knowledge creation value creation - jaist ... seminar interaction seminar the scope of research...

Knowledge moves the world towards the future.

2013Japan Advanced Institute of Science and Technology (JAIST)

http://www.jaist.ac.jp

Asahidai 1-1, Nomi City, Ishikawa 923-1292 Tel: +81-761-51-1111E-mail: [email protected] (main) / [email protected] (Admissions Section)

[Air]□ From TokyoHaneda–Komatsu: Approx. 1hr

[Train (JR)]□ From TokyoTransit to Limited Express “Hakutaka (via Hokuhoku Line)” at the Joetsu Shinkansen Echigo-Yuzawa Station Travel Time: Approx. 4 hours□ From Osaka/KyotoBy Limited Express “Thunderbird”: Approx. 2 hours 25 minutes (to Komatsu)□ From NagoyaBy limited Express “Shirasagi”: Approx. 2 hr 40 minutes (to Komatsu)

Transport Information http://www.jaist.ac.jp/index-j2.shtml

JAIST Shuttle available between both Komatsu Airport and JR Komatsu Station and JAIST. Advance reservations required.

Car

Highway Bus

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Train (JR)

Train (JR)

Highway HakusanIC

AnyojiIntersection

KawakitaBridge

Mitsukuchi-Kita

IntersectionT-junction

Tsurugi Sta.

NishiKanazawa

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Komatsu Airport

JRKanazawa

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JRKomatsu

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HokurikuRailroad

Ishikawa LineShin-NishiKanazawa

Sta.

Kanazawa Sotokanjo Road (Umigawa)

By local train:5min. (180 yen)

On foot: 1 min.

By train: 25min. (440 yen)

JAIST Shuttle (Tsurugi Line)11min. (Free)

JAIST Shuttle (Komatsu Station Line, Komatsu Airport Line) (Advance reservations required.)

Komatsu Airport–JAIST: 35min.JR Komatsu Sta.–JAIST: 30min.For reservations, please contact faculty, the administrative office, or the relevant department at JAIST.

CarHighway Komatsu

ICMitsukuchiIntersection

Nagasaki-Naka

Intersection

KamiyasatoIntersection

Crossroad

JAIST

Free JAIST Shuttle between Hokuriku Railroad Tsurugi Station and JAIST.

Komatsu CityMikawa IC

Kanazawa-Nishi IC

Hokuriku

Expressway

KanazawaStation

Korinbo

Shin-NishiKanazawa Sta.

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Hakusan IC

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Ishikawa High-techExchange Center

Japan Sea ToyamaBay

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Kuramitsu Shinjo

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Nagata-Minami

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Hokuriku Railroad Ishikawa Line

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KomatsuAirport

Japan Advanced Institute of Science and Technology

KagaSangyoRoad

NishikanazawaSta.

“What is knowledge?”

“How is knowledge created?”

These are the main themes at the core of

knowledge science.

We are living in the era of knowledge, and

Knowledge Science now has an important role in

human society.

In the School of Knowledge Science at Japan

Advanced Institute of Science and Technology, we

explore knowledge across various fields, in the 4

central areas of Social Knowledge, Knowledge

Media, Systems Knowledge, and Service Knowledge.

We educate people to become “Pioneers of the

Knowledge Society”, so that they can resolve the

issues facing society through the use of knowledge,

and contribute to the advancement of society.

Aim to be “A Pioneer of the Knowledge Society”

Knowledge leads the world toward the future

Knowledge CreationValue Creation

Our Research Activities

From the viewpoint of knowledge creation in the activities of individuals, organizations, society and nature, the School of Knowledge

Science explores ‘what is knowledge?’ and ‘how is knowledge created?’, while developing education and research systems that

restructure and integrate the various areas of learning – humanities, social science, cognitive science, information science, natural

science and systems science. At the same time, the school aims to produce talented people with the ability to identify and resolve

issues, who will plan and promote new technological, organizational and social innovations; these people will be the ‘pioneers of the

knowledge society’ of the 21st Century.

