Vol. 4 No. 12 Dec. 2006 17 1. Introduction NTT Communication Science Laboratories (NTT CS Labs.) initiated a research project with the theme of “ambient intelligence” (kankyo chinou in Japan- ese) in October 2004. It is being primarily undertak- en by the Ambient Intelligence Research Group and the Intelligence Integration Open Laboratory of NTT CS Labs. Kankyo chinou has now been officially adopted as the main vision of the Labs. It has two main purposes: the first is to create new lifestyles through the research and development of communi- cation science and technologies based on the concept of ambient intelligence, and the second is to break down the barriers surrounding existing research dis- ciplines and to strategically develop the transdiscipli- nary area, as symbolized by the term “intelligence integration”. Last year we presented the key concepts of ambient intelligence and demonstrated a prototype at Open House 2005 of our laboratories [1]. A letter in the January 2006 issue of NTT Technical Review intro- duced these concepts and achievements to a wider, international audience [2]. We also discussed the lifestyles that could be made possible by ambient intelligence and suggested the specific issues to be tackled toward the achievement of ambient intelli- gence in a published paper [3]. In this paper, we review the background of the Ambient Intelligence Project in detail for the conve- nience of new readers who missed the previous letter [2] because the concepts are important but probably unfamiliar. We then go on to outline the project’s achievements to date. 2. Ambient intelligence by information and communication science technology Information science was born at the beginning of the 20th century and has grown remarkably. The communication science technologies of Japan have advanced significantly together with the Japanese economy, bringing significant benefits to our lives today. However, it is difficult to expect a similar rate of growth in the coming 50 years. Japan’s low birthrate and longevity are changing the nation’s demographic structure and causing a labor shortage. This will increase the burden of social welfare. Fur- thermore, global issues such as global warming, ener- gy shortfalls, and waste disposal problems will only become more serious. In these circumstances, our society is searching for major qualitative changes. In these social circumstances, the roles of commu- nication science in enriching our lives have changed. Selected Papers Eisaku Maeda † , Yasuhiro Minami, Masato Miyoshi, Minako Sawaki, Hiroshi Sawada, Atsushi Nakamura, Junji Yamato, Takeshi Yamada, and Ryuichiro Higashinaka Abstract This paper provides an update to the January 2006 letter on “ambient intelligence”, describing this year’s achievements and the latest demonstration systems. The Ambient Intelligence Project (also known by the code name project Mushroom) aims to bridge the boundaries between technological fields and thus cover the entire field of communication science. The World of Mushrooms—A Transdisciplinary Approach to Human-Computer Interaction with Ambient Intelligence † NTT Communication Science Laboratories Atsugi-shi, 243-0198 Japan Email: maeda@cslab.kecl.ntt.co.jp