On September 8^th, 2023, a Japanese delegation from the Earth Disaster Intelligent System & Operational Network (EDiSON) initiative conducted a strategic visit to CIMNE. It was promoted by the Government of Catalonia, and particularly, by Ms. Mònica Castellà, from the Delegation of Catalan Government in Japan. This meeting is part of the active search for more intensive scientific-technological international collaborations to accelerate the development of holistic solutions for the management and mitigation of natural disasters, which are experiencing unprecedented growth in recent years.

The delegation, led by Professor Yoshihisa Tsurunari, Head of the Education and Research Center for Disaster Risk Reduction and Redesign at Oita University; and Associate Professor Ryoichi Ogawa, Head of the Industry-Academia-Government Collaboration Division (Oita University), engaged in discussions with CIMNE representatives on the PIKSEL platform developed by CIMNE and funded by the Catalan government. They discussed its contribution to natural disaster management and the improvement of territorial resilience.

The delegation also included Tatsunobu Yamamoto, CEO of Inspiration+, and Akira Yoshida, CEO of SAP Japan. This delegation was accompanied by students from the same university working in disciplines related to EDISON and PIKSEL. Despite the great advance of scientific knowledge and technology, particularly in big data analysis, computational modelling and artificial intelligence, it seems clear that there is no single organization, not even an administration, capable of facing the challenges current trends in natural disasters, which are increasing in complexity and also becoming increasingly common.

Meeting attendees

The meeting was attended by the Director of CIMNE, Professor Javier Bonet, who welcomed this delegation as a continuation of a previous meeting last July, Professor Eugenio Oñate, former Director of CIMNE, who brought to the present the sustained, outstanding and long tradition of collaboration of CIMNE with prestigious Japanese scientists in the field of numerical methods and computational engineering. and the valuable shared experiences gained over time.

The session also saw active participation from Dr. Pere Andreu Ubach, who provided detailed insights into the Portal for the integration of knowledge for a sustainable ecosystems and land management solution PIKSEL,  funded, promoted and with the strong active participation of the Catalan government, particularly from the Department of Territory and Department of Climate Action, Food and Rural Agenda.

An exchange of ideas among some thirty researchers present, both from CIMNE and the Oita University closed the session.

About Piksel

The PIKSEL conceptual solution includes an innovative approach based on computational models and simulation software, not found in other similar, traditionally more data-driven initiatives and projects. PIKSEL has been created with a design transversal enough to be suitable for adding many other data layers, black and white (computational) boxes and layers of domains to simultaneosly consider the three key axes of sustainability: economic, social and environmental. PIKSEL can be considered a reference on how to do governance, and collaborations with platforms like EDISON could be of great help as compatible and complementary resources to make a more powerful, scalable and quickly implemented solution.

Throughout the meeting, there was a comprehensive discussion about the relevance of environmental challenges, and the significance of monitoring tools for evidence-based decision-making in public policies. This visit facilitated interaction between experts and scientists in natural disaster management and sustainability to identify complementarities and potential collaborations, and the need to establish strong alliances for better coordination between research institutions, businesses, and government bodies, with the aim of effectively addressing these global challenges.

Collaboration opportunities

The meeting concluded with a commitment to be able to realize collaboration opportunities, taking advantage of common interests, current developments based on EDISON and PIKSEL, and the long history of excellent research of both organizations.