Admission Policy

We hope to admit students who have a positive drive to contribute to the knowledge society, regardless of their background or faculty specializations. We expect them to have basic academic ability, superior natural talent and clear goals. They are expected to research the activities of individuals, organizations and society as well as natural phenomena, from the perspective of knowledge creation, and work towards the development of knowledge science, a discipline that is an integration of several different fields.

Scope of Research

We carry out practical research for solving real problems, as well as theoretical research for developing methods, methodology and theories of knowledge creation.We are actively involved in collaborative research with domestic and international organizations.We apply intellectual techniques and technology, such as group idea generation methods and modeling & simulation, etc. We also focus on field work, including on-site data collection and analysis, and knowledge creation.

Transforming practical research findings into universal academic knowledge, and practicing problem solving based on that academic knowledge.

Market

Four Fields

The School of Knowledge Science consists of education and research. [Four Major Content Areas] ● Social Knowledge

Within this area, research is conducted into the processes of creating, sharing, and utilizing knowledge in groups, organizations, and society. Also, this area educates knowledge managers who develop academic knowledge and practical skills about knowledge management and management of technology (MOT) in business corporations, governments, NPOs, and regional communities, thereby producing technological, organizational, and social innovations.

● Knowledge MediaWithin this area, research is conducted into human capabilities for discovering and representing items of knowledge. Also, this area educates people to systematically acquire knowledge and skills to develop knowledge-intensive systems with digital media and knowledge-bases. Students are expected to play leading roles in creating the knowledge society by applying their knowledge and skills to advancing the frontiers of information and communication technologies.

● Systems KnowledgeWithin this area, research is conducted into the processes of creating, sharing, and utilizing knowledge about complex phenomena in natural and social systems based on systems science using systems methodologies, modeling and simulation. Through research activities, this area educates knowledge workers who contribute to analyzing and solving problems and issues in various domains.

● Service Knowledge

Within this area, research is conducted into the processes of service value creation, and the sharing and utilization of service knowledge in enterprises and organizations. This area also educates service knowledge managers to achieve technical, organizational, and social innovations by providing them with practical know-how, skills and techniques for service management in enterprises and organizations.

Education Curriculum

In order to have a good balance of subjects from the three areas of nat u ral science, in for mat ion science and social science, int roductory subjects which make up the core cur r iculum (Introduction to Knowledge Science I, II, III, Introduction to Innovation Management, etc), and courses in methodology (Methodology for Systems Science, Methodology for Knowledge Media, Methodology of Social Sciences, etc) are compulsory. The curriculum is designed so that the courses complement each other, and the study approach is clear. Furthermore, in order to gain the

international communication skills and basic technological skills necessary to professionals working in knowledge science, classes on computer literacy, English, presentations and technical writing, etc. are also provided. In addition, there are opportunities for educational research, through ‘collaborative courses’ with other research organizations. At the same time, using our connections with overseas universities based on academic exchange agreements, we provide opportunities for internships in a range of leading-edge research projects, both in Japan and overseas.

Number of students accepted

Master’s program

- In order to welcome students f rom other disciplines, we offer Introductory Courses, and students may attend both Basic and Technical Courses in the area of knowledge science as soon as they arrive at JAIST.

- Through Introduction to Knowledge Science 1-3, s t ude nt s exa m i ne k nowle dge a nd knowledge science, and then based on that understanding, students can deepen their knowledge.

- Students take a balanced combination of basic courses in the fields of ‘Social Knowledge’, ‘Knowledge Media’, and ‘Systems Knowledge’, learning about multifaceted and multi layered thinking.

- Through the selection of technical courses, students can enhance their own specializations.

86 Doctoral program 28

IntroductoryCourses

Introduction toSocial Research

Methods

Introduction toBusiness Economics

Introduction toKnowledge Science 1

Theory of KnowledgeManagement

Next-GenerationManagementof Technology

Next-GenerationKnowledge

Management

Advanced Topics onNew Generation

KnowledgeRepresentation

Advanced Topicsin Media Design

Modern MultivariateData Analysis

Social-TechnicalComplex System

Introduction to Service Innovation

Intellectual PropertyManagement

Methodology forKnowledge Discovery

Representationof Knowledge

Theory on CreativeProcess in Design

Cognitive Science

Essence of SystemMethodologies

Complex SystemsAnalysis

English (Beginner to Advanced Level)

NB: The subjects listed above are just examples of those available.

