Day 1 of the Design Festival (November 19, 2025) opened up with opening greeting by Yuji Ito, President and CEO of FORUM8 Co., Ltd. Following this, the "10th Autonomous Driving / Sustainability Conference" started.

The opening Special Lecture was delivered by Mr. Makoto Kuroyabu, Director of Mobility DX Office, Automobile Division, Manufacturing Industries Bureau, Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry (METI), entitled "2025 Update of 'Mobility DX Strategy'". He first outlined the current state of the automotive industry and global trends in the Mobility DX (Digital Transformation) field. Based on them, he then explained the "Mobility Digital Transformation (DX) Strategy" formulated by METI and the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism (MLIT) in 2024; policies in the Strategy targeting three key areas: Software Defined Vehicles (SDVs), autonomous driving and Mobility as a Service (MaaS), and data utilization; and the goals of achieving a 30% global market share for Japanese SDVs by 2030 and maintaining that share by 2035. After mentioning the background for the strategy update (2025), including fiercer development competition over key technologies of SDVs and growing geopolitical risks, he developed his discussion into new policies such as promoting development of AI models for autonomous driving, examining use of simulation for certification/approval, building end-to-end (E2E) safety evaluation methods, strengthening cybersecurity measures, standard models including regional deployment of autonomous robotaxis, building open datasets, initiatives for early social implementation of autonomous driving such as making efficient use of government procurement; promoting data linkage to grasp and strengthen the global supply chains; and expanding use cases for the "Ouranos Ecosystem". Furthermore, he detailed key technologies including SDVs, software for autonomous driving, and open datasets.

Director of Mobility DX Office, Automobile Division, Manufacturing Industries Bureau,METI Mr. Makoto Kuroyabu

Next, Mr. Soichi Yamagata, Planning Officer, the Service for Citizens Group, Digital Agency, delivered a special lecture entitled "Digital Agency's Efforts in the Field of Mobility". The Agency, which succeeded the former National Strategy Office of Information and Communication Technology, Cabinet Secretariat, Government of Japan in 2021, is responsible for the "Future of a Digitally Connected Transportation Society 2022" (formulated in 2022) and the "Mobility Roadmap" (formulated in 2024 and 2025), which succeed the "Public-Private ITS Initiative/Roadmap" (formulated in 2014) related to autonomous driving. After reviewing the course of these events, he outlined the "Mobility Roadmap 2025," covering the current state and challenges of mobility services, key policies for spreading them, and the roadmap for FY2025 as well as FY2026 and beyond. Among these, the Ministry has positioned the "Autonomous Driving Society Implementation Pioneering Commercialization Regional Project" as a particularly significant mission. In these regions, relevant ministries and agencies concentrate policy efforts on three patterns tailored to mobility services in various regions: utilizing the latest technologies, expanding operational areas, and solving technical challenges. He explained the concept of a “Transport Trading Company Functions”—which would serve as a foundational intermediary between the supply and demand sides in respective regions—and the approach to establish it. This function supports the continuous commercialization of mobility services using autonomous vehicles through demand extraction and matching. Furthermore, he summarized discussions on the problems of social rules (including standards and certification) that must be solved for the societal acceptance of autonomous driving and its ideal state to aim for. He also mentioned the development of support measures, such as the procedures of accident investigation and liability determination in the event of accidents involving autonomous vehicles.

Planning officer, National Service Group, Digital Agency　Mr. Soichi Yamagata

The final special lecture of the morning session was "MIC's Initiatives Related to Information Communication Infrastructure in Autonomous Driving Era" presented by Mr. Takayoshi Kagei, Director of New-Generation Mobile Communications Office, Land Mobile Communications Division, Radio Department, Telecommunications Bureau, Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications (MIC). He explained the government's targets for autonomous mobility services and self-driving trucks equivalent to Level 4 in the SAE (Society of Automotive Engineers) Levels of Driving Automation for Fiscal Year 2025 and beyond, along with the formalization of demonstration and achievement goals for autonomous driving for each of the government-wide strategies and policies. Following this, he discussed trends in global and domestic autonomous mobility services, as well as domestic businesses and automakers. He also covered platform/MaaS business; shift into Stand-Alone (SA) types that are expected to demonstrate the full capabilities of the fifth-generation mobile communications system (5G); the current status of the 700MHz band ITS used since 2015 as the V2X (Vehicle-to-everything) communication infrastructure supporting autonomous driving; partial revisions to the review criteria related to Radio Act to expand the scope of licensees for radio stations for 700MHz band ITS communications; and efforts to advance the 5.9GHz band frequency allocation, reflecting global V2X communication trends. He further mentioned the overall picture and challenges of the MIC's initiatives regarding these items, support for digital infrastructure development projects and the advancement of cellular base stations (changing to 5G SA) toward the social implementation of autonomous driving, the demonstration of self-driving trucks using 5.9GHz band V2X communication on the Shin-Tomei Expressway, the package project of DX Promotion in local communities, and examining new communication infrastructure policies in anticipation of the full arrival of an autonomous driving society in the "Study Group on Next-Generation ITS Communications for cooperative automated driving" (Phase 3) .

