Opening BGM. On the screen, with the iconic Eiffel Tower of Paris in the background, Hiroaki Kitano,President & CEO of Sony Computer Science Laboratories, Inc., starts to talk
Kitano
"At Sony CSL, "crazy" people bring their wildest ideas to life"
The screen changes to scenery of Paris from a boat on the Seine River and the Sony Computer Science Laboratories building. A digest video about the research conducted in its Paris Laboratory follows
The words, "Stories" and "Sony's Innovations & Challenges" appears on the screen, and then, the video title, "Wild Ideas for a Better World", Sony Computer Science Laboratories, Inc., is displayed
Kitano is talking with the scenery of the Eiffel Tower in the background
Kitano
"Sony CSL's mission is to perform research for the future of humanity. It's all about that"
The explanatory title, "Research for the Future of Humanity" appears on a white screen
Kitano
"We do all kinds of research, measured by a single benchmark.
Does it benefit people and society?"
The screen shows scenery of Tokyo, the laboratory, and researchers
Kitano
"Sony CSL started in Tokyo.
Our initial focus was computer science
But we quickly went well beyond that
People wanted to apply computer science to music and language
Paris seemed to be a good place for research like that
So we opened a lab there, too"
The screen shows the townscape of Paris, Sony CSL Paris, and the researchers
Kitano
"These days we explore two major themes
One of them is Global Agenda
This covers areas such as energy, food and poverty"
The explanatory title, "Global Agenda" appears on a white screen
The screen shows footage of Masatoshi Funabashi working on a farm
Kitano
"Masatoshi Funabashi works on what he calls synecoculture
He started as a veterinarian"
Researcher Funabashi having a discussion in the laboratory appears on the screen
Kitano
"He moved on to chaos theory and earned a doctorate
And then he joined Sony CSL to study agriculture
Normally, you cultivate one crop at a time
But he grows 20 or 30!"
Various vegetables grown by synecoculture are displayed on the screen
Kitano
"In Burkina Faso, it was even 150 different crops in a single project
He's working really hard"
On the screen, Funabashi is working on synecoculture with local people in the joint project with CARFS (Centre Africain de Recherche et de Formation en Synécoculture). The farm in Burkina Faso and its surroundings are lush with greeneries
Kitano
"He uses databases and computing
And not just in Burkina Faso, but in Japan and Taiwan, too
He's an out-of-the-box thinker who brings ideas to life"
Researcher Funabashi is talking about his research in his own room at the laboratory
The screen shows footage of a dried lake with cracks on the surface and farmland with withered plants
Funabashi
"Without food, we'd all be in trouble
Without biodiversity, ecosystems break down
We know what hardships result from that
We're using technology to combat these negative forces"
Kitano
"Peter Hanappe has his own angle"
The footage of Researcher Peter Hanappe working in his laboratory and operating a robot in the farm appears on the screen
Kitano
"He uses robots to remove weeds
and comprehensively monitor crops.
His designs are open source and he keeps developing new software
People use the software and everything keeps improving
He feeds data from around the world back into the project
He wants to transform farming in cities and the areas around them"
Researcher Peter is talking at the farm where he is working on his research
Peter
"Make some contributions to sustainable farming
I think this will have a big impact
Food is one of the basic needs of our society today
So if I can contribute to those points, I think I would be very happy"
The screen shows footage of a marche in Paris
Kitano
"This technology could really change the world
The global environment and the food we eat are changing
This project has massive potential"
The explanatory title, "Human Augmentation" appears on a white screen
Kitano
"What if we could augment what humans can do?
Creativity, perception, senses, physical ability
We're studying how to make that a reality"
The Deputy Director Junichi Rekimoto appears on the screen. He is working on his research to augment human abilities with various devices
Kitano
"Jun Rekimoto's field is IoA, the Internet of Abilities
He's exploring human augmentation
He uses sensors, AI and various computer science technologies
His vision is to link all these elements using digital networks"
Rekimoto talks about his own research in front of a blackboard with diagrams and formulas
Rekimoto
"Technology can change the rules shaping our society
We will be able to share what we see and sense with other people"
Footage of Ken Endo, a researcher at CSL Tokyo appears on the screen
Kitano
"Ken Endo is another researcher
He started off studying bipedal humanoid robots
He had a friend who lost a leg because of a medical condition
He was shocked to realize that his research could do nothing to help
Prosthetic legs became his new focus"
Footage of Researcher Endo holding his prototype prosthetic leg in his laboratory appears on the screen. Then, the screen shows Athletes who is actually wearing his prosthetic leg and competing in a race in the town of Shibuya to be the fastest runner in the world
Kitano
"He's working on various types of prosthetics
He has a great symbolic goal
He is making prosthetic legs for athletes
He believes the athletes using them could one day break world records of non-disabled people
That's quite an original way of looking at things"
Researcher Endo appears on the screen and talks about his own research in the laboratory
Endo
"People's aims and motivations are extremely diverse
My vision is of a society where we each pursue our own happiness"
The scene switches to Kitano talking at Paris CSL
Kitano
"One key focus of human augmentation is creativity"
The explanatory title, "Creativity" appears on a white screen
Kitano
"Creativity gets a lot of lip service, but what does it really mean?
What makes people creative, and how might technology boost it?
This is another big research theme"
Vittorio Loreto, the Director of Sony Computer Laboratories, Paris, appears on the screen and talks about his research looking at a monitor
Kitano
"Creativity doesn't come from nothing
It builds on prior experience and knowledge
People come up with entirely new ways of combining things
Vittorio Loreto takes a mathematical approach
His formulae help to systematize creativity"
Vittorio talks about creativity
Vittorio
"Creativity is being new, but on the other hand, being useful"
On the screen, footage appears of Researcher Shinichi Furuya who is playing the piano with an experimental device on his hands
Again, the screen shows Kitano talking in a room with scenery of the Eiffel Tower in the background
Kitano
"Shinichi Furuya is a concert pianist
He's combining music and neuroscience
He studies neural transmission and physical motion in great detail
An exoskeleton captures the movement of the virtuoso's fingertips
A learner using this device would sense that difference and improve"
Researcher Furuya appears on the screen and talks about his own research besides the piano at the laboratory
Furuya
"I want a world overflowing with beautiful music
I hear music in my mind, but I can't express it
Science has the power to help me do that
It will bring all kinds of new music into the world"
Kitano
"We've looked at Global Agenda and Human Augmentation
Challenges of this kind are extremely complex
That's why our motto is: "Act Beyond Borders"
Footage of researchers talking with each other in the laboratory at Tokyo appears on the screen
Kitano
"It's not about having lots of money or people
A single person can change the world for the better
A digest video of the studies conducted by the researchers in Sony Computer Science Laboratories including pianos, prosthetic legs, and farms appears on the screen
Kitano
"Identify a world-changing idea,
and people will gravitate to you
That's how you start to change things"
The explanatory title, "A catalyst for positive change" appears on a white screen
Kitano
"Sony CSL's job is to support change for the better"
Movie ends with Sony's logo