The KnowledgeSociety

Practice of MOT Innovations


Methodology forKnowledge Media


Methodology forSystems Science

Methodology forthe Social Sciences

Economics and Management of

InnovationIntroduction to

Cognitive ScienceSci

ence

& T

echn

olog

yS

tude

nts

Hum

aniti

es &

Soc

iolo

gyS

tude

nts

Introduction toComputer

Programming

Introduction to Logic

Introductory Statistics

Introduction toMathematicalApproaches

A Basic Study onReal World Oriented

Interfaces

Basic Courses TechnicalCourses

Advanced Coursesand Seminars Research Fields

A center for international collaboration

A center for education and research to clarify the mechanisms for creating, sharing and utilizing knowledge

Local CommunityMOT

(Management of Technology) Services

MedicalServicesPractice

(with citizen participation)

Academicknowledge

Kno

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dge

Co-

crea

tion

thro

ugh

prac

tice

Man

agem

ent

Ana

lysi

sD

esig

n

Valu

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o-cr

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ith k

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Application

Social KnowledgeKnowledge MediaSystems Knowledge

Practical policies and actions to achieve the goal(s)

Design of social systems

Decisions regarding value

Exploring these mechanisms

Knowledge ManagementManagement of Technology (MOT)Anthropology of Knowledge

Systems MethodologiesComplex SystemsScience of Complex NetworksDecision-making Analysis

Creativity Support Systems, Machine Learning, DesignComputer SimulationSkill ScienceKnowledge Creation Support GroupwareKnowledge Media for Augmented CreativityComputer Graphics

Knowledge EngineeringInternet ServicesInnovation Process TheorySocial Computing

English / SkillsSubjects

Communication Skills Japanese Classes for International Students

Scientific Discussions Advanced Project Management

Presentation Seminar Interaction Seminar

The scope of research topics in the School of Knowledge Science is broad, and goes beyond existing disciplines.For example:- Knowledge structure, knowledge representation, scientific

knowledge, social knowledge, political knowledge, traditional knowledge (wisdom), tacit knowledge

- Knowledge management in organizations and society, technological management based on knowledge, project management based on knowledge, technological/organizational/social innovations as knowledge creation, knowledge economy, knowledge society

- Human cognition/intelligence/creativity, embodied knowledge, individual/group knowledge creation, knowledge technology, knowledge systems, data mining, knowledge creation techniques, design as knowledge creation

- Complex phenomena, such as networking and evolution in society, technology and nature; systems thinking; modeling and simulation; constructive approach; systems analysis for environmental and regional issues

- Service innovation, service management, service value creation, service marketing, medical services

5 6

Michitaka Kosaka [Dean of the School of Knowledge Science / Professor in the Field of Service Knowledge]

Dr. Engineering, Kyoto UniversityPrevious employment: Systems Development Research Laboratory, Hitachi, LtdAreas of specialties: Service Innovation, Systems Engineering, Research and Development Management

The 21st Century is said to be the age in which ‘knowledge’ will be the center of activities in society, for example in economic activities.Conversely, modern science, said to have started in the 16th Century, is reaching a significant turning point, in that though it has become departmentalized and more specialized, it is possibly becoming rather limited.Going beyond the limits of modern scientific methodology, how will it be possible to create ‘knowledge’ which will lead to innovations in society?Thus, with these issues in mind, the School of Knowledge Science was created in 1998, as a world first for such a research and educational organization.Without regard for the framework of the sciences and humanities and the borders of various other disciplines, we aim to educate the talented people necessary for our future society, those who can identify and resolve problems, and those who will become pioneers for the knowledge society.

Going beyond the limits of current scientific methodology,we will educate people who will work in the ‘Knowledge Society’ of the future.

