On behalf of the organizing committee of the 25th RIES-HOKUDAI International Symposium, I am honored to invite and welcome you to this multidisciplinary and interdisciplinary symposium on 10 December 2024. Your participation, presentation, and discussion are indispensable for the success of the symposium. RIES aims to develop new interdisciplinary fields by conducting diverse research and education programs, including optical science, materials science, life science, and mathematical science. To promote multidisciplinary and cross-disciplinary programs, we organize the RIES-HOKUDAI International Symposium every year.

Thus, the RIES-HOKUDAI International Symposium has been held annually since 1999. It is our tradition to select a Chinese character (Kanji) for unifying the multidisciplinary symposium. The Kanji selected for the 2024 Symposium is “緯” [i].

Here I'd like to explain what is meant by the character of “緯”. Kanji characters are ideographs, and the original meaning of this character is the weft of a textile (thread woven in a horizontal direction). This character is typically used in words, for example, “経緯”[kei-i]. Since the character “経” [kei, kyo] means warp (thread woven in a vertical direction), the word “経緯” means the way things are going as it describes a sequence of interactions between vertical and horizontal directions. Another typical word that includes “緯” is latitude “緯度”[ido], which means something that gives horizontal coordinates. Therefore, we have chosen the character “緯” to symbolize the horizontal connection between the vertical lines of conventional and traditional teachings and disciplines.

We are pleased to support as many participants as possible by offering free-of-charge registrations and participation. I would like you to join the symposium, present your R&D outcomes, and actively participate in discussions. I am looking forward to having you all at the symposium.

On behalf of the Symposium organizing committee
The 25th RIES-HOKUDAI International Symposium “緯”

NAKAGAKI Toshiyuki
Chairman, the 25th RIES-HOKUDAI International Symposium
Professor, Research Institute for Electronic Science
Hokkaido University