Director of New-Generation Mobile Communications Office, Radio Department, Telecommunications Bureau, Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications Mr. Takayoshi Kagei

The afternoon session resumed with guest greeting by Mr. Keiji Furuya, Member of the House of Representatives and Chairman of the Parliamentary League for Considering Automotive Culture etc. Showing his personal background in motorsports, Mr. Furuya introduced the significance of the WRC FORUM8 Rally Japan 2025 (held in November). He then mentioned his longstanding commitment to autonomous driving, the concept of "Building the Nation based on Decentralizing Metropolitan's Social Functions," and efforts to prepare conditions for attracting corporate and academic functions to his constituency Tono district in Gifu Prefecture (including road improvements in parallel with the construction of the Linear Chuo Shinkansen). Then he talked about the initiatives for the social implementation of autonomous mobility services there, the potential of such services as a countermeasure for unprofitable local railway lines nationwide. He expressed expectations for utilizing VR and the metaverse in these processes.

Chairman of the Parliamentary League for Considering Automotive Culture, Member of the House of Representatives Mr. Keiji Furuya

The first special lecture in the afternoon session was "MLIT Road Bureau's Efforts in Relations to Autonomous Driving" by Mr. Shouichi Takeshita, Director of ITS Policy and Program Office, Road Traffic Control Division, Road Bureau, Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism (MLIT). He illustrated the objectives and concepts of introducing ITS, as well as the creation of new road spaces and mobility brought about by the evolution of autonomous driving. He presented some challenges in logistics and regional public transportation, and as their solutions, showed the governmental targets towards Level 4 (L4) driverless autonomous mobility services (over 100 locations by fiscal 2027) and L4 self-driving trucks (to be realized in fiscal 2025 onwards). The measures he listed included licensing for L4 autonomous driving, support for town development plans utilizing autonomous driving technology, and loans in relation to installing work for Autonomous Driving Support Facilities (ADSF). He continued to talk about the current status of L4 autonomous driving in Japan (8 locations with L4 licenses obtained), the status of self-driving taxis and trucks, and development trends in autonomous vehicles, leading to the direction of coordination between autonomous driving and infrastructure depending on environments. He then introduced self-driving truck demonstration experiment on the Shin-Tomei Expressway that the Road Bureau work on (e.g. providing merge support and predictive information to realize L4 self-driving trucks), past autonomous mobility services (including Eiheiji-cho, Fukui Pref., the first place with L4 implementation), support for infrastructure required for autonomous mobility services on ordinary roads, the effectiveness (safety) of road-vehicle cooperative systems, and examples of driving space improvements. He also mentioned the overview of the Committee of Infrastructure for Automated Driving, as well as a proposed schedule for coordinating autonomous driving and infrastructure.

Director of ITS Policy and Program Office, Road Traffic Control Division, Road Bureau, MLIT Mr. Shouichi Takeshita

The fifth session of the Conference featured the Special Lecture entitled "Efforts Toward Realization of Autonomous Driving" by Mr. Kengo Yabe, Director for Policy Planning of Automated Driving Technology, Engineering and Environmental Policy Division, Logistics and Road Transport Bureau, MLIT. He outlined the background necessitating autonomous driving and two distinct approaches toward its realization: one for private vehicles and another for commercial vehicles (for which routes and areas are often limited). He then categorized MLIT's support measures for promoting autonomous driving services into two areas: institutional framework development and business promotion. Regarding the former, through collaboration with the National Police Agency, amendments to the Road Transport Vehicle Act and the Road Traffic Act in April 2020 enabled L3 automated driving, while amendments to the Road Traffic Act and the establishment of safety standards under the Road Transport Vehicle Act in April 2023 enabled L4 autonomous driving, of which he explained the flow. He also detailed the procedures for L4 autonomous vehicles to travel on public roads. Regarding the latter, he introduced the outline and implementation examples of the fiscal 2025 Autonomous Driving Social Implementation Promotion Project, which provides subsidies for initial investments to local governments (67 projects). Based on these, he mentioned the current status of automated mobility service implementation and the constraints that have emerged, future key support areas for the spread and expansion of such services: 1) introducing vehicles capable of handling diverse driving environments, 2) one person remotely monitor multiple L4 autonomous vehicles, and 3) autonomous taxis travelling along planes. As technical support measures, on the other hand, he also mentioned establishment of the "Level 4 Mobility Regional Committee" and preparation of the "Guidelines for the Social Implementation and Commercialization of Autonomous Mobility Services" in collaboration with METI and the National Police Agency.

