“New Year Seminar sponsored by Kyoto Information Industry Association”
On Friday, January 20, 2023, The Kyoto College of Graduate Studies for Informatics held a New Year's Seminar in cooperation with the Kyoto Prefecture Information Industry Association. Takumi Kawabushi, Representative Director of the Next Generation Robot Engineer Support Organization (commonly known as Scramble). gave a lecture titled “Creating a training program for next generation engineers from Kyoto towards a society of 100 million engineers.'' As COVID appears to be on the rise again, this event was held online similar to last year.
Representative Director Kawabushi pointed out that for Japan, which aims to become a science and technology-based nation, it is essential for citizens to have an understanding of engineering, in order to demonstrate its competitiveness in the international community in the future. Programming education has already become compulsory in elementary schools, and that that era is just around the corner. The Next Generation Robot Engineers Support Organization focuses on robots that can have a broad understanding about mechanics, electricity, and information, and explains that it is developing a training program that allows children and adults to learn engineering through the development of robots. For Japan, which is 20 to 30 years behind other countries, the only way to continue to be a science and technology-based nation is to invest in education. He emphasized that it is essential to create a place where everyone can learn as a community where the private sector works together to develop local engineers utilizing robot competitions. He then talked about the following three points that the organization is working on, using case studies.
- Cultivating student engineers who will become top players
- Creating an advanced engineering education based in the region
- Elevation from robot council to educational program