[Act Beyond Borders - Sony CSL]

The problems that humanity currently faces, such as the preservation of the global environment, the persistence of poverty, the advent of an ageing society and the concomitant concerns with health and medical treatment, are all problems in which we must deal with extremely complicated, diverse, and dynamic phenomena. To solve these problems, we must use approaches that cross the borders between disciplines and develop completely new ideas. Upon the 20th anniversary of the founding of this laboratory, we have taken the opportunity to propose an 'open system science' as our scientific approach. This approach studies open systems, in place of the conventional approach that has focused on closed systems. The nature of open systems is such that we can only acquire imperfect information on their fundamental structure and condition, and their behavior is difficult to predict. If we are to solve problems that arise out of the properties of systems such as these, then we must cross boundaries between research organizations and integrate knowledge from a wide range of disciplines; at the same time, we must look for realistic solutions based on a practical, hands-on understanding of the issues involved.

At Sony Computer Science Laboratories, we aim to do research for 'the future of humanity.' One view of our work is that we should just do basic research and leave the working out of its practical applications to others. Yet with such an attitude, we cannot guarantee that the research we do will have any impact on the world we live in. In addition, in open systems research, I think we have to carry out research while continuing to make innovations in these systems. In a research laboratory, we cannot be satisfied with just doing research that is strong academically; instead, we must plunge into action and deal directly with things as they really are, so that through our research we can continue to change the world.

The motto we have created of 'Act Beyond Borders,' is a guidepost that will change the way we think and lead us to look at things from various aspects. This guidepost will open up new domains of research for us, unfold and present us with new concepts, and give rise to major innovations. The new domains, concepts and innovations we discover will lead to the creation of new industries and businesses. Thus the kind of laboratory we hope to create is not one in which we pursue research only to find out the truth. Rather, we hope to create a laboratory in which we carry out our mission of doing far-ranging basic research that gives us deep insight into phenomena and then readily convert this research into concrete results and businesses that will benefit the future of human beings.

This mission is not something that can easily be accomplished. We must have a vision of the future, a perspective of contributing to the world, the ability to look honestly at the gap between reality and the future, and the ability to take action to bridge this gap. Furthermore, there will be great difficulties that arise on the way to carrying this out. However, from this type of friction, I think the path to true original research that contributes to the future of humanity will appear.

To do research is to open up the future, and there are many expectations and wishes bound up with it. I believe that to respond to these expectations and hopes we should try to cross over the borders between research fields and continue to take action to make the truths we discover useful to the world.

Hiroaki Kitano, Director, Sony Computer Science Laboratories, Inc.

(June 25, 2010)