The Canon Foundation held its 2018 reunion for funded researchers at Otemachi 1st Square Conference in Tokyo's Chiyoda Ward on Friday, December 7.

The Canon Foundation, established in 2008, celebrated its tenth anniversary this year. Over these ten years, the Foundation has developed a community of researchers playing active roles across a variety of disciplines while funding a total of 344 researchers and co-researchers. Following on from the success of the first-ever reunion last year, this second reunion was intended as a venue for researchers in different research fields to exchange views and to take advantage of this community in a meaningful manner.

The reunion was attended by 78 people, including members of the screening committee, researchers from funded organizations, and others involved in the Canon Foundation. The chairman, Hiroyuki Yoshikawa, gave an opening address, which looked back at the past ten years as well as spelled out his expectations for researchers looking forward. "You must become a self-reliant researcher to produce true accomplishments in the world of science. Be sensitive to and take an intellectual curiosity in the future of the world and of humankind. With that in mind, I want you to consider how your specialty can be put to use." The chairman added: "People from many different backgrounds will engage in substantial and purposeful discussions at this reunion, so I expect today to be a productive and rewarding day."

The chairman was followed by Professor Mario Tokoro, a member of the screening committee, who gave a talk on "What is research?"
In the first part of his talk, Professor Tokoro spoke about how basic research is tied to business and what the essence of technology management is, mixing in his own experiences at Sony Computer Science Laboratories, Inc. In the second part, he posed the question: "What should future research aim for?" His fervent answer was: "If we fail to pursue new areas where no one so far has ventured, then the roots of Japan's long-term research will dwindle. So I urge you to pursue unique, singular research that no one else is doing."

During the subsequent question-and-answer session and exchange of opinions, many topics were raised and addressed and an active discussion ensued.

The reunion next changed venues for a poster session entitled "intellectual exchanges and collaborations". The poster session was a new program introduced this year to create more opportunities for communication among researchers. Sixteen funded researchers gave presentations on their research themes. Throughout the venue researchers from different disciplines could be seen engaged in ardent discussions, which spilled over to the following social gathering. All told, the reunion was a rousing success in the limited time available.