Developed in the last twenty years, a quarter of a century, a civilization that has taken over in the present day is the cobweb civilization symbolized by the language of the network WWW (World Wide Web) which has spread throughout the whole world.

Like the thread of a spider, in this civilization, a network is being quickly expanded to the extent that it is so surprising that so adhesive a thread may be simply connected. The speed of expansion especially in Asia is the highest in the world.
However, cloth cannot be woven with the thread of a spider. What people aim at in the network, which spreads throughout the whole world, is to weave not a mere connection but the cloth of culture and economy.
Even if the thread of silk is woven in the present age, it occupies the best position in textiles. Thus, it is backed by ICT (Information and Communication Technology) and e-silk as a tough thread, which is placed on the foundation of tradition and culture of each region it is produced. It is the purpose of e-Silkroad design for each country of Asia to cooperate and to perform to produce a new culture woven with e-silk.
Let Sapporo Valley which is proud of its technical power in ICT be a starting point. And then let Seoul, which runs the head in Asia in broadband maintenance, Shenyang, which holds many brains and aims at HUB-City of ICT of Asia, Shanghai, Shengxheng, Hong Kong, and Taiwan which aims at the first place of hardware production of a personal computer, Singapore of an ICT establishment of a state, and Bangalore, India, which is becoming the base in the world software development. e-Silkroad is an exchange way of man, information, culture, and economy, which connects these areas or cities as a best-way of culture and economical propagation of Asia in the 21st century.


e-Silkroad in Sapporo Executive Committee Head
Aoki Yoshinao (Professor Hokkaido University)