Links between science, technology and social issues

Science and technology is the vital driving force for economic and social development. However, the fundamental links between science, technology, and society are unclear because of their complexity and hidden relationships.

Now, Yuya Kajikawa and colleagues at Tokyo Institute of Technology have developed methodology to explore the roles of technology for resolving social issues.

Link mining was used to construct a general picture of specific technologies and social issues. Text mining was used to explore a pathway between technology and social issue. The researchers analyzed robotics and aging society as technology and a social issue, respectively.

The results shown in the diagram, explicitly show the potential contribution of robotics to resolve issues related to an aging society, and were utilized to design an R&D project.

The methodology developed by the Tokyo Tech team can be utilized to explore a variety of otherwise hidden links between science, technology, and social issues.