Director for Policy Planning of Automated Driving Technology, Engineering and Environmental Policy Division, Logistics and Road Transport Bureau, MLIT Mr. Kengo Yabe

The final Special Lecture in this conference was delivered by Mr. Norihiro Naritomi, Director of Autonomous Driving Planning Office, Traffic Planning Division, Traffic Bureau, National Police Agency (NPA), entitled "Police Efforts to Achieve Autonomous Driving". He explained the expected effects of autonomous driving, the government's goals for realizing them, autonomous driving service assistance roads, and examples of related initiatives. Subsequently, he summarized the Agency's efforts to support the advancement of practical implementation of autonomous driving. First, regarding traffic rule development, he explained the following items: 1) Institutional framework development accompanying the practical implementation of L3 automated driving (assuming a driver's presence) (the Road Traffic Act: Enforced April 2020), 2) Institutional framework development for the practical implementation of L4 autonomous driving (driver not required under certain conditions) (same as above: effective April 2023), 3) Procedures based on the permission system for specified automated operation mentioned in "2" and the obligations of operators and chief operators of special automated operation and, 4) An overview of the Specified Autonomous Operation (L4) in Hitachi city, Ibaraki Pref. as an example of the above. Additionally, as part of establishing public road-testing environment, he mentioned the "Guidelines for Public Road Demonstration of Automated Driving Systems", "Road Use Permission Standards Regarding Demonstration of Automated Driving on Public Roads", "Application Guidelines for Experiments for Developing Wireless Devices Connecting to Signal Controllers and so on". Furthermore, as research and development towards the practical application of automated driving systems, he presented the outline of the "Cross-ministerial Strategic Innovation Promotion Program (SIP)", along with initiatives concerning the provision of signal information under SIP Phase 2 (until fiscal 2022) and SIP Phase 3 (fiscal 2023 onwards). He also mentioned public relations and awareness campaigns using videos, etc., to prevent overconfidence in or misuse of system functions.

Director of Autonomous Driving Planning Office, Traffic Planning Division, Traffic Bureau, National Police Agency Mr. Norihiro Naritomi

MC, Mr.Ryota Ieiri

After a break, the latter half of the afternoon session started with the presentation (Part 1) by our company staff, which concluded the conference: "Automotive Solutions Utilizing Digital Twins and the Metaverse - Providing Autonomous Driving and Simulation Environment". While actually operating UC-win/Road, the presentation introduced the generation and simulation of vehicle traffic and pedestrian flow, reflecting various setting conditions in real-time on a digital twin visualizing the urban environment. He explained its versatile functions, including the ability to build a base urban environment in a short time incorporating actual road structures and attributes like office buildings using open data, such as PLATEAU (a 3D urban model development, utilization, and open data project led by MLIT). This also enables detailed urban traffic prediction through a variety of information linkages related to cities, making it suitable for infrastructure development experiments, which is difficult in real environments. In addition to the main new features of the latest UC-win/Road version (Ver.18), multiple user case studies centered on various DS solutions and autonomous driving-related applications were presented. He also mentioned the digital twin creation of offices and factories using the metaverse platform "Metavania F8VPS", which is FORUM8 Virtual Platform System, and possibility of utilization, linkage between Shade3D and Metavania, the AI-powered design tool "F8-AI MANGA®," and "F8-AI UC support," which provides support with AI chat.

The conference concluded with a presentation (Part 2) by our staff entitled "Latest Trends in 3D VR Software Development and Future Prospect". He focused on the main features of UC-win/Road Ver.18 (released in October): Physically Based Rendering (PBR) support, enabling photorealistic rendering using reflection models that account for physical properties. The presenter introduced the procedure for defining information of the material to use using PBR material settings by specifying base color, metallic quality, and roughness to alter an object's physical characteristics. At the same time, he highlighted normal mapping for expressing fine road surface texture, expanded environment map settings and IBL (Image Based Lighting) support, exposure settings, glTF file format compatibility, and OpenGL-related improvements. He emphasized that these features enable creation of more realistic and immersive visuals based on valid calculations. Regarding the latest cloud-based solution "Metavania F8VPS," he explained such features as interlocking with Shade3D, expanded voting and review functions, and Open Metaverse. In the future, UC-win/Road is planned to advance AI agent integration for automated data manipulation, enhance point cloud-based 3D modeling, and expand OpenDrive standard compatibility. For F8VPS, the company aims to package and standardize the integrated information management system (FORUMSync) with a focus on use for digital twins.

The latter half of the afternoon session of Day1featured the awards ceremony for the "24th 3D VR Simulation Contest on Cloud," a competition for VR works created by maximizing the VR solutions of FORUM8 such as UC-win/Road and Metavania F8VPS. Out of the numerous entries received by October 17, 15 works were nominated following the Nomination Work Screening on October 22. General Voting was conducted for these works from November 5th to 13th. Taking these scores into account, the awards were decided at Award Winning Selection held at FORUM8's Tokyo headquarters on November 18th. The judging Committee consisted of Jury Chief, Prof. Fumio Seki, Professor, Department of Civil Engineering, College of Science and Technology, Nihon University; Jury, Mr. Hiroo Kasagi, Representative, NPO Community Development Studio; and Jury, Prof. Tetsunori Haraguchi, Visiting Professor, Institutes of Innovation for Future Society of Nagoya University.

