Goals of the Knowledge Cluster Initiative
Towards the Creation of a Cluster Based on Advanced Preventative Techniques for Community Health
R&D Perspectives and Examples of Service Models
The prevention area that the Greater Sendai region will take up has more of a social service aspect to it than just "creating things." As a result, it goes beyond simply research and development based on enhancing specific technology to require the development of a multi-faceted service model that provides blanket coverage. This includes the choices and arrangements of technology needed to fill social needs, the services provided through this technology, and the people who operate it.
Up until now, in the Greater Sendai region there has been research and development within universities and, as will be noted later, a variety of different activities carried out by industrial support organizations. We are aware that combining these and releasing them as a series of services is an issue for the future, but we hope to work for the establishment of a service model with themes regarding how to approach this issue such as shown below.
(1)Exercise Habit Formation Support Service
While being aware of the motivations of the person accepting the service, we shall provide exercise guidance in relation to the individual likes and situation, and offer information on appropriate exercise service resources.
To personalize guidance, since we need to start off with an understanding of the individual details of the service recipient, we shall develop the necessary sensors and devices, and the network security technology needed for information transmission. And by standardizing the results of participating in sports and exercise using these devices in data formats, we will be able to gain "visibility" of the effects that exercise has on the body and improve motivation (the activity changes of the service recipient) through increasing their understanding of the effects of exercise.
Furthermore, as a tool to encourage activity changes for the service recipient, we will construct a service system to support the formation of the exercise habits that suggest regional exercise resources and services to fit individual tastes and accept exercise guidance appropriate for each person's situation. We shall provide a unified, linked service that combines an increase in the understanding of the effects of exercise and personalized guidance.
(2)Program to Improve Overall Mental Health
The above is largely a physical approach, but we will also provide a unified service based on an overall approach towards the prevention of various illnesses and their treatment and recovery, starting with depression, which is a serious social problem.
Specifically, we shall establish three methods of measuring the situation: amount of sleep, posture (measuring levels and characteristics of posture control functions from the center of balance), and sense integration (measuring brain functions from responses to touch or other stimuli). Through combining these, we will clarify the mental self control and mental health status characteristics of each person. We will also develop a training program centered on the self control of normal actions like breathing, provide appropriate feedback based on our measurements, and aim to create a service that will simultaneously boost mental health and improve the body's resistance. We will develop this not just for the target individuals, but with an eye to its functions as an assessment tool for organizations.