Towards a new era of knowledge science Towards knowledge that extends beyond the limits of modern science

On the other hand, the current age is an age in which science and technology are reaching a historic turning point. Modern science, said to have begun in the 16th Century, has provided our society with huge benefits up until the present day. However, due to extreme segmentation and specialization along with sophistication, it has become more difficult for science to deal with large or complicated issues that arise in actual society. For example, limits can be seen in terms of solutions to global environmental problems that will affect the human race in the future. And how should we apply science to matters such as ‘what is life?’, ‘what is the economy?’ or ‘what are organizations?’ which cannot be simplified as we do with physical laws? Furthermore, what do scientific techniques mean for human feelings such as pleasure, happiness and satisfaction? Modern science and science/technology have, up until now, divided in-depth parameters and thus pursued the subsequent sophistication of functions, and have therefore been rather limited – for example, the path that is the straightest, and covers the shortest distance is not necessarily the most pleasurable, so it seems that it is time for a new knowledge paradigm that will go beyond these limits. There is a necessity for a fresh viewpoint that will link ‘humans’ and ‘technology’, and a completely new paradigm that will fundamentally redefine which issues are really important for people to solve. I think what is necessary in the 21st Century to respond to these issues is knowledge systems, the integration of knowledge with liberal arts and science, and the integration of humanities with science/technology.

Education of knowledge society pioneers through restructuring and integrating established disciplines

The School of Knowledge Science was established on the basis of awareness of the above issues and current issues at the time. The School of Knowledge Science promotes the restructuring and integration of science/technology and humanities/social knowledge, and the development of new knowledge systems. Without regard for the framework of the sciences and humanities, and based on the concept of the harmonization of ‘humans, society, nature and science/technology’, we aim to restructure and integrate ‘knowledge of nature’, ‘knowledge of society’, ‘knowledge of organizations’ and ‘knowledge of individuals’ in the various disciplines of materials science, life science, cognitive science, information science, systems science, social science, business administration, economics, organizational theory and philosophy, in addition to educating talented individuals who can identify the problems of the knowledge society and work to resolve these issues, in other words, educate the pioneers of the knowledge society. In the Master’s program, we aim to foster ‘knowledge coordinators (Master’s degree holders)’, who will work in the knowledge society, and in the Doctoral program, we aim to foster ‘knowledge creators (Doctor’s degree holders)’, who will research the knowledge society. Furthermore, the school is divided into 4 fields, specifically ‘Social Knowledge’, ‘Knowledge Media’, ‘Systems Knowledge’ and ‘Service Knowledge’. Our instructors, with experience in a variety of disciplines, work hard to educate talented people for tomorrow’s knowledge society in each field.

A great diversity of interactions, with faculty members and students from different backgrounds

There is a great diversity in the origins of the students studying and doing research at our School. There is an eclectic mix of students from scientific backgrounds who have studied information science and natural science, physics and mathematics, and those with liberal arts backgrounds who have studied anthropology, management (including economics and marketing), and law. Our instructors have come from both domestic and international universities and organizations, or other research institutions, and have carried out research in a range of areas such as materials science, systems science, cognitive science, information science, business administration and philosophy of science. Furthermore, students and instructors come from around the world, but particularly from Asia and Japan, thus a diverse group of talented people and a diversity of knowledge interacts in one place, achieving a sense of collaboration and joint creativity. From within that dynamism, the potential for new knowledge is born, that disregards the borders of traditional disciplines, and the borders of peoples and countries.

Global and Local

Another special feature of our School is our educational research system that uses two approaches – global and local (regional). Being global means interacting with international students and instructors from Asia in particular, but also from all over the world, and also providing a place where international-level advanced science and technological knowledge can be accessed at any time. At the same time, JAIST has its roots in its community of Ishikawa Prefecture, and researchers carry out practical field work while coming into contact with folk knowledge originating from a diversity of traditional craft techniques and historical culture. JAIST thus aims to produce research outcomes that can potentially contribute to the local community. We have already given back to the community through various research outcomes such as product development using traditional techniques, and rejuvenation of tourism businesses, which provide students with the perfect opportunity to apply ‘knowledge creation’ to real-life situations.

Creative people – come forth!