As a result, Grand Prix (Highest Award) went to Ehime University's "Metaverse Education Platform / IMSS (Infrastructure Maintenance Smart Simulator)". This system enables users to learn infrastructure inspection skills for the civil engineers through online learning, utilizing 3D point cloud data of RC bridges, BIM/CIM-based visualization, and simulations of close-up visual inspections for damage and deterioration. With diverse infrastructure data accumulated, it is also built up to work as an infrastructure museum. While there is an urgent need for human resource development in the field of bridge inspection and maintenance, this system was developed in such a way as to contribute immediately to human resource development by covering everything from cracks in the bridge substructure to concrete tapping sounds in a single package. Furthermore, it was highly evaluated with surprise (by Prof. Seki) for the point that the applicants were even considering its potential for use as a bridge ledger.

Two works have received the Semi Grand Prix (Excellence Award). One is "SILS for Real-time Risk Prediction Model Verification based on UC-win/Road" submitted by the Advanced Institute of Convergence Technology. They utilize UC-win/Road to build up SILS (Software-in-the-Loop Simulation) for verifying automated driving algorithms and risk prediction models safely and efficiently. It sends driving data to the external model in real time to visualize risks. By automating experiments, it achieves accuracy evaluation as well as highly reproducible verification. The work was evaluated as it fully leverages UC-win/Road's functions through simulations by SILS, enabling thorough calculations that consider every possible situation in automated driving, leading to better decision-making (Prof. Haraguchi).

The other work is the "Simulation of initial evacuation for stranded people immediately after a large-scale disaster" by Taito-ku, Tokyo. As a use case of 3D city models, evacuation simulations of stranded people in Asakusa area during disasters were conducted. These simulations were used to visualize those areas where people are expected to become crowded or remain stranded, as well as to verify the countermeasure plans. The data is also used as foundational material for resident participation and planning. Using EXODUS and UC-win/Road, it also realistically reproduces spatial volume. Since it is also important to realize new risks obtained by visualization, further evolution of this initiative has been anticipated by Mr. Kasagi.

At the same time, the "4th VR SYSTEM OF THE YEAR" award, judged by VR Promotion Council and recognizing cutting-edge VR systems that maximize VR utilization to advance realization of smart cities as well as to accelerate DX, was given to Matsue Doken Co., Ltd. for its work "3D VR Snow Removal Guidance System Using GNSS." They have created a 3D VR snow removal guidance system by integrates positional data obtained from the RTK-GNSS positioning system with UC-win/Road. A monitor installed inside the snowplow grader is capable of displaying VR spatial imagery linked with the actual driving position. This enables warnings for hazards like manholes and bridge joints ahead, while also allowing the user to visually confirm the positions of curbs or lane boundaries. Though multiple snow removal simulators have been developed previously, this project is evaluated for its approach to a cutting-edge system utilizing GNSS, according to Yuji Ito, Representative Director of the Council).
(The report of the 3D VR Contest is written by Takashi Ikeno)

The final session of the afternoon on Day 1 featured Published Literature Presentation by the authors and supervising editors of two new publications from FORUM8 Publishing. The first speaker was Professor Emeritus Hiromichi Yoshikawa of Tokyo City University, who is the author of “Illustrated Guide to Civil Engineer -Infrastructure for the Next Generation-”. This book is materialization of his desire to create a picture book that conveys the magnificence of civil engineering structures to the next generation, spun from his own 50 years of involvement in the field. The book aims to help high school and university students understand expertise related to civil engineering, including various civil structures like bridges, structural analysis, and design, featuring abundant photographs and illustrations. He said that through this process, he rediscovered the effectiveness of "punch drawings" and hoped to revive their use.

The closing lecture for Day 1 featured a discussion between Professor Fumio Seki of Nihon University, supervising editor of the book "VR Unfolds a New Map: A Comprehensive Guide to the 3D VR Simulation Contest 2002-2024" (scheduled to be published in March 2026 by the VR Promotion Council), and Mr. Hiroo Kasagi, representative, NPO Community Development Studio. The book compiles all 216 award-winning works from the 3D VR Simulation Contest over its 23-year history up to last year, organized by year and field. It traces the evolution of VR alongside the progression of the application cases of VR, presenting tips for new ways of applications. While mentioning works to which both speakers pay attention, the book also indicates the steady step-up of UC-win/Road itself, says Professor Seki.
(Written by Takashi Ikeno)

