Current research

We define "inclusive sustainability" as sustainability achieved through an inclusive harmony between the autonomy of the global environment and the autonomy of the economic and social systems that make up that environment. To achieve inclusive sustainability, we aim to assess the impact of policies on the basis of an understanding of the complex interactions between the environment, the economy, and society ^[1].

The global environment and people's economic activities have each been modeled by using past and present data obtained through years of observation, and simulation technology for predicting the future from the present has been developed.
However, various regions are intricately connected, so it is difficult to predict precisely the actual relationship between the global environment and people's economic activities by simulating a single region only.
The field of industrial production faces a similar difficulty, and people in that field are attempting to overcome that difficulty by coupling several single-domain simulation technologies in the form of a "system of systems" (SoS). However, when a SoS targets the global environment and people's economic activities, it is necessary to overcome many issues related to the coupling of simulators as well as handle the enormous amount of computation involved. Consequently, a SoS has not yet been put to practical use for such a simulation.
We are thus developing technology that is essential for connecting disparate simulators.

For technical details, please see the following references.
Coupled simulation technology (Japanese)
Coupling of models of circulatory systems (Japanese)

[1] NTT announces new R&D projects of Digital Twin Computing - Four grand challenges towards a new future world creating harmonized relationship between the Earth, society, and people - , NTT News Release November 13, 2020