Knowledge Science is a new type of science born out of a totally new mindset. Consequently, we expect those who study this science to be the ones to create its academic structure. As a result, the applicants we are looking for are, above all, those who have an awareness of the limits of current knowledge, and those who have a great desire to search out the problems of today’s science/technology and to try to resolve them. Our doors are open to people who have a desire to open the way to the future of humanity living in the 21st Century using ‘knowledge creation’ that goes beyond the borders of so many disciplines. We sincerely look forward to getting to know you.

The School of Knowledge Science was established in 1998, and was rather rare internationally for being a research and education institute for the scientific study of knowledge. Renowned internationally as being the father of knowledge management and the author of ‘A Theory of Organizational Knowledge Creation’ Professor Ikujiro Nonaka was appointed the first Head of School. Since then, we have fostered a great number of talented people responsible for the knowledge society (knowledge coordinators or Master’s Degree holders), and researchers in the new area of knowledge science (knowledge creators or PhD holders). Let us now examine why ‘knowledge science’ is necessary now, what the School of Knowledge Science is working towards, and what kind of people the School of Knowledge Science is looking for.

Why is Knowledge Science needed now?

The School of Knowledge Science was established in response to

recognition of the issues of ‘the advent of the knowledge society’ and ‘going beyond modern scientific methodology’. Just as Drucker said, ‘The most valuable asset of the 21st Century will be its knowledge,’ and so ‘sophisticated knowledge’ and ‘specialized knowledge’ will become the focus of society’s activities in this age. This is a knowledge society. The ‘knowledge’ that we refer to here differs from simply ‘information’ but includes management resources and sources of competitiveness, and the imaginative and creative ability to continuously carve out the future. A ‘knowledge society’ is coming, where the knowledge necessary for creating unprecedented wealth, such as in the areas of new business solutions and policy making, will be important above all else, and all over the world a big transformation is taking place in social systems where ‘knowledge creation’ is at the core. In the midst of this huge change in society (that has already begun), the education of talented people who can act as leaders in the knowledge society has become an urgent matter for attention in every sector of society.

Message from Dean, School of Knowledge Science

Knowledge Science

7 8

Introductory Courses

No. Course Instructor

K111

K112

K114

K115

K116

K119

K121

K123

Introduction to Business Management

Introductory Statistics

Introduction to Social Research Methods

Introduction to Logic

Introduction to Mathematical Approaches

Introduction to Computer Programming

Introduction to Cognitive Science

A Basic Study on RealWorld Oriented Interface

Shirahada

Ho, Sugiyama

Shirahada

Takaki

Dam

Sugiyama, Kobayashi

S. Hidaka

K. Yamashita

Basic Courses


K211

K213

K214

K228

K229

K230

K201

K205

K202

Methodology for the Social Sciences

Methodology for Systems Science

Methodology for Knowledge Media

Introduction to Knowledge Science 1



Advanced Knowledge Science A (Master’s Thesis)

Advanced Knowledge Science A (Research)

Knowledge Science Seminar A

Umemoto

Nakamori, Huynh

Yuizono, Kanai

Hashimoto, Dam, etc.

Yuizono, Ito, etc.

Huynh, Fujinami, etc.

Advisors

Advisors

Advisors

Advanced Courses


K611

K612

K613

K615

K619

K626

K601

K602

K603

Next-Generation Management of Technology

Next-Generation Knowledge Management

Social-Technical Complex Systems

Modern Multivariate Data Analysis

Advanced Topics in Media Design

Advanced Knowledge Science B

Knowledge Science Seminar B1 (Sub Theme)

Knowledge Science Seminar B2 (internship)

Kohda

Peltokorpi

Huynh

Ikeda, Yuizono, Arima,

Kitahara, Nagasaka

Ho, Dam

Miyata, Nagai, Kanai,

Noma, Shinozawa, Koizumi

Advisors

Advisors

Advisors

Advanced Topics on New Generation

Knowledge Representation

Master’s ProgramsStandard schedule for students entering in April, and completingthe program within two years.

