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Round-table talks : Systems and synthesiology−242−Synthesiology - English edition Vol.4 No.4 (2012) Fig. a Processes of analytic and synthetic researchProfileHiroshi KuwaharaGraduated from the Department of Electrical Engineering, School of Engineering, The University of Tokyo in 1960. Director of Omika Works, general manager of Electric Systems Business Section, managing director, senior managing director, vice-president, and vice-chairman of Hitachi, Ltd. Former member of the Council for Science and Technology Policy, Cabinet Office. Chairman of Hitachi-Maxell, Ltd., Hitachi Cable, Ltd., and Hitachi Kokusai Electric Inc., Special consultant of Hitachi, Ltd. Former president of Global Water Recycle and Reuse System Association. Former vice-chairman of Japan Federation of Engineering Societies. Currently, Senior Adviser Emeritus of Hitachi, Ltd. and Senior Corporate Adviser of Hitachi Maxell, Ltd.Selection of knowledge elementsIntegration and synthesis of elementsSelection of disciplineScenario BScenario COrganizing knowledgeHierarchization and breakdown into elementsScenario-drivenProducts Systems Services EnvironmentsHypothesis establishment, market launchHypothesis formation, proposal/planningScenario AKnowledge element 1Knowledge element 2Knowledge element 3Knowledge element 4Materials and part elements 1Materials and part elements 2Materials and part elements 3Materials and part elements 4Laws, formulas, data in discipline ALaws, formulas, data in discipline BLaws, formulas, data in discipline CAcademic and scientific progress (accumulation of factual knowledge)Discipline ANature and entityArtifact (social value)Technological progress (accumulation of “ought” knowledge)Discipline BDiscipline CAkira Ono:Future of systems and synthesiologyI have spent all of my working time in the government and the academia. Before the meeting, I was a little bit concerned about how much common ground I could have with Mr. Kuwahara, who had worked as a member of the Council of Science and Technology Policy, and is the opinion leader of R&D in the private sector. Yet, when the roundtable discussion was finished, I saw commonality in several points with him, and I am grateful to him for our sharing this precious opportunity.I was able to reaffirm that the essence of “scenario” and “integrated and synthetic research” emphasized in Synthesiology was deeply related to systems research and systemic thought. I feel that I now see the path and issues for good collaboration among researchers of universities and public research institutes like AIST and researchers and engineers of private companies.Science was born in 17th century Europe, and reductionism has been very successful. Scientists have conducted researches using analysis as a main tool under the belief that it was important to understand to the lowest layers by breaking down and hierarchizing various phenomena. This approach has been firmly established in the time span of three hundred years, and it is still greatly effective. Yet looking at the environmental issues and the nuclear power plant accident in Fukushima, we can see that reductionism alone is insufficient in dealing with the systems and complex problems. The current science cannot respond to such social demands. Also, as a result of thorough practice of reductionism, the scientific academy has become extremely segmented, and the members have become content with studying narrowly within their own disciplines.Figure a is a comparison of processes in the analytic approach and in the synthetic one. Processes in the current science (Type 1 Basic Research) that are mainly of the analytic approach are illustrated in the upper part of the figure. In contrast, processes in the synthetic approach (Type 2 Basic Research) are shown in the lower part of the figure. The current science starts from nature and entities, where human beings are one of the entities, on the right-hand

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