Sustainable Creativity Lab (SCL) conducts research activities based on SOLIZE’s long-term vision.
As various issues facing the global environment and human society become increasingly apparent, and as
people’s values begin to undergo major changes, what role should manufacturing play?
We are exploring forms of manufacturing that will create value for the future.
What We Strive For
Toward Truly Sophisticated Manufacturing
SCL pursues new approaches to manufacturing for a sustainable society through the concept of Toward Truly Sophisticated Manufacturing.
What we seek is the inherent beauty found both in the object itself and in the circular, harmonious relationships it forms
with its surroundings. By shining a light on the social and ethical value of manufacturing, we explore the form it should take.
Focus Areas
Manufacturing Rooted in Local Environments
As a practical initiative, we are researching manufacturing methodologies centered on local circular production.
In recent years, as climate change, income inequality, and social divisions have become more pronounced, there has
been a growing need for a society built on decentralized self-reliance and coexistence with nature.
Guided by the idea of inherent beauty, we are exploring how products currently made industrially could instead be
produced locally and in decentralized ways, and how such approaches can create value that has never existed before.
Short-Cycle Resource Circulation
The need for resource circulation is increasing from the perspectives of environmental impact and economic security. However, rather than relying only on recycling that reduces products back to raw materials, we believe it is important to expand short-cycle forms of circulation, such as reuse and repair. We aim to realize manufacturing through familiar, local forms of circulation that make use of component reuse and repair, as well as biological resources such as wood and bamboo.
The Optimal Balance Between
Centralized and Decentralized Production
It is also important to continue benefiting from the productivity and efficiency cultivated by conventional mechanical engineering and industrial technology. We believe that a well-balanced combination of centralized factory production and decentralized local assembly and repair can help both reduce environmental impact and support a richer way of life.
Convivial Manufacturing
We believe people should be able to live together joyfully, without being restricted or controlled, and aim for manufacturing rooted in this conviviality. People create things for others, or as an expression of their creativity and curiosity. We want to cherish this essential value of creation.
Projects
N Design (Use of Biological Resources)
We are exploring new possibilities for manufacturing with locally available natural materials, such as wood and bamboo. By using digital technologies and 3D printers, we hope to develop new designs and broaden participation in manufacturing.
V Design (Use of General-Purpose Components)
One way of thinking is that users do not want the product itself, but the function it provides. If that is the case, we believe that efficient resource use can be achieved by minimizing specially designed parts and instead combining general-purpose
components that can provide a wide range of functions. We are developing design and manufacturing methods that incorporate reused general-purpose components, making it possible to provide a variety of products.
Plastic Circulation Using 3D Printers
Plastics come in many types and serve a wide range of purposes, and there is a growing social need to reuse them rather than throw them away. By leveraging SOLIZE’s accumulated expertise in 3D printer utilization, we are developing methods for the circular use of plastics and applications for recycled plastics.
Insights into Future Society
We gather extensive information on forecasts related to demographics, climate change, social conditions, and technological development, while also studying social systems theory to deepen our understanding of how society may evolve. We also examine visions for the future of society and the forms manufacturing should take.
University Partnerships
Waseda University
School of Creative Science and Engineering
Department of Industrial and Management Systems Engineering
Through instruction from Professor Shinichi Fukushige of Waseda University, our engineers are enhancing their skills in life cycle engineering and environmentally conscious design. We are also conducting joint research to verify the effectiveness of local circular manufacturing using life cycle simulation.
Musashino Art University
College of Art and Design
Department of Scenography, Display and Fashion Design
We give presentations in seminars taught by Professor Yasuhiro Suzuki of Musashino Art University and support fabrication using 3D printers.
In addition to giving students opportunities to learn digital manufacturing technologies, we gain insights into the future of manufacturing through collaboration with Professor Suzuki and his students as they discover new meaning in everyday objects and experiences.
Affiliated Organizations
SCL is a member of the following organizations and promotes industry-government-academia collaboration toward the formation of a circular society.
- Waseda University Circular Value Chain Consortium
- Japan Society for Precision Engineering, Technical Committee on Life Cycle Engineering
- Keio Research Institute at SFC, Co-Creative Consortium toward Digital-Driven Leaped Circular Society