JAIST Advantages

4-Term SystemThe JAIST curriculum is divided into two semesters, each of which is further divided into two terms to give students the optimum environmentfor intensive study in a variety of areas. Complete programs in a short period of timeStudents demonstrating excellent academic achievement are able to complete programs in a shorter period of time, as little as one year for Master’s and PhD programs.

Firs

t yea

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Master’s research program covers main and sub-themes. Students receive individualized support for their main theme from their primary advisors and guidance for sub-themes from their secondary advisors.

- Advisors provide individualized support to students throughout the research and thesis-writing process.

- Students carry out individual or joint research on sub-themes in their secondary advisors’ areas of specialization to increase their skill and gain multifaceted perspectives.

● Entrance Ceremony, Course Selection, Term 1-1 Starts, Temporary Lab Assignment

April

May

● Term 1-2 StartsJune● KS Lab AssignmentJuly● Summer VacationAugust● Intensive CoursesSeptember● Term 2-1 StartsOctober

November● Term 2-2 Starts, Winter VacationDecember

● Finish Sub-theme Research (KS), submit Master's Proposal

March

JanuaryFebruary

Seco

nd y

ear

April

MayJuneJuly

AugustSeptember

OctoberNovemberDecember

March

JanuaryFebruary

Research on main/sub themesDoctoral students engage their main theme research. In addition, they need to undertake sub-theme research or an internship. Students receive individualized support for their main theme from their primary advisors, and guidance for sub-themes from their secondary advisors.

- Advisors provide individualized support to students throughout the research and thesis-writing process.

- Students carry out individual or joint research on sub-themes in their secondary advisors’ areas of specialization to increase their skill and gain multifaceted perspectives.

- Students who take internships are provided practical experience in a business scene.

Research on main/sub themes, and Internship

Ｋ433

Ｋ444

K464

K469

K470

K471

K472

K473

K474

Practice of MOT Innovations

Design Cognition

Cognitive Science

Knowledge Creation Support Systems

Introduction to Knowledge Creation

Media Creation

Media Interaction

Management of Innovation

Systems Theory for Regional Activation

Kondo

Nagai, Morita

Fujinami

Nishimoto

Kunifuji, Yamaura,

Arima

Miyata, Shiio

Nishimoto

Ikawa

Nakamori, Kosaka, Ikeda,

Tachi, Kondo, Kobayashi, Tamiya

Intermediate Courses


K411

K412

K413

K414

K417

K418

K420

K421

Ｋ427

Theory of Knowledge Management

The Knowledge Society

Comparative Study of Knowledge Institutions

Complex Systems Analysis

Methodology for Knowledge Discovery

Representation of Knowledge

Research & Development Management

Essence of System Methodologies

Theory on Creative Process in Design

Hirata, T. Hayashi,

Peltokorpi

Ito

Nagata

Hashimoto

Ho, Dam

Yuizono

Kosaka

T. Yoshida

Nagai, Morita

● Term 1-1 Starts, Begin research for Master's Thesis

● Term 1-2 Starts● Application to Doctoral Course (if applicable)

● Mid-term Defense (KS)● Term 2-1 Starts

● Term 2-2 Starts

● Degree Ceremony

● Apply for Graduation● Finish Master's Thesis

Doctoral ProgramsStandard schedule for students entering in April, and completingthe program within three years.

Firs

t yea

r

● Lab assignmentAprilMayJuneJuly

AugustSeptember


● Submit Doctoral Dissertation ProposalMarch

JanuaryFebruary

Seco

nd y

ear

AprilMayJuneJuly

AugustSeptember


March

JanuaryFebruary

Third

yea

r

AprilMayJuneJuly

AugustSeptember


March

JanuaryFebruary

● Submit an Outline of Doctoral Dissertation

● Preliminary Defense ● Hearing Doctoral dissertation● Finish Doctoral Thesis● Degree Ceremony

List of Courses in the Schoolof Knowledge Science

Knowledge Science

Soci

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edia

Syst

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now

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ResearchInterests

Social Know

ledgeK

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ResearchInterests

Knowledge Science

Professors and

Associate Professors

9 10

What is the area of research in your laboratory and how is your laboratory operated?

