Science Agora 2023, a two-day symposium designed to bridge science and society, is scheduled for November 18 and 19.
Event overview
- Date and time: November 18 and 19, from 10:00 am to 7:00 pm
- Venue: Telecom Center Building (Google Maps)
- Closest train station: Telecom Center Station on the Yurikamome Line (the station next to Daiba Station)
- Booth location: Fourth floor (Booth 406)
- Admission: Free
- How to attend: Visit this webpage to register for the event in advance.
- Note: Attendees may also register at the venue on the day of the event, but to prevent congestion, we ask you to please register for the event in advance.
For this year’s event, the members of “Value Exchange Engineering,” a comprehensive partner project of Mercari R4D and the University of Tokyo, will come together to host their exhibition titled, “Try It Out! Adventures in Discovering New Value.” The booth will feature a variety of exhibits that allow attendees to come in contact with research into what value exchange will look like in the future.
In this article, we’ll share an overview of Science Agora and outline the exhibits at our booth. We’ll also show you some of the great items you can expect to take home after a visit to the booth.
What is Value Exchange Engineering?
Value Exchange Engineering is a comprehensive partnership project established in 2020 between Mercari and the University of Tokyo Research Institute for an Inclusive Society through Engineering (RIISE).
Committed to being unconstrained by conventional academic frameworks, the project conducts research on a wide range of technologies related to value exchange and aims to create a society in which people all around the world can smoothly and fairly exchange value.
*See details on Value Exchange Engineering
What is Science Agora?
Science Agora is the name of a program to bring society together with science in order to unveil research and discoveries to an array of people. (Source)
Held every year since 2006, last year’s event featured over 120 projects and drew a crowd of over 3,000 people for what was reportedly an excitement-filled event. (Photographs of Science Agora 2022)
Science Agora 2023 will bring together some 150 projects (this includes the number of projects registered as online participants as of October 2023) in academic fields ranging from the natural sciences to the humanities and social sciences. From children to adults, the event offers everyone a chance to interact with concepts for a future society introduced from a range of perspectives.
*Science Agora 2023 website (available only in Japanese)
The five research projects you’ll experience at the Value Exchange Engineering booth
Mercari R4D is currently working with Value Exchange Engineering on approximately 40 research topics. The Value Exchange Engineering booth for Science Agora 2023 will give visitors a chance to experience five of these projects through workshops and demonstrations and to talk with researchers to gain a deeper understanding of their work.
(1) A future of texting straight from the heart
Aiming to develop texting technology that allows people to “speak from the heart,” this research is looking at ways to generate text bubbles and fonts to express and present people’s feelings in text form. As a prototype of what texting could look like in the future, the booth will allow visitors to witness a technology that generates text bubbles in real time whose appearance is based on the emotion in the sender’s voice, which researchers have dubbed “the voice of the heart.”
*Reference video: EmoBalloon - Conveying Emotional Arousal in Text Chats with Speech Balloons
(2) Reuse: A second chance for sustainability
Featured in Mercari’s annual Impact Report, the findings of research partner Dr. Moon Dami, which look at the activities and results of ESG initiatives, will also be showcased at this year’s booth.
Visitors to the booth will have the chance to experience the “New vs. Old Box,” a simulation based on research examining contributions to avoiding greenhouse gasses (GHGs) through extending the use life of secondhand items. The simulation illustrates how choosing to buy secondhand clothing over new clothing contributes to avoiding GHGs. Join us to discuss the spread of sustainable consumption styles made possible by the reuse of items.
*Image source: Mercari and The University of Tokyo Calculate the Contribution of Mercari Transactions to Avoid Greenhouse Gasses
(3) Declutter AR
This research project uses augmented reality (AR) to help tackle hoarding behavior. Visitors to the booth will have the chance to try a feature that uses AR to simulate how a space filled with physical objects looks when it goes from cluttered to tidy.
*See details on Declutter AR here
(4) Poimo
Poimo is the name of Mercari R4D’s research into a new kind of electric-powered mobility solution with an inflatable structure (balloon-like structure that inflates using air pressure).
*Note that the booth will exhibit Poimo, but the device will not be available to test drive.
(5) Inkjet 4D Print
Our inkjet 4D print research has developed a method of creating automatically folding origami objects with over 100,000 folds and tens of thousands of folded surfaces. Simply heating a sheet onto which the fold lines are printed allows it to change shape. At the booth, visitors will get to experience a technology that creates three-dimensional objects almost instantly.
*Image source: Inkjet 4D Print: Self-folding Tessellated Origami Objects by Inkjet UV Printing (SIGGRAPH’23)
Free tote bags and picture books! Come to experience the booth exhibits and to imagine the value exchange of the future!
After making the rounds at each of the booth’s exhibits, take a minute to post on the message board posted at the booth exit.
In a future of value exchange, what sort of people would you like to exchange value with? What sort of value?
What exchange methods do you think will be available?
What sort of future do you think will materialize due to the development of value exchange?
For example, regardless of the distances between countries, perhaps musicians will exchange musical instruments and perform together. It might even become possible to exchange feelings of joy when your favorite athlete wins. Will it also become possible to bridge the distances between us and other planets to exchange air samples with beings living on other worlds?
Use one of our message boards to write and share the value exchange of the future that you now envision after having visited our booth.
Finally, visitors who post a picture of their message board on their social media account with the hashtag #未来の価値交換 (#ValueExchangeOfTheFuture) will receive a Value Exchange Engineering tote bag and a picture book titled, “What You Don’t Need Might Make Someone Else Happy.” We look forward to seeing you at the Value Exchange Engineering booth.
