Anyone can fall into a situation where he or she finds it difficult to cope with everyday life because of the deterioration of mental and/or physical capabilities due to advanced aging, illness, injuries, or other disabilities. For those who actually find themselves in such a situation, science technologies must provide significant support. Facing a rise in the elderly population and a shortage of labor, the need is arising to create a techno-welfare society where people with disabilities will be supported by various supportive technologies, such as personal computers and robots, to lead an independent life, rather than entirely relying on personal supports such as nursing care and rehabilitation services.

I have hitherto conducted application research of two types of technology to support people with disabilities: (1) assistive technology and (2) alternative and augmentative communication (AAC). At the same time, I have been nurturing and assisting those who develop a database of medical and welfare devices and thereby deliver adequate supportive technology to individuals with disabilities.

At the moment, however, the situation has yet to reach a point where various supportive technologies are easily accessible to everyone. I believe that one reason for this lies in the dysfunction of the development-delivery-use cycle; that is, research on the development of supportive technology is not always accompanied by research on the use of such technology. More specifically, even if supportive technology has been developed, chances are that it is not backed by sufficient scientific evidence because of the absence or scarcity of research on the use of the technology. For instance, information on the needs of users that is available in developing some kinds of technology is merely what has been obtained by conducting interviews with users, with no efforts made to collect data on the needs by using scientific means. Also, surveys to assess the size of the market are virtually nonexistent and so is the evidence for promoting the relevant development efforts and institutional reforms.

I believe that a blueprint for future technologies that everyone can readily understand and use and "techno-welfare" will begin to emerge if we can present a clear direction for the development of science technology based on sound evidence. I therefore seek to create a new interdisciplinary field of research, "advanced simple assistive technology toward the realization of a techno-welfare society," by scientifically analyzing the use of various supportive technologies.