Tokyo and Kawasaki, Japan, April 10, 2018
Fujitsu Limited and Fujitsu Laboratories Ltd. announce that they have received three Prizes for Science and Technology in the 2018 Commendation for Science and Technology from the Minister of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology (MEXT).
In the Development Category, Fujitsu and Fujitsu Laboratories were awarded a prize for the development of configuration technology for large-scale x86 clusters. In the Research Category, Fujitsu and UT-Heart Inc. were awarded a prize for clinical research using a heart simulator. In addition, Fujitsu Laboratories was also awarded a prize in the Public Understanding Promotion Category for promoting an understanding among young people of the future made possible by supercomputers.
The Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology (MEXT) commends individuals for their important achievements in science and technology R&D and their promotion of science and technology understanding. The awards aim to motivate researchers and help raise the level of Japan's science and technology. This year's awards ceremony will be held on Tuesday, April 17, 2018, at MEXT.
About the Recipients and the Recognized Technologies
(Recipient affiliations are as of April 10, 2018.)
1. Prize for Science and Technology: Development Category
Prizes in this category are awarded to research and development projects or people who produce groundbreaking innovations that are practical, and which contribute to the development and improvement of Japanese society, the economy, or the lives of citizens.
Project Name: Development of configuration technology for large-scale x86 clusters
Recipients:
Shuji Yamamura (Senior Professional Engineer, Development Department II, Processor Development Division, AI Platform Business Unit, Fujitsu Limited)
Kohta Nakashima (Project Director, Advanced Computer Systems Project, Computer Systems Laboratory, Fujitsu Laboratories Ltd.)
Akira Hosoi (Senior Professional Engineer, Performance Analysis Dept., Compiler Development Div., Next Generation Technical Computing Unit, Fujitsu Limited)
Naoto Fukumoto (Advanced Computer Systems Project, Computer Systems Laboratory, Fujitsu Laboratories Ltd.)
Masahiro Miwa (Advanced Computer Systems Project, Computer Systems Laboratory, Fujitsu Laboratories Ltd.)
Summary:
x86 clusters, in which multiple x86 servers equipped with general-purpose CPUs are connected together, are widely used in supercomputers. In order for x86 clusters to achieve high performance, an operational analysis of its x86 servers and the stable operation of the system as a whole are needed.
This development project enabled the analysis of changes in the behavior of software over short time series, to detect lag in some x86 servers in a cluster, and to reconfigure the system as a whole to avoid that lag, even in a large-scale x86 cluster with more than 1,000 nodes. This, in turn, achieved higher speeds. In addition, switching to new routes when the network has a partial failure enables the stable operation of a supercomputer with a large-scale, complex network.
These results improve supercomputer performance while limiting configuration costs, and contribute to the development of computing in science and technology.
2. Prizes for Science and Technology: Research Category
This category recognizes people who have had highly creative research achievements or inventions with the potential to advance science and technology in Japan.
Project Name: Clinical research using a heart simulator
Recipients:
Masahiro Watanabe (Director, Solutions Development Dept. I, Medical Solutions Div. III, Healthcare Solutions Unit II, Fujitsu Limited.)
Takashi Iwamura (Manager, Solutions Development Dept. I, Medical Solutions Div. III, Healthcare Solutions Unit II, Fujitsu Limited.)
Seiryo Sugiura (President, UT-Heart Inc.)
Summary:
Special pacemakers used in cardiac resynchronization therapy (CRT 1) for people suffering serious heart disease are expensive, but it is also known that about 30% of patients will be non-responders(2). This has created a need for a technology that can predict the pacemaker's effectiveness before an implantation procedure.
This research used a multi-scale, multi-physics heart simulator(3) that this research group developed jointly, which enabled heart simulations of individual patients. These simulations have been found to accurately reproduce patient electrocardiograms that were obtained clinically, and have been able to predict with high accuracy the effectiveness of these special pacemakers in patients before using CRT.
By predicting the results of CRT before using it, this result promises to contribute to medicine, and to become widely known as a medical solution originating from Japan that can dramatically reduce wasted medical expenses (in Japan, ¥5.2 billion; in the US, ¥700 billion (according to Fujitsu's research)).
3. Prize for Science and Technology: Public Understanding Promotion Category
Prizes in this category are awarded to individuals and groups that undertake activities which contribute to the promotion of interest in and understanding of science and technology among citizens, particularly among the youth, or which contribute to the spread of education and knowledge relating to science and technology in a region.
Project Name: Promoting understanding among young people of the future made possible by supercomputers
Recipient:
Yoshimasa Kadooka (Principal Expert, AI Deployment Project, Fujitsu Laboratories Ltd.)
Summary:
The K computer(4) was completed in 2012, and Fujitsu has often been asked to describe its development since then. But because simply explaining the system would be difficult for non-experts to understand, the company began a project to explain the ways in which supercomputers are useful and the new possibilities they open up. In this project, in its own development experience of using the K computer to create forecasts for flooding that would result from a massive tsunami and to reproduce the movements of the human heart, the recipient introduced immediately familiar and easy-to-understand examples of research on how supercomputers are helping create a safer and more secure world.
Having conducted 36 seminars countrywide and 19 regional youth-education programs as well as high-school/citizen seminars in Kumamoto Prefecture, Kadooka has reached more than 6,500 people (of whom 450 were in grammar school, 3,130 in high school, 2,160 in college/graduate school, and 760 were educators or the general public). The seminars are always well received, and many people say that they are easy to understand and very interesting. This project has helped many young people, who will bear the burden of the next generation, to understand the reasons why the K computer was developed and the possibilities it is opening up through scientific simulations. In addition, through mass media exposure, it has also helped the general public reach a deeper understanding of science and technology.
