Masatoshi Funabashi

The Synecoulture project started at Sony CSL in 2010, as a new method of food production based on open system science, and principally conducted a demonstration experiment of synecological farming mainly in Japan and the Sahel region of Africa.
We have shown that by utilizing biodiversity on an order of magnitude larger than before, it is possible to produce crops that restore the healthy functions of ecosystems and human well-being.
From 2018, we applied these principles for human living areas and urban spaces and started demonstration experiments of "augmented ecosystems" that enhance various ecosystem services according to comprehensive purposes beyond food production.
Throughout the process, the Metadiversity Management System as a supportive ICT has been developing, which helps enhance the diversity of ecosystems while extracting multiple utilities, and the concept of natural-social common capital has been synthesized, which incorporates the process of reproduction of natural resources by augmented ecosystems into economic activities.
In terms of both research and social implementation, we will cooperate with collaborators from various fields to build a new relationship between civilization and nature, as a comprehensive cultural sphere called Synecoculture.

Selected Publications
M.Funabashi "Human augmentation of ecosystems: objectives for food production and science by 2045", npj Science of Food (2018) https://www.nature.com/articles/s41538-018-0026-4
M.Funabashi "Citizen Science and Topology of Mind: Complexity, Computation and Criticality in Data-Driven Exploration of Open Complex Systems", Entropy, ISSN:1099-4300, DOI:10.3390/e19040181, Vol. 19, No. 4 (2017)
M.Funabashi "Synecological farming: Theoretical foundation on biodiversity responses of plant communities", Plant Biotechnology, Volume 33 Issue 4 Pages 213-234 (2016) https://www.jstage.jst.go.jp/article/plantbiotechnology/33/4/33_16.0219a/_article/
M.Funabashi "Synthetic Modeling of Autonomous Learning with a Chaotic Neural Network" International Journal of Bifurcation and Chaos, Vol. 25, No. 04, 1550054 (2015)
M.Funabashi, "Invariance in Vowel Systems" J. Acoust. Soc. Am. 137, 2892 (2015)
M.Funabashi "Food Components as Markers Linking Health and Environment: Statistical Invariance Analysis of in natura Diet" American Journal of Bioscience and Bioengineering, Vol. 3, No. 6, 2015, pp. 183-196. doi: 10.11648/j.bio.20150306.17
M.Funabashi, P. Hanappe, T. Isozaki, A.M. Maes, T. Sasaki, L. Steels, and K. Yoshida "Foundation of CS-DC e-laboratory: Open Systems Exploration for Ecosystems Leveraging", Proceedings of CS-DC 2015, Springer.