The UC-win/Road Conference, the first program of Day2, started with the Special Lecture entitiled "Design Before Disaster", delivered by Prof. Miho Mazereeuw, Director of Urban Risk Lab and Associate Professor of MIT School of Architecture and Planning. In recent years, meteorological disasters such as floods, typhoons, and heatwaves have become more frequent and intense, and have occurred in unexpected places. We are entering a 'new climate era' that goes beyond previous assumptions. Prof. Mazereeuw pointed out that climate change is significantly increasing the risk of disasters and emphasized the need for new disaster prevention designs through interdisciplinary collaboration. According to her, more than 18 MIT researchers from fields including meteorology, urban planning, and architecture are working together to develop a quantitative approach to addressing future uncertainties. They are generating 50,000 storm simulations and analyzing the effects of precipitation, wind, and storm surges in relation to buildings, topography, and infrastructure. She also highlighted the "Porosity Project," in which students recorded building openings, such as doors and windows, to visualize flood routes. She emphasized that students can gain an experiential understanding of the importance of disaster prevention through collaboration between citizens, government officials, and experts by physically participating in projects like this one.

Furthermore, she highlighted the importance of "dual use" that integrates disaster prevention features into everyday life, presenting examples such as Fukakita Green Park, "Prephub," a bench equipped with power outlets, and the Nepal's pavilion that doubles as a base for women's groups. Finally, she concluded by saying that disaster prevention design that is naturally rooted in daily life is what resilience looks like for the future.

Next presentation was about new features of Shade3D. The latest version of Shade3D, Ver.26, features sculpt modeling, enabling intuitive, complex, and fine modeling with mouse operation. It also enhances model creation with road alignment, diagonal editing, and UV editing. We also demonstrated the AI help support, a parametric tool, and the real-time linkage of F8VPS. In addition, we presented the latest updates on the Japan-made game engine "Suite Chidori Engine".

The 2nd presentation was delivered by Marc Aurel Schnabel, Technical Advisor, Cambridge Toranomon Laboratory and Suzhou Innovation Hub, and Yingge Schnabel, Director of Suzhou Innovation Hub.

Authenticity Verification and Social Implementation Brought by NFT Technology

Mr. Mark Aurel Schnabel positioned the Majimon F8NFTS as a "digital certificate" and introduced its system that guarantees content's originality and access rights by adding metadata and registering it on the blockchain. FORUM8's Web3 system operates through the processes of metafile generation, contract setting, and NFT creation. As an example of this use, he introduced that four universities had converted their diplomas into NFTs, and presented other potential applications, such as carbon certificates, product authenticity verification, hard disk erasure verification, NFT tickets for tourism and sporting events, and prevention of fraudulent resale. He also talked about the new value production connecting digital experiences and behaviors in the real world, which is shown in the collaboration examples of Tamana Metaverse and Rally Japan.

Manga Production Renewed by AI, and New Creative Technologies

Ms. Yingge Schnabel explained the spread of generative AI is bringing about major changes to the manga production process. Traditionally, drawing backgrounds could take a whole day, which was a heavy burden for small studios. FOXAI (F8-AI MANGA®) generates images based on prompts and can rapidly produce vast amounts of material, thereby improving workflow efficiency and lowering the barrier to starting production. She also pointed out weaknesses in emotional expression and consistency. She commented that copyright and ethical verification are necessary and that a hybrid production model, in which humans and AI share roles, will become mainstream in the future. The emergence of new specialized roles, such as prompt and technical artists, is changing the nature of creative teams. Due to the growth of AI manga platforms and the increase in webtoon readers, the future of manga production is expected to continue evolving.

The CPWC (Cloud Programming World Cup) is an annual student competition now in its 13th year. It is aimed at projects utilizing FORUM8 applications, such as virtual reality and simulation, that demonstrate engineering and programming skills.

A total of 33 teams entered the 13th Cloud Programming World Cup, and 13 works were selected through the July nomination screening. On Day 2 of the Design Festival, the final presentations were held and the winners were judged. This year's competition featured a variety of highly practical and technically advanced projects looking ahead to the Web 4.0 era. Many of the entries addressed eco-driving, traffic simulation, and digital twins, offering solutions to mobility-related issues. On the other hand, some pointed out that a clearer demonstration of how the digital and physical worlds would integrate and connect with society was needed. Overall, the presentations and systems were of a high standard, focusing more on solid approaches than originality. Each team established clear goals and solutions and developed polished projects with technical backing.

Juries (from the right) Prof. Tomohiro Fukuda, Prof. Makoto Sato, Prof. Taro Narahara, Mr. Yoann Pencreache.

The highest award went to a work entitled "Brain control emergency takeover method and system for driver facing automatic driving failure" made by Intelligent Driving Escort Team (Beijing Jiaotong University). For the project, they developed early intention recognition technology using brain waves and built a real-time brain wave acquisition platform as well as an autonomous driving vehicle breakdown simulation environment. The project was highly praised for its machine learning model, which can determine driving intentions with 90% accuracy. Its selection was also due to its implementation capabilities based on a realistic test environment.