The area of research is science and technology management. With penetration of the Internet, global aspects of innovation management,

through which industries and companies gain competitiveness, are becoming increasingly important to enrich our life. We carry out research on issues related to technology management and methodologies. The general goal of the laboratory is to establish systematization of technology and innovation management. All students in this laboratory are working professionals who study at our Tokyo Satellite facilities. They are conducting research to solve problems encountered in and around their organizations related to technology and innovation management. It is my wish to support them, as they try to seek a degree and at the same time pursue their goals in their business.

What kind of future do you think we will have?

Digitization and globalization brought about by information technology has changed the scene of industrial competitiveness. Our

lives cannot be improved without pursuing innovation. One of the ways to make innovation happen is to close the gap between the real and the ideal. However, even when innovation is realized, such competitiveness can be easily lost due to the internet and global airline network, through which knowledge can easily be diffused. Meanwhile 70 to 80 percent of GDP is produced by the service sectors in developed countries. This trend accelerates as the economy advances. Here identifying customer needs is crucial, which is achieved by developing intuition, foresight and vision creation ability, which can be realized through experience. If we can handle these abilities scientifically and logically, they will lead to a new competitiveness. Is it possible? One answer is for professionals to make every effort to accomplish their goals. And this approach has been proven to be correct scientifically. I wish to contribute to establishing managerial methods so that professionals’ efforts can satisfy consumers’ latent needs, leading to strengthening competitiveness to create new value.

Could you tell us about your background, experiences related to your having become who you are, and

encounters with people that you found impressive?

I majored in electronic engineering and worked on semiconductors. I joined Toshiba Corporation and was assigned to the research center.

After conducting research on solar cells, I became a visiting research associate at Stanford University. After returning from the USA to Toshiba, Japan, I worked on the research and development of high-speed integrated circuits, and then was assigned to a research planning group to handle strategic research planning of a wide range of fields. As a result of this I was transferred to London, England, where I acted as research and technology representative in Europe for Toshiba. I was involved in the project to establish and operate a research center in Cambridge, collaborating with the University of Cambridge. After returning to Japan from England, I was appointed head of one of the research laboratories, and then became the head of the planning group at the research center, and later became chief research officer in charge of managing global research and development. I then joined JAIST to contribute to education and research in the field of Technology Management based on my experiences in the industrial sector. To conduct my work at JAIST, my experiences at Toshiba, Stanford University and University of Cambridge turned out to be precious, (which I had not been aware of during the time I spent there). I am now collaborating with them in projects in JAIST’s Center for Advanced Education for Working Professionals, of which I am the director. Based on this experience, I can now suggest and assure you that what you are doing today will turn out to be a very precious asset in your future in an unforeseeable way. Therefore, making every effort on current projects, believing it will be fruitful experience in the future, is a very positive and forward-looking attitude.

What is your message for students interested in studying knowledge science?

As a member of the staff at the School of Knowledge Science, I hope to cultivate talented professionals with the following six attributes: I would

like to cultivate, firstly, individuals who understand and facilitate teamwork; secondly, individuals capable of developing their own ideas while carefully listening to and fully digesting different opinions; thirdly, individuals who think and communicate from a global perspective; fourthly, individuals who are highly motivated to achieve their goals; fifthly, individuals who actively exchange opinions beyond the boundaries of generation and background, and sixthly, individuals who understand the necessity of pursuing the depths of knowledge creation and the need to prepare an excellent environment, feel the pleasure of doing so, and take initiative in pursuing such an environment. With these efforts, I hope that each of our students will become a special individual who can create innovation and contribute to future society.

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http://www.jaist.ac.jp/~ikawa/http://www.jaist.ac.jp/ks/labs/ikawa/[email protected]

Yasuo Ikawa Professor

Research on innovation managementand the systematization of technology management

Keywords: Technology Management, R&D Management, Technology Strategy, Electronics & Semiconductor Industry Strategy, Innovation Management

Developing technology management from a global perspective, and conducting research on strategies for industrial competitiveness and innovation management for the next generation.

