Sustainable Energy & Environmental Society Open Innovation Research OrganizationWaseda University

To succeed in the extremely difficult challenge of achieving a society that enables carbon neutrality along with sustainable growth, it is essential to go beyond the conventional framework and take a holistic approach across science and technology as well as multiple disciplines related to the environment and energy, including the energy field, environmental studies, and human sciences, in addition to economics, and policy.

Accordingly, SEES enables wide ranging energy analysis by employing global energy simulations, which enable energy analysis from the micro to the macro level developed by the Organization for University Research Initiatives.In addition to such energy analysis, we will continue to evolve into a common analysis platform capable of analyzing resource recycling, energy management, IoT technology, human sciences including experience and behavior, and even legal and economic impacts.Utilizing this common analysis platform, SEES will bring together the personnel to combine science and engineering, combine humanities and sciences, and combine industry, academia, and government in an open forum; create new value through the co-creation of a future society in which environmental and energy problems are solved sustainably through backcasting; and advance the necessary research and development and the formulation of the evaluation methods to lead to the right society of the future.

Specifically, SEES is addressing social integration of effective heat use, renewable energy, innovative decarbonization technologies, the decarbonized circular economy, decarbonized food distribution and cold chain, resilient living spaces, etc., and developing analyses to achieve global optimization capable of solving environmental and energy problems, while also achieving their social integration.

In order to realize this future society as soon as possible, we will also advance regional and international partnerships because activities conducted solely within the university would limit their scope.This will not only create a strong center in Japan, but also an international center, and will lead to the development of personnel in Japan and abroad, thereby contributing to the realization of a decarbonized society.

In addition, SEES will also advance the formulation of evaluation and analysis techniques for newly created technologies.Essential for new technologies is a sense of urgency in the creation of standards and specifications, and even in standardization.One of the functions of SEES is therefore to set up the Environmental Energy Technology Comprehensive Evaluation Center, aiming to contribute to standardization, in addition to specific product evaluation and performance analysis using a common analysis platform, and developing evaluation as a business, in cooperation with venture companies.

One of Waseda University’s founding principles is “the practical application of scholarship,” thus, through the co-creation of the environmental energy society of the future, the University will continue to contribute to solving environmental energy problems, from fundamental research through to actual social integration, while also advancing the formulation of evaluation methods.