Designating a number of cities destroyed by the 2011 earthquake and tsunami as "cities of the future", Japan invests to play a leading role in Disaster Prevention and Green Growth answering together with other countries the question "What is a sustainable society". Japan's "Future City Initiative" (FCI) held in December 2014 its 4th International Forum. FCI has from the very beginning engaged Denmark where "green technologies and issues such as renewable energy, energy efficiency, waste and resource management, clean air and water, and sustainable cities have become not only a lofty goal to save the planet, but also a business opportunity".

Japan can get help from inventors in Sweden for achieving the goals of FCI. Relevant work made by some of them has resulted in greentech startups such as ATC Industrial Group AB. Others have so far their results documented only in granted patents, prototypes and Proofs of Concept. Here is one example: Electrolux, Ericsson and Scania are three well-known giants in Sweden. They have picked preferred applications of a technology proposed by an inventor. He wanted them to become interested also in its use for a natural disaster alarm system. Their preferred applications were for Electrolux a robotized refrigerator, for Ericsson its "Connected Tree", and for Scania vehicles provided with intrusion prevention systems. Future products from them could be adapted for the natural disaster alarm use without added manufacturing cost, but they did not show any interest in that. No one is prophet in his own country.                                                              

Ericsson is known for pioneering work related to large-scale monitoring of personal calls and messages as well as of any data files of interest but not of the surroundings of their base stations using the "Connected Tree" technology in a form preferred by the inventor. Since Stephen Hawking, the most famous scientist of our time, has warned that the evolution of Artificial Intelligence (AI) will create extreme threats, it is here appropriate to mention that large-scale monitoring of personal communication as done by Ericsson and others can speed up that evolution.

Now it is time to take longer strides towards Disaster Prevention - time to tell independent inventors and researchers that their help is needed in problem-solving related to AI threats as well as to global climate changes, natural disasters, difficulties in the prevention of diseases and of war, etc. A good idea could be to have Kiruna in the Swedish region of Lapland designated as a City of the Future where Japan can get help for achieving the goals of FCI with particular regard to Disaster Prevention. More than a generation ago, a foundation started by the Swedish government for the development of the region invested in my technology transfer work at that time. I have now a second chance to make a difference.

• See also my article Thinking about the survival of mankind