Efforts toward the social implementation of human augmentation technology
The widespread adoption of digital technology has significantly enhanced the convenience of people’s lives. However, it is said that the physical properties of human beings have hardly evolved since the age of the hunters and gatherers, approximately 10,000 years ago. Nevertheless, in recent years, human augmentation has increasingly come under the spotlight as a technology and concept for developing and enhancing human ability through technological advancements.
Mizuno has established the MIZUNO MIRAI*1 VISION as a research and development vision to change society through sports. It is an expression of our strengths and values as well as the future that Mizuno wishes to create, and it guides the development of our products and services. Mizuno considers all forms of enjoyable physical activity to be sports. Bringing joy to people and society is our mission, and defines our core values and core technologies.
*1 ”MIRAI” is a word for “future” in Japanese
As a part of efforts to advance research and development based on the MIZUNO MIRAI VISION, Mizuno is also tackling challenges in the field of human augmentation.
Mizuno have newly established the Human Augmentation Research and Development Section under what was then the Research and Development Department in 2019, and began working on the research and development of products and services to overcome the limitations of the human body, with the aim of responding to significant social changes such as the diversification of lifestyles, and the declining birthrates and ageing society that are likely to accelerate further in the future.
In the same year, Mizuno drew up “We can definitely do it in 20XX” as a future “World Map” that presents our world view of enabling everyone to achieve what they could not do before using their own bodies, not only in the field of sports but also in daily life. It sets out the direction for human augmentation as a field in our research and development activities.
Run super-fast to avoid traffic jam
Carry super-heavy stuff to help people
Super-high jump to catch a ball
Using this future “World Map” as our compass toward the social implementation of human augmentation technology, Mizuno is tackling challenges in areas that enable improvements in performance (faster, stronger, and higher), areas that defy the conventional practices of training, such as the fusion of real and virtual worlds and the use of multi-feedback systems for sensory organs, as well as areas for developing future means of mobility using our own bodies.
Through the fusion of Mizuno’s sports technology and human augmentation technology, the Human Augmentation Research and Development Section aims to realize a vibrant society in which everyone, including healthy persons, seniors, persons with disabilities, pregnant women, and children, can manipulate their own bodies freely, do what they could not do before, and adopt a positive attitude of trying everything that they want to do.
