The 1st Kyoto University–Inamori Foundation Joint Kyoto Prize Symposium (KUIP) was collaboratively held by Kyoto University and the Inamori Foundation at the Kyoto University Clock Tower Centennial Hall on July 12–13, 2014.

Focusing on fields covered by The Kyoto Prize, a prestigious international award presented by the Inamori Foundation, the KUIP Symposium seeks to bring together scholars, researchers, and artists engaged in noteworthy or cutting-edge work in their respective fields. In addition to providing a platform for leading experts to showcase the latest developments in their work to colleagues in different fields as well as to the general public, the symposium also aims to provide opportunities for new encounters among a diverse range of scholars and artists, promoting mutual inspiration and innovation.

The symposium featured twenty presenters, representing the vanguard of a diverse range of fields and specializations, and was attended by around 700 people, including members of the general public, as well as students and scholars. The title of symposium was “The Front Lines of Human Wisdom: The Resonance of Life Sciences, Information Science, and Thought and Ethics.”

Beginning with welcome speeches by Dr. Hiroshi Matsumoto, president of Kyoto University, and Dr. Kazuo Inamori, president of the Inamori Foundation, the first day of the two-day symposium drew an audience of approximately 450 people and featured inspiring presentations by nine world-leading experts. The second day featured three parallel workshops, one for each of the symposium’s three fields of focus. The sessions, comprised presentations by twenty world-leading experts in their fields, as well as lively discussion sessions (see below for details of each session).

The symposium was brought to a close by Prof. Ronald M. Evans of the Salk Institute for Biological Studies, Prof. Hitoshi Arima of Yokohama City University, who served as an interpreter in the thought and ethics sessions, and Prof. Toru Ishida of the Graduate School of Informatics of Kyoto University, who was program chair for the information science sessions. Each of the three speakers reported the achievements of their respective session, and the first KUIP Symposium was brought to a successful conclusion.

Comments from audience members:
“I enjoyed the presentations very much, even though the topics covered were outside of my field of specialization.”
“I was at a loss for which session to choose, since they all looked interesting.”
“I sincerely hope that this wonderful symposium will be continued.”
“I was so excited to see presentations delivered by world-class experts in their fields. The presentations were excellent.”

Speakers

Day 1 (Saturday, July 12): Public Symposium

“Frontier of Life Sciences” Life Sciences Field
● Dr. Masatoshi Takeichi
　 Director, RIKEN Center for Developmental Biology
● Prof. Ronald M. Evans
　 Salk Institute for Biological Studies
● Prof. Robert A. Weinberg
　 Whitehead Institute for Biomedical Research/Department of Biology, MIT

“Frontier of Thought” Thought and Ethics Field
● Dr. Augustin Berque
　 former director of studies, Ecole des hautes études en sciences sociales
● Dr. Bin Kimura
　 Professor Emeritus, Kyoto University
● Prof. Alastair V. Campbell
　 Director, Centre for Biomedical Ethics, National University of Singapore

“Deep Learning and Wearable Computing: Exploring their Connections”
Information Science Field
● Prof. Alex “Sandy” Pentland
　 Media Lab, MIT
● Prof. Takeo Kanade
　 Robotics Institute, Carnegie Mellon University
● Dr. Yann LeCun
　 Director, Facebook AI Research/Professor, New York University

Day 2 (Sunday, July 13): Parallel Workshops

Life Sciences Field
“Unveiling the Mechanisms Underlying Health Maintenance and Disease Prevention, from Molecular Levels to Organisms”
● Prof. Shigekazu Nagata
　 Graduate School of Medicine of Kyoto University
● Prof. Kayo Inaba
　 Vice-President, Kyoto University
● Prof. Shizuo Akira
　 Osaka University
● Prof. Ronald M. Evans
　 Salk Institute for Biological Studies

“Brain, Development, Cancer, and Systems Biology: Perspectives from Four Sages of Life Science”
● Prof. Yasushi Miyashita
　 The University of Tokyo
● Prof. Toshio Yanagida
　 Osaka University
● Dr. Masatoshi Takeichi
　 Director, RIKEN Center for Developmental Biology
● Prof. Robert A. Weinberg
　 Whitehead Institute for Biomedical Research/Department of Biology, MIT

Thought and Ethics Field
“The Future of Bioethics in Asia and Beyond”
● Prof. Alastair V. Campbell
　 Director, Centre for Biomedical Ethics, National University of Singapore
● Dr. Hisatake Kato
　 Professor Emeritus, Kyoto University
● Professor Tetsuro Shimizu
　 The University of Tokyo

“Contemporary Significance and Potentiality of the Kyoto School: In the Light of Life, Environment and Science”
● Dr. Bin Kimura
　 Professor Emeritus, Kyoto University
● Dr. Augustin Berque
　 Former Director of Studies, Ecole des hautes études en sciences sociales
● Dr. Michio Kobayashi
　 Professor Emeritus, Kyoto University

Information Science Field
“Deep Learning Changes Pattern Understanding”
● Dr. Yann LeCun
　 Director, Facebook AI Research/Professor, New York University
● Prof. Tatsuya Kawahara
　 Academic Center for Computing and Media Studies, Kyoto University
● Prof. Tatsuya Harada
　 The University of Tokyo

“Co-evolution Starts with Humans and Machines”
● Prof. Takeo Kanade
　 Robotics Institute, Carnegie Mellon University
● Prof. Hiroshi Ishiguro
　 Osaka University
● Prof. Alex “Sandy” Pentland
　 Media Lab, MIT