Message from Conference Chair

Welcome to the website of the 1st International GIGAKU Conference in Nagaoka (IGCN). The IGCN is designed and organized to provide a cross-border, cross-sector, cross-disciplinary forum fo r those researchers, educators and industrial leaders who are creating and practicing GIGAKU in various technology domains in various countries. The 1st IGCN will be held February 3-5, 2012 on the Nagaoka University of Technology (NUT) campus, the heartland of GIGAKU.

Then what is GIGAKU? GIGAKU is a term composed of two Japanese word-roots; GI and GAKU. The word GI〔技〕literally stands for all kinds of arts and technology, and GAKU〔学〕stands for scientific disciplines in general when used as a suffix. The term was originally coined to describe the fundamental philosophy of education and research of NUT when it was established in 1976. Through this term the founders of NUT intended to express their recognition that all technical challenges in the real world require a scientific approach. And NUT has relentlessly pursued GIGAKU since then.

Thirty-five years have passed and all surrounding conditions have changed dramatically during those years. We are witnessing rapidly globalizing economies and huge scale changes in demographic, industrial and employment structures. All t hose changes seem to necessitate the further evolution of GIGAKU. In response to this, NUT recently announced its new “Growth Plan” and a renewed definition of the term is given;

GIGAKU is a science of technologies, which gives us an angle to analyze and reinterpret diverse technical processes an d objects and thus helps us to advance technologies forward. By employing a broad range of knowledge ab out science and engineering, management, safety, information technology and life sciences, GIGAKU provides us with workable solutions and induces future innovations.

Nagaoka, a birthplace of GIGAKU, is also the birthplace of the legendary tale  “One hundred sacks of rice”, which tells the story of h ow giving the highest priority to education is the everlasting spirit of the people of Nagaoka. The organizers sincerely hope that the International GIGAKU Conference organized at this special place will offer a venue where all GIGAKU practitioners – young and old, coming from different corners of the world but sharing a common dream for GIGAKU – can meet together, strengthen their ties, cross-fertilize each other’s imaginations and make further steps toward the realization of their dreams.