It is a great pleasure to make introduction of the activities of "Watanabe Laboratory". In short, this is a laboratory to intensively study network-related matters.
The key words of the research themes of this Laboratory are two; "Ubiquitous Network" and "Network Security". Based on my own expriences as a researcher in a private company. I established guidelines of this Laboratory, which I will explain to you later.
Akira Watanabe
Professor, Department of Information Engineering
Meijo University
R&D activities on the level of companies
In order to sell a new product, companies are required to perform not only R&D but also other associated activities such as marketing, publicity, quality control, maintenance and establishment of a system corresponding to users' needs.
In fact, so many people are involved in commercializing new products developed by engineers, and when you visualize their efforts, you will certainly recognize the weight of responsibility laid upon the shoulders of engineers. If the idea or the concept of a new product does not meet the needs of users, the product will never draw their attention, however superior the idea or concept is.
While large-scale R&D activities are usually conducted under the responsibility of a factory in the company, an important role of the research laboratory in the company is to establish a certain meaningful concept of the new product before the start of its production and to provide the factory with its image. As no failure is permitted to companies, research activities are also being performed with utmost caution.
Research activities on the level of university
In comparison, research activities on the level of universities can run more risk, because even if some research does not bear fruit, that is a matter of the researcher himself and it will not cause any inconvenience to others. Even if a research did not end up with success, knowledge acquired through the research is valuable and useful for future study themes.
If a research has a good result, it will be possible to further proceed with the research and a new product may well be commercialized. Only engineers can taste the joy of one's own research result being commercialized. The charm of research activities at the university is that you can always challenge without concerns of making mistakes.
What is important for you is to always try to grasp the needs of users. Otherwise, research will end up with a mere research.
