Designing a More Comfortable Society through the Functionality of Living Organisms and Food

Learning in the Department of Agricultural Innovation for Sustainability is all about thinking of better social systems through the knowledge of agriculture. It is a completely new academic field that attempts to solve social problems and environmental/energy problems by applying the broad knowledge cultivated in the agricultural and livestock sciences.

In particular, the department focuses on the outstanding functionality latent in living organisms and food. For instance, it is carrying out research into development of a product that imitates the color-producing mechanism of jewel beetles (photo on right) and the development of cosmetics that make use of the function of silk in cutting ultraviolet light. Its R&D themes are wide-ranging, including the development of new processing techniques for agricultural and livestock products and research into new indices for food safety evaluation. In this way, the use of agricultural functions in manufacturing is the research of the field of agricultural innovation.

In contrast, the field of agricultural for sustainability uses agricultural knowledge to address problems in everyday life. Research carried out in this field looks into such things as welfare systems that teach senior citizens to raise silkworms to support their independence and the building of sustainable cultivation systems for crops that are a raw material for bioethanol.

A panoramic view of agricultural knowledge and a perspective that detects the intersections with society are required in both fields.

For that reason, research is to be conducted in close cooperation not only with other departments, but also with companies and government.

Laboratories