Members

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.

[Keywords]
Synecoculture / Augmented Ecosystem / Open Complex Systems / Natural-Social Common Capital / Ecology / Agriculture / Hunting-gathering / Citizen Science / Ecosystems Management / Long-tail / Self-organization / Ecological Optimum

Activities

2024/10/7
2024/9/26
[Event 9/20]The Future of Climate Summit VOL II
Dr. Funabashi will talk at this event.
2024/9/2
2024/7/24
[Article]A paper by M. Funabashi has been published in npj Sustainable Agriculture.
Power-law productivity of highly biodiverse agroecosystems supports land recovery and climate resilience
2024/5/14
WWF Japan, WWF-Indonesia, Sony Group and SynecO launch pilot project to utilize Synecoculture™ for forest restoration in Sumatra
2024/2/19
[INFO] Centre Africain de Recherche et de Formation en Synécoculture (CARFS) has posted videos of farms introducing Synecoculture.
2024/1/9
[INFO] Dr.Funabashi talks at a seminar at COP28 Japan Pavilion.
2024/1/8
[INFO] Syneco Portal : Synecoculture™ Learning Kit Handbook
Updated version now available in English and French
2023/12/22
2023/12/13
【Conference Proceedings】Complex Computational Ecosystems 2023
2023/11/1
2023/9/1
【INFO】Sustainability Report 2023
2023/8/29
【INFO】Open Data Release: Global Biotic Interactions data with two types of centralities
2023/8/28
2023/8/23
2023/8/1
[INFO] Research Statements
2023/7/1
Dr. Masatoshi Funabashi, Senior Researcher and President of SynecO, Inc. participated in Sony EXPO 2023 in Shanghai
2023/6/22
2023/6/14
【AWARD】Best Non-Student Presentation Award at Complex Computational Ecosystems 2023
Masatoshi Funabashi presented a research paper
2023/5/2
2023/3/29
【Article】Agricultural Robot under Solar Panels for Sowing, Pruning, and Harvesting in a Synecoculture Environment
An article by CSL reseacher Masatoshi Funabashi et al has been published on the "Agriculture."
2023/2/8
2023/1/17
2023/1/7
2022/12/9
2022/11/29
2022/11/8
An opinion article on Synecoculture and urban augmented ecosystems
M.Funabashi contributed to the article
2022/11/4
SynecO to Start a Project in Ecuador
Implementing Synecoculture™ based on Augmented Ecosystems at Cacao Farms
2022/8/31
Sustainability Report 2022
2022/8/26
2022/7/22
ALIFE 2022
Dr. M. Funabashi to give a keynote
2022/7/15
Planetary Navigation Group Conceptual Note
2022/7/1
2022/6/9
Widening Vision for greater symbiosis with the Planet
Dr. Funabashi appeared in a video depicting Sony's efforts.
2022/6/8
Synecoculture and Augmented Ecosystems were featured as innovation challenges in ""Challenge Zero".
2022/4/1
2022/3/24
2022/2/25
2022/2/4
BiodiverCities by 2030: Transforming cities’ relationship with nature
M.Funabashi contributed to the report
2022/1/25
2121 Futures In-Sight
Synecoculture
2021/12/21
2021/10/25
2021/10/14
2021/9/27
2021 Sony ESG/Technology Briefing
2021/9/24
ARS ELECTRONICA 2021 Garden TOKYO
M.Funabashi's research theme exhibited online
2021/9/8
Sustainability Report 2021
2021/9/3
New version of Synecoculture Principles Learning Kit Handbook now available
2021/7/23
6/22 ISPIM (Recording now Available)
Masatoshi Funabashi to talk at the conference
2021/7/3
2021/6/8
New Company : SynecO, Inc.
Businesses specializing in Synecoculture™ and other environmental technologies related to augmented ecosystems
2021/6/1
2021/4/19
2021/3/16
2021/2/22
2021/2/1
Sony Stories
For us to continue to live on the earth Challenges that seek to positively impact the global environment
2021/1/29
Publication in Agriculture journal (MDPI)
Secondary Metabolite Differences between Naturally Grown and Conventional Coarse Green Tea
2020/12/28
Proceedings of the Symposium of Colloque de Cerisy:
Presentation by M. Funabashi included
2020/12/16
2020/11/28
2020/9/18
2020 Sony ESG/Technology Briefing :
"SOL" and "Synecocuture" introduced
2020/9/11
2020/8/21
2020/7/17
2020/6/25
2020/6/10
Sony CSL to join SPACE FOODSPHERE
2020/4/22
New Publication
2020/3/14
Sony CSL to join Space Food X Initiative
2020/2/14
［PRESS RELEASE］
Sony CSL to Begin Synecoculture Proof of Concept Trial in Roppongi Hills
2019/10/29
ICF2019
M.Funabashi to give a talk
2019/10/24
New Publication
A new book contributed by Masatoshi Funabashi
2019/10/18
Synecoculture:
Hosted on ISC-PIF
2019/10/6
2019/9/3
Sustainability Report 2019
2019/9/2
MIRAI SUMMER CAMP 2019
2019/7/5
2019/5/27
2019/4/23
Publication
New Breeze features an article by K. Ohta and M. Funabashi
2019/4/16
Nature's 150th Anniversary Symposium
Poster presentation of Synecoculture Project
2019/4/9
Sony Stories
"Renewing agriculture to rebuild a broken environment" with Chinese title
2019/4/3
New Publication
Book commemorates 30th anniversary of Sony CSL
2019/2/25
2019/2/21
2019/1/15
2018/12/29
2018/12/27
Sweden Foodtech Community Meetup
Report on M.Funabashi's event
2018/12/27
Sony CSL 30th Anniversary Open House Report
October 23 -24, 2018
2018/11/22
Sony Stories :
Wild Ideas for a Better World
2018/11/1
npj Science of Food
Article by M.Funabashi has been published
2018/9/25
Sony Environment Section of Sustainability Report 2018
Introducting Sony CSL's "Synecoculture" and "Open Energy Systems"
2018/9/1
Synecoculture Manual 2016
Available now in Chinese
2018/8/23
「月間致知」9月号に記事掲載
2018/8/1
Synecoculture Introduced on Keidanren's SDG Site
2018/7/11
MIRAI SUMMER CAMP 2018
2018/7/9
Synecoculture Project :
published on the PANORAMA platform
2018/7/1
3/22 COI-Sシンポジウムで舩橋研究員が登壇します
2018/3/19
朝日新聞DIGITALに紹介記事掲載：協生農法
2018/2/28
11/3-4 The New Context Conference 2017
Dr. J.Rekimoto and Dr. M.Funabashi will give talks
2017/11/2
Sony Stories:
Renewing agriculture to rebuild a broken environment
2017/9/27
Creating Thriving Ecosystems Through Cultivating Diverse Flora
"Synecoculture" is a New Approach to Sustainable Agriculture from Sony CSL
2017/9/25
2017 Sony CSR Reporting:
Introducting Sony CSL's "Synecoculture" and "Open Energy Systems"
2017/9/7
Sony CSL to Co-host
ICF2017 (10/12-10/14)
2017/8/31
[Sony Official]Movies introducing Sony CSL
Part 1 - Part 3
2017/4/28
First international Synecoculture symposium in Africa
2017/2/24
Synecoculture Manual 2016 Ver.
Now available in both English and French
2016/12/22
JEITA冊子『ITソリューションによる温暖化対策貢献』において
2016/12/14
CSL Paris 20th Anniversary Event Report
Held on October 27, 2016@Paris
2016/12/7
Plant Biotechnology Vol. 33 (2016) No. 4
3 articles from M.Funabashi published
2016/11/22
5/11海洋地球インフォマティクス2016-
2016/4/26
日経エレ2月号
2016/2/22
2/25 COI-S シンポジウム
2016/2/19
農業ビジネスマガジンvol.12
2016/1/22
ソニーコンピュータサイエンス研究所
2015/11/4
New Article
2015/10/23
Masa Funabashi
Year 10,000 of Agriculture (Japanese)
2015/10/14
New Article
2014/10/12
Masatoshi Funabashi
"Synecoculture - Human Augmentation of Ecosystems"
2014/9/22
New Article
You can read a story featuring Sony CSL in DIGITAL TRENDS.
2014/8/1
TedxKids@Chiyoda 2013
2014/3/4
２５周年シンポジウム動画
2013/10/7
2013/5/20
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Worlds

