April 2018 to March 2019

Hajime Yamada (General Manager, Accessibility Study Group; Professor Emeritus, Toyo University）
Takashi Kawazoe (President, Carepro, Inc.)
Naoki Sakakibara (Associate Professor, Faculty of Human Studies, Seisen Jogakuin College)
Chika Sekine (Chairperson and Senior Fellow, UDIT Inc.)
Isamu Hirao (President, Regional manegement Platinum lnstitute)
Keiko FUJIKATA (NPO Shonan Fujisawa Senior Network)
Naomi YATOMI (Cooperating Fellow, General Aging Society Research Organization, University of Tokyo; Representative Director, SLF Second Life Factory)
Kazuko Yuma (Chief Fellow, Institute for International Socio-Economic Studies)

   The Future Investment Strategy 2018 policy document sets forth the goal of fully implementing “Society 5.0’’by embracing technological innovations of the fourth industrial revolution such as IoT, big data, AI, and robots, and focuses in particular on the construction of a next-generation healthcare system. With the prospect of life expectancy reaching 100 years, progress is being made in the construction of new healthcare/medical/nursing systems for individuals and patients by actively introducing and making full use of data and technical innovations such as ICT. We aim to realize a dynamic society where even elderly people can enjoy a healthy lifestyle, and a society where it is possible for people to enjoy a better quality of life (QOL) with more social activity. The key to improving QOL is to make use of healthcare data, and in this regard, cutting-edge technologies such as AI and new technologies such as big data analysis will make a significant contribution.

   In this research, we used a study group format to perform advanced case studies on the use of AI and big data in the fields of health, medical care, and nursing care, and on policy trends in related ministries and agencies. In Japan, studies of swallowing by the elderly are being conducted in Handa city, Yokosuka city, and Fujita Health University, while Aichi Medical University’s Interdisciplinary Pain Center is working with businesses such as AEON on efforts to prevent lifestyle-related illnesses by initiatives such as PREVENT and Mall Walking. We also introduce the NPO “Rinrin” initiative that responds to the needs of local people. Overseas, as part of our proactive approach to end-of-life care, we conducted an on-site survey in the UK, which is improving the quality of death (QOD) by introducing an ICT-based information sharing system called EPaCCS. We also summarized our recommendations on how such initiatives can be used to improve the quality of life in Japan’s aging society.

   On April 23, 2019, we held a symposium on improving QOL and QOD through the use of ICT in the healthcare field, which was related to this research.