Awards Ceremony

We received 34 entries to the 15th Virtual Design World Cup from all over the world, and 12 teams that were nominated in the first screening gave presentation at the final judging. The theme of this year's competition was "The Road to the Zoo - Public Entertainment Promenade". By designing a unique promenade connecting Tokuyama Station and Tokuyama Zoo, we can rediscover the charm of Shunan City and envision its future.

Before the presentation and final judging, Mr. Harada from Shunan City, the competition target site, took the stage and commented, "I am grateful that the excellent competition is set in Shunan City this year. I have been looking forward to the students' ideas". He also mentioned that the city had just started a demonstration experiment of an autonomous bus on the same day, and expressed his expectations and encouragement for the urban development ideas submitted by students from all over the world, emphasizing that the city will continue to take on various challenges.

Many of the proposals in the final judging were highly imaginative and focused on animals. They were praised not only for their futuristic mobility technologies, but also for reexamining the relationship between people, animals, and cities and nature. The general review stated that the works were impressive for their multifaceted approaches. These approaches included not just using AI as a technology but also developing it into a philosophical question or a relationship between observer and subject, composing with a conscious of harmony with the ecosystem and environment, and connecting history and regional characteristics. The works were original, deeply thoughtful, and feasible, with an eye toward social implementation. This led the judges to make the memorable statement that "the future has already begun."

Juries (from the left) Prof. Yasushi Ikeda, Prof. Kostas Terzidis, Prof. C David Tseng, Prof. Miho Mazereeuw

The Grand Prix winner, "The Road" by OOZ (National Cheng Kung University), regarded the road leading to Tokuyama Zoo as an opportunity for urban regeneration and reconstructed the space from Tokuyama Station to the zoo as a sustainable public environment. The work was highly praised for its ability to connect the animal characters with urban culture and promote community revitalization. The judges commented that the presentation renewed the social value of BIM technology. The winner said, "We brought animals into the city and aimed to create a sustainable city".

Awards Ceremony

The greeting by Mr. Akira Hasegawa, the director of the State of the Art Technologies Expression Association, was followed by the 9th Hagura Award ceremony, which announced the Hagura Award, two Company Awards (FORUM8 Awards), two Excellent Awards, and four Encouraging Awards. The Hagura Award went to “3D Content with a Sence of Haptics and Scent” by NHK Science & Technology Research Laboratories. By sharing the senses with the characters, viewers can convey information and emotions intuitively in addition to using language. Professor Makoto Sato, a jury and Professor Emeritus of the Institute of Science Tokyo, mentioned that the feeling of shaving the ice, its coldness, and its aroma vividly bring back memories of the Showa era, and commented, "We are exploring the possibilities of a new broadcasting experience that uses all five senses, and this is a big step towards the future."

FORUM8 Award went to "Superhuman Sports: Body × Technology for Social Transformation" by Research Center for Advanced Science and Technology, The University of Tokyo, and to "The world's first wheel made by one-shot press molding of thermoplastic composite material (CFRTP)" by Rapiit. The former work is research on human augmentation engineering, which allows humans to freely use abilities augmented by technology or AI. The latter project is a wheel development using the world's first thermoplastic composite press molding technology, and contributes to reducing the environmental impact of the automotive industry and to utilizing next-generation materials. Both projects involve innovative technologies that are expected to address social issues.

Mr. Akira Hasegawa introduced initiatives of the State of the Art Technologies Expression Association including Digital Kakejiku.

Winners of Hagura Award

In the presentation, the association introduced its initiatives to promote and support the use of expressive techniques targeting the five senses. Through research studies, content production support, talent development, and corporate and organizational matching, it introduces new expressive possibilities to society through the Hagura Award, symposiums, and exhibition participation. The presentation also showcased cutting-edge technology applications such as "UC-win/Road", "ForumSync", "Majimon F8NFTS", and "F8-AI MANGA", as well as case examples of lighting installations, AR disaster simulation experiences, and 3D hazard maps, demonstrating the accelerating implementation of digital twins, AI, and Web3 in society.

Another FORUM8's presentation entitled "Effectiveness of the UC-1 Series in Addressing Frequent Flood Disasters and Efforts Toward AI and Cloud Integration" introduced the latest development of the UC-1 series products that support disaster prevention and mitigation. This series covers a wide range of topics, including seismic design, slope collapse analysis, sediment movement analysis, and flood prevention measures in the fields of hydraulics and sewerage. We provide solutions for flooding analysis, BOX culvert design, sewage seismic design, river revee design, and other products that comply with various standards. In particular, the flooding analysis system released in July 2025 has integrated surface flow analysis, unsteady river flow analysis, and two-dimensional flood analysis. The system also enables advanced analyses such as simultaneous calculation of multiple river channels and DXF/TIN import. The presentation also introduced the latest version of BOX culvert design and sheet pile embankment 3D design as well as "F8-AI UC Support" that AI supports product operation. Further enhancements to the cloud version and correspondence to the revision of the road and highway bridge specification will continue to improve functionality in the future.

