On 11 and 12 July, the second Kyoto University-Inamori Foundation Joint Kyoto Prize Symposium (KUIP) was held in the University's Clock Tower Centennial Hall with around 650 people -- including students, researchers, and members of the general public -- attending over the two days.
Under the umbrella theme "Technology/Genetic Science/Arts - Tracing the path of evolution, in holistic contemplation of present and future civilization", the event brought together 12 leading experts from around the world to address topics of academic and public interest through presentations that were thoughtfully crafted to make highly technical content accessible and engaging to the general audience.
The first-day session was dedicated to the theme of "State-of-the-art Electronics", and featured lectures by five prominent scholars: Dr Harry A. Atwater, Howard Hughes Professor of Applied Physics and Materials Science, California Institute of Technology; Professor Emeritus Hiroyuki Matsunami and Dr Kyoko Kitamura of Kyoto University; Professor Takahito Ono of Tohoku University; and Professor Roel Baets of Ghent University and the Interuniversity Microelectronics Centre (IMEC), Belgium.
The program for the second day was divided into morning and afternoon sessions.
In the morning session, "Frontier Studies on Human Evolution" were explored through lectures delivered by four leading biologists: Professor Svante Pääbo of the Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology; Professor Eske Willerslev of the University of Copenhagen and the University of Cambridge; Professor Gen Suwa of The University Museum, The University of Tokyo; and Professor Satoshi Hirata from Kyoto University's Wildlife Research Center.
The afternoon session was devoted to "Music in the 20th Century and the 21st Century" and featured presentations by three composers -- Professor Emeritus Jo Kondo of Ochanomizu University; Professor Masahiro Miwa of the Institute of Advanced Media Arts and Sciences; and Mr Toshio Nakagawa, Vice-President of the Japan Society for Contemporary Music, Executive Director of The Japan Federation of Composers Inc, and a Lecturer at Ochanomizu University -- followed by commentary by Hermann Gottschewski, Professor, Graduate School of Arts and Sciences, The University of Tokyo. This session also included a live musical performance.
In the Closing Session, a discussion entitled, "Wrap-up and Future Directions -- from the Viewpoint of the Symposium Theme" was chaired by KU President Juichi Yamagiwa. Responding to the President's comments and questions regarding the entire event, a multidisciplinary panel -- comprising KUIP presenters and KU faculty members involved in organizing the event -- discussed humanity's long-term prospects in the context of the ideas presented over the last two days.
Feedback comments from the audience included: "I wish I had known about this symposium last year; the live performance in the Music Session was just fantastic," "I am grateful to the speakers for making highly technical topics accessible to people like me", "It was very exciting to listen to the exchange between President Yamagiwa and the presenters in the Biological Sciences Session," "I want to thank the organizers for putting together such a wonderful event."
From left: Professors Baets, Atwater, Pääbo, and Willerslev, and Professor Emeritus Kondo
Closing Session
Live performance featured in the Music Session
Commemorative group photo
