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The "Gundam Universal Century Forum" was held to explore further possibilities for space business.
With the "real Universal Century" of human activity in space now approaching, the "Gundam Universal Century Forum" event was held on Saturday, September 17th to present the future possibilities of space business. The event took place at "GUNDAM FACTORY YOKOHAMA," the facility where a 18-meter-tall, life-sized "moving Gundam" is on display.
At the forum, astronaut Naoko Yamazaki, Toshihiro Katayama (Dentsu Inc.) of Spaceport Japan, and Keisuke Ishii, Technical Director at GGC who worked on the "moving Gundam," held a panel discussion on "How Can Human Imagination Be Realized?"
The panel discussion addressed the importance of shared imagination (vision) regarding "Gundam" and "space" now that the "Universal Century" is practically within reach, along with its potential for expansion into industries and education.
In an era when Earth orbit itself was unattainable, they decided "humans will stand on the moon in 10 years." On Earth, with its gravity, they decided "we will build a full-scale, 18-meter-tall, moving Gundam." The three speakers emphasized that what space development and this "Gundam Project" share is "first having a grand vision that might seem absurdly unrealistic. Then, diverse professionals gathered under that vision, pooling their wisdom and technology to make it a reality."
Both the space industry and the Gundam Project have spawned spin-offs across various industries and educational fields from their technologies and experiences. "In the future, space will expand further into design and entertainment fields. The day may even come when an 18-meter-tall Gundam stands in space," the discussion expanded into even greater dreams.
Striving to realize a resilient vision (dream) creates new realities, and from those realities, new visions emerge. They emphasized that this virtuous cycle is crucial for generating continuous innovation.
"Unlike the past when dreams were distant, the gap between dreams and reality is narrowing now. That's precisely why creating new dreams and new visions is also an important mission for researchers," said Mr. Ishii. "It's also vital that the vision is shared by everyone and that we can build it together. Space is an excellent 'venue' for people to gather and turn visions into reality. As technology catches up, it's becoming easier to envision new possibilities," added Mr. Yamazaki.
"The Gundam Project is a perfect example of open innovation becoming reality. Once Japan gets its own spaceport, companies and people from regions previously unconnected to space will increasingly get involved. I hope everyone here today will take ownership and actively engage," concluded Mr. Katayama, bringing the discussion to a close.
In addition to the panel discussion, the event featured two keynote speeches. Keynote Speech 1, titled "Vision and Execution in the Space Industry," saw Mr. Yamazaki recount humanity's journey of expanding activities into space, drawing on his own experiences of actually going into space. He described how space travel was mere fantasy 150 years ago, yet by 2021, private astronauts outnumbered those from space agencies, and plans for private space stations had begun. His talk, detailing how numerous countries, companies, and individuals are involved, generating many concepts and moving toward realization, truly gave a sense that the space age is upon us.
In Keynote Speech ②, Mr. Katayama discussed "How Has the Space Industry Realized Its Visions? ~ Past, Present, and Future ~". Tracing the path of space industry realization from past to future, he spoke about the development brought by connecting space with non-space industries, and the potential for space research to contribute to solving Earth's problems. He concluded by stating, "The 20th century was the global generation; the 21st century is the universal generation." Just as people can now freely travel between countries, he suggested that the barrier between space and Earth will soon disappear, enabling the free movement of both people and business in the near future.
Video of the "Gundam Universal Century Forum" is available here
■Panel Discussion: "How Will Human Imagination Become Reality?" (Naoko Yamazaki, Toshihiro Katayama, GGC Technical Director Keisuke Ishii)
https://youtu.be/syBurk4RMGo
■Keynote Speech ① "Vision and Execution in the Space Industry" (Astronaut Naoko Yamazaki)
https://youtu.be/qHmNVuvgM9k
(Available: October 1 (Sat) 19:00 - October 8 (Sat) 24:00)
■Keynote Speech 2: "How Has the Space Industry Realized Its Visions? ~ Past, Present, and Future ~" (Mr. Toshihiro Katayama, Spaceport Japan)
https://youtu.be/WX3xl1bGjy4
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