certification in the Elements Examination.
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Tatsuki Hayama
Mathematician
Born in Nara Prefecture in 1982. Associate Professor at Keio University's Faculty of Environment and Information Studies. Specialises in mathematics (particularly complex geometry) and the application of mathematics to art and design through computer graphics. Also participates in collaborative projects in architecture and textiles, such as temple restoration work and research and development for Nishijin textiles.
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tohen
Artist
Artist. Conceptualising the World Spirit (Weltgeist), they traverse music and art, weaving a unique worldview through all media. In October 2025, they debuted as a musician and artist by exhibiting at the art show ‘Speculative Music/Narrative School’ held in conjunction with the Osaka-Kansai Expo. A multi-creator, they engage in diverse forms of expression including songwriting, composition, performance, illustration, narration, and voice acting.
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SDGs+Beyond Future Society for Life Week
Our Harmonious Future: Communities in 2050 and Beyond
Agenda 2025 Co-created Programme
[Hypothesis for the Future in 2050] A future where art drives behavioral transformation, and technology harmonizes individual and collective well-being.
Toward a future where the self and the collective intertwine—Will a society emerge in which technologies such as artificial intelligence and virtual beings enable a balance between personal happiness and collective well-being? This program explores that question through the outcomes of various research and investigation initiatives. Furthermore, it examines the potential of art to facilitate behavioral change toward such a future, the conditions required for communities to thrive over centuries, and the possibilities of storytelling through art and entertainment as a means to envision and transition into this harmonious world.
-
2025.10.11[Sat]
11:00～13:00
(Venue Open 10:30)
- Theme Weeks Studio
- * Programme times and content are subject to change. Any changes will be announced on this website and via the ticket booking system.
- * The schedule is subject to change depending on the organiser's circumstances.
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