Keywords: R&D Management, Service Design Methodology, Risk Management, Software Engineering

Our laboratory is engaged in technology management, particularly in knowledge transfer for project management, including R&D projects and new service and product development projects. Service system design methodology is another research theme in our laboratory.

In what way and towards what problems in today’s society do you think your research will contribute (aims to contribute)?

In a competitive global market, one of the big issues for companies is to create new value and profit from their products and services.

There is no magic wand to turn their products and services into successful major businesses. However, it is possible to increase the success probability of their products and services by analyzing past similar project cases, and visualizing future chances and risks for the target project. We propose a framework for knowledge transfer from managers of past projects to managers of current target projects. Our framework consists of knowledge externalization (post review of past projects) and knowledge internalization (phase review of target projects). Furthermore, we have been developing a project case database and a project management tool for supporting the continuous operation of our proposed framework in companies. In the current era, servitization of manufacturing companies is very important to create new value and profit. In particular, we are greatly concerned with project management of product-based service systems.

What kind of teaching policy do you have? How is your laboratory managed?

The most important thing is to engage in an interesting and exciting research theme which you think may change the world. In parallel,

it is also important to learn and master ways of doing research, including problem definition, modeling, prototyping, experimenting, and evaluation. When working for an organization (company, etc.) after graduating, it

may be that the job activities differ from your research theme at JAIST. However, I believe that the methods of doing research that you have mastered will be helpful toward finding good jobs, and will be connected to your growth in an organization.

Please describe your philosophy or motto as a researcher, and what things you keep in mind or words you live by.

Until now, I have engaged in the research and development of growing and immature technologies, including software engineering,

risk engineering, service science and technology management. In these growing and immature fields, it is necessary to find the essence of grey area problems, and formulate them with new ways of thinking. This process is very interesting and exciting for me, although it may look strange to traditional researchers in established fields. I will continue to propose exciting new concepts by seizing problems and the opportunities that appear at the turning points in technology and life.

What type of student were you? Please tell us about concentrating your effort as a student, experiences connected to the present, and impressive encounters with people you have had, etc.

When I was manager of the R&D division of a company and struggled for better technology management, I came across the

MOT (management of technology) course at JAIST and entered its PhD course as a working student. I was able to spend busy but fruitful years at JAIST where I could learn many things from my teachers and classmates. In particular, the framework of social science was fresh and stimulating for me, since it was substantially different from the engineering framework I was familiar with. The continuing human network, which is maintained after graduation through various events (JAIST open seminar, etc.), enriches my research and business activities.

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[email protected]://www.jaist.ac.jp/ks/labs/uchihira/

Naoshi Uchihira Professor

Service System Design & Technology Management: Models, Methods, Tools, and Practices

Phase Review Management

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Keywords: Knowledge Management

Knowledge management in healthcare services

What do you think knowledge science is ?

Knowledge science explores “episteme” (i.e., 知 or Chi) in Chinese character, which is a generic term I coined to include data,

information, knowledge, and wisdom. In other words, knowledge science seeks answers to two fundamental questions, i.e., “what is episteme?” and “how is episteme created?” Then, why do we call this new research field as “knowledge science?” One reason is a historical background of our societal shift from the information society and to the knowledge society, which came along with rapid advances in information and telecommunication technology (ICT). The other reason is that the term “knowledge” as the most usable asset and therefore has been used to encompass all 4 levels of episteme.Figure 1 Episteme Pyramid

As shown in Figure 1, data, information, knowledge, and wisdom have often been described as a pyramid of 4 levels. Data is a series of signals or symbols with no intrinsic meaning. Information is a fragmented meaning extracted through data analysis. A wide range of useful and systemic information that leads to action is called knowledge. Knowledge, whose usefulness has been proven over a long period of time, is called wisdom. Furthermore, episteme has 3 aspects: power, process, and product. Their relationships are shown in Figure 2. The intellectual power is often called intelligence or creativity that enables the intellectual process. The intellectual process includes feeling, sensing, thinking, and reasoning that engender episteme. The intellectual product such as patents and technologies are outcomes that enhance the intellectual power of individuals, groups, organizations, and societies. Knowledge science examines also these 3 aspects of episteme.

Figure 2 3P