The symposium started with the greeting by World16 Chair, Prof. Yoshihiro Kobayashi, School of Computing and Augmented Intelligence, Arizona State University. World16, an international research group, has presented its annual study result since the 1st VR Symposium in 2007.

The theme of this year was "Integration of AI with F8 Products". The members joined a workshop at Sapienza University of Rome, focusing on how to integrate the rapidly developing generative AI with FORUM8's VR and 3D tools. Prof. Kobayashi reviewed members' new projects that use AI to collaborate on architecture, urban development, and VR. In summary, he stated that the achievements of this year were not about AI research itself, but rather about presenting a method to implement and verify AI operating existing software. He concluded by saying that MCP technology, which links multiple software programs, will be a major research theme movng forward.

Associate Professor Taro Narahara, School of Art + Design, New Jersey Institute of Technology, presented the latest case studies of using generative AI in architecture and city design. Generative AI is improving efficiency for massive rendering works and realizing environments where architects can focus more on creativity.

He said that it is important to use the optimal AI technology for each phase of the process. For example, image generative AI such as Midjourney should be used in the early concept stage; image conversion technology is appropriate once the form is solidified; and animation rendering from still images should be done in the final stage. Furthermore, integrating AI and environmental assessment tools optimizes building shapes based on CO2 emissions and construction costs. It also enables the rapid generation of diverse architectural and interior design proposals. Urban design now incorporates crowd flow visualization and layout proposals, significantly broadening the scope of initial studies. On the other hand, while AI is a powerful tool for expanding creativity, it is still not at a stage where it can fully reflect human intent. Future advances, such as generating editable 3D models, are expected.

Professor Tomohiro Fukuda, Division of Sustainable Energy and Environmental Engineering, Graduate School of Engineering, Osaka University, talked about how XR and digital twins are used in various fields of society, particularly in architecture and urban design, where they have greatly transformed the processes of consensus building and design examination.

Technology has rapidly evolved from VRML to the latest GPU-based environments, and methods for understanding and sharing real spaces at a high level have been established, such as thermal analysis + VR, digital heritage restoration, integrating on-site footage with 3D models using mixed reality (MR), and free-viewpoint drone footage. Furthermore, by linking with AI, spatial reconstruction, object recognition, background completion, automatic BIM generation, and flood damage detection have been implemented, accelerating on-site decision-making and enhancing expressive capabilities. On the other hand, it was pointed out that the accuracy of internal data is crucial for digital twins, and that models that merely look polished could be misleading. These technologies are expanding into urban assessment, disaster education, and remote collaboration, forming a new design workflow that merges physical and virtual spaces.

The latter half of the afternoon session on Day 3 started with Special Lecture "History of Inundation Model Development and Its Evolution into a Flood Risk Assessment Model" by Prof. Masaru Morita, Professor Emeritus, Shibaura Institute of Technology. As heavy rain disasters including inland inundation has been occurring frequently, model development for calculating flow changes and inundation has advanced, and package software for this purpose has become widespread. He argues that understanding the history of model development up to the present is necessary when considering various predictions using these tools.

First, he mentioned the concept of the inundation model. Second, he summarized the changes in modeling of runoff and inundation processes by four generations from the pre-war period to the 2000s: three models in the post-war period (the response function model, the conceptual model, and the stormwater flow model) of <pre-computer generation>, which required calculation of not only peak flow but also probability and hydrograph; "quasi-linear storage type model" (1977) for evaluating promotion of integrated flood management driven by urbanization and changes in land use; concept of the "physical model", which became mainstream for the urban runoff analysis model along with the increase in uses of large-scale computers in the 1980s and later; and the inundation model developed by the Morita Laboratory during the same period. Further, in the <Package Software Generation> in the 2000s and later, PC performance enhanced and commercial software became widespread. Following the Tokai Heavy Rainfall (2000) hazard maps gained attention. Demand for preparing hazard maps increased following the Act on Access to Information Held by Administrative Organs (enforced 2001), Amendment of the Flood Control Act (2001), and subsequent partial amendment to the Enforcement Regulations of the Real Estate Brokerage Act (2020). He then talked about XPSWMM presented at the 2005 International Conference on Urban Drainage (ICUD), software programs for flood analysis and sewerage hydraulic analysis for urban watershed having been developed in Europe and the US since the 2000s, and the "Preissmann Slot" that provides simplified calculation for the phenomenon where pipe lines are filled with storm water during heavy rainfall causing water to spout from manholes and trigger inland inundation.

