Stanford University's Folding@home™ project, launched in October 2000, harnesses a distributed computing network with more than one million participating processors worldwide to study protein folding and provide data useful in developing treatment for related diseases. Sony Computer Entertainment supports the project through the global PlayStation®Network and the processing power of the Cell Broadband Engine™ in PlayStation®3. By helping users visualize how they are participating, Folding@home for PlayStation3 stimulates interest in the program and encourages PlayStation owners to join.

In fulfilling our corporate social responsibility through entertainment, we focused closely on how to interest PlayStation owners and encourage them to participate. Presenting their level of contribution visually, in a straightforward way, led us to discover the new potential in fostering a sense of unity, as more users than expected joined the project.

Analysis of proteins for the purpose of shedding light on diseases is just one example of solution design for social issues, a stance that indicates the direction that design should take in the future. Motivating the people who will be involved in these studies will be the key to success, but the program functions well as an idea for making participation in this project visible on a global scale.