Report] The 4th ICETT Environmental Seminar "Promotion of Resource Recycling through Industry-Government-Academia Collaboration: Promoting Cooperation of Arterial and Vegetation Industries throughout the Life Cycle

Summary

The International Center for Environmental Technology Transfer (ICETT) held the 4th ICETT Environmental Seminar "Promotion of Resource Recycling through Industry-Government-Academia Collaboration" on Wednesday, August 30, 2023.

This seminar focused on the theme of "Linkage of Arterial and Vital Industries throughout the Life Cycle," which is an important part of the "Growth-Oriented Resource Autonomous Economy Strategy" that was compiled in March of this year as a direction for future efforts in the circular economy. The presentation included an overview of the strategy and its future prospects.

Contents

The Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry (METI) provided information on the importance of the transition to a circular economy, policy directions regarding "resource autonomy" and "resource recycling," and future actions based on the strategy in its "Growth-Oriented Resource Autonomous Economy Strategy.

In his keynote speech, Professor Umeda of the University of Tokyo, one of the committee members involved in the formulation of this strategy, introduced the importance of "life cycle design" and the use of DX and circular providers necessary to realize a circular economy from the perspective of his specialty in eco-design, using examples.

The corporate case studies focused in particular on the information distribution platform by the arterial industry and its efforts to build a resource-recycling supply chain, and specifically examined the transition to a circular economy and the realization of carbon neutrality.

results

The seminar was distributed online as well as on-site, and 349 people (excluding lecturers and secretariat) from a wide range of fields, including government, companies, and research institutions, mainly from Mie, Aichi, and Gifu prefectures, participated in the seminar.

In the questionnaire, we received many favorable comments on both content and operation, with 5 being the highest rating out of 5 for both satisfaction and usefulness, and when 4 was added, approximately 90% of the respondents gave a high rating.

We would like to take this opportunity to thank all the lecturers, participants, and related organizations for their support and cooperation.

Speaker and Title

The program outline was as follows

Speaker Name	Affiliation / Position	subject of a lecture
Mr. Yasuhiro Yoshikawa	Assistant Director, Resource Recycling Economy Division, Industrial Science and Technology Policy and Environment Bureau, Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry	Policy Introduction: "Growth-Oriented Resource Autonomous Economy Strategy
Mr. Yasushi Umeda	Professor, Artificial Engineering Research Center, Graduate School of Engineering, The University of Tokyo	Keynote Speech: Challenges and Prospects for Transition to a Circular Economy
Mr. Takayuki Nagai	Project Manager, Project Area AD-7. (Circular Economy Promotion Project), Advanced Technology Development Company, Toyota Motor Corporation	Corporate Case Study: Efforts toward a Circular Economy at Toyota Motor Corporation
Mr. Ryuji Hamano	Chief Staff, DX Planning & Management Department, DX Promotion Division, Mitsui Chemicals, Inc.	Corporate Case Study: The Future of Plastics Changed by the Establishment of a Resource Recycling Platform

Seminar Scenery

Mr. Yoshikawa, Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry	Dr. Umeda, The University of Tokyo
Mr. Nagai, Toyota Motor Corporation	Mr. Hamano, Mitsui Chemicals, Inc.