As future development of inundation models based on the above, he showed the following directions: 1) Evolving from hazard maps for disaster mitigation plans to those including mitigation actions, visualizing the maps, and utilizing real-time inundation displays for guiding evacuation, and introducing AI for preparing hazard maps. 2) Ease of use and reduction in computational load required for inundation models in addition to computational accuracy and stability, 3) "Real-Time Control (RTC)", which controls the controllable facilities within a drainage section while monitoring stormwater runoff conditions, 4) Moving from flood depth to damage cost in a flood risk assessment model and reflecting this into the quantification of flood risk, 5) Introducing uncertainty into the flood risk assessment. He presented "Monte Carlo Simulation" as an example enabling predictions with probability ranges
(This part is written by Takashi Ikeno)

Before the announcement of the National Resilience Design Award, FORUM8 Analysis Group gave a presentation on their provision of FEM analysis technology for targeting structures, the ground, inundation, evacuation, energy, etc. Mr. Matsuyama also introduced the newest functions and case examples of Engineer’s Studio® and FEMLEEG. Engineer’s Studio® Ver.11 has been updated with new functions to enhance practicality, such as support for initial section forces and automatic generation of ground springs. The product under development, version 12, will officially be equipped with pushover analysis, enabling a series of structural function assessments. FEMLEEG Version 15 can be used with Shade3D to improve efficiency from modeling to analysis. A inundation, crowd, fire, and energy simulations were shown as case examples. In particular, the high effectiveness of the technology in planning was emphasized, including crowd analysis for the redevelopment of the west exit of Shinagawa Station and the evaluation of a data center's energy savings.

The last part of the afternoon session of Day 3 featured the result announcement and award ceremony for the "12th National Resilience Design Award (NaRDA)."
NaRDA was established in 2014 to recognize initiatives contributing to national resilience. It targets specific application cases in the fields of structural analysis (civil engineering and architecture), geotechnical engineering, hydraulic engineering, and disaster prevention. Eight entries were nominated from numerous submissions. Jury Chair, Prof. Hiromichi Yoshikawa, Honorary Professor, Tokyo City University; with juries Prof. Masaru Morita, Honorary Professor, Shibaura Institute of Technology; and Prof. Akihiko Wakai, Professor, Graduate School of Science and Technology, Gunma University conducted Final Judging Meeting for Award Winning works. The winners were selected there.

Awards Ceremony

Jury's comments

The results are as follows: Grand Prix was awarded to Naigai Engineering Co., Ltd. for "Seismic performance verification on Tilted Seawalls Caused by the Noto Peninsula Earthquake – Aiming for Quick Determination of Countermeasure Necessity based on Residual Tilt-" While the Noto Peninsula Earthquake caused damage to many of embankment seawalls that are concrete-gravity structures along the Nanao Bay coast, which remained after the earthquake in the tilted condition, they conducted their stability assessment (residual strength check). A key point was the immediate post-disaster initiative to measure the inclination angles of 244 cases of damaged embankment and create a ranking chart for early restoration, giving presence (Prof. Yoshikawa).

The 2nd Prize (Excellence Award) went to Mitsui Consultants Co., Ltd. for "Impact of Condition Differences based on the Act on the Regulation of Housing Land Development and Specified Embankment on Embankment Sliding and Collapse –Proposal for Facilitating the Project to Prevent Landslides and Collapses in Large-Scale Embankment Areas-". The work newly presented a relationship that enables simplified on-site evaluation of approximate banking shapes for each material. It demonstrated operational methods using existing software. In terms of the Embankment Regulation Act, it employed UC-win/Road and slope stability analysis to handle the entire workflow from topographic data to countermeasures within a total system. Efficiency improvement through data linkage utilizing CIM were also evaluated (Prof. Morita).

Additionally, Honorable Judge Award (Prof. Yoshikawa) went to NIPPON STEEL TEXENG CO., LTD for "Utilizing CIM models for Densely Reinforced Concrete Structures –Approaches to Front-Loading-". Honorable Judge Award (Prof. Morita) went to Mizota Design Office Co., Ltd. for "Inland Flood Risk Assessment and Countermeasures in Urban Areas –Flood Inundation Simulation using 1D/2D Integrated Flood Model--". Honorable Judge Award (Prof. Wakai) went to F-TECH INC. for "Designing Countermeasures using 3D Landslide Analysis –Comparison of 2D and 3D analysis Results and their Incorporation into Design-". Following the announcement and presentation of each award by the juries, Jury Chair Yoshikawa summarized this year's contest. He noted that NaRDA, which has come to be the 12th contest, has steadily grown in popularity and substance. He also mentioned that while judging the entries, ideas like "What if we did this in that way here?" sometimes came to mind. He expressed his hope that such insights and current challenges would be incorporated into future submissions.
(This part is written by Takashi Ikeno)

Mr. Ryota Ieiri, moderator

Juries (from the left): Prof. Hiromichi Yoshikawa, Prof. Masaru Morita, Prof. Akihiko Wakai