Global Biotic Interactions data with two types of centralities

Open Data Release
2023/7/26

Synecoculture™ and Augmented Ecosystems

Agriculture that overcomes the trade-off between productivity and environmental damage - Masatoshi Funabashi
2023/7/12

Planetary Navigation

Planetary Agenda Needs Planetary Navigation: An Era of Self-Transformation on a Planetary Scale
2023/4/19

Syneco Portal

Synecoculture Principles Learning Kit
2021/8/15

SynecO, Inc

2021/6/10

Synecoculture™

Agriculture that overcomes the trade-off between productivity and environmental damage
2019/2/8
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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.

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Profile

Masatoshi Funabashi is Research Director of Transboundary Research at Sony Computer Science Laboratories, Inc., President of SynecO, Inc., and Founder and President of Synecoculture Association.
Funabashi studied biology and complexity science at the University of Tokyo, then obtained his PhD in physics from CREA, Ecole Polytechnique, France. He is a licensed veterinarian. His goal is to establish a new approach to food production he calls "Synecoculture," symbiotic agricultural methods based on biodiversity, since agriculture is an area where sustainability, environmental and human health issues overlap. He hopes to develop this into a new paradigm capable of restoring both human societies and ecosystems. Funabashi also applies the principles of Synecoculture to living areas and urban spaces as he endeavors to deploy "augmented ecosystems" to promote biodiversity and to maximize the potential of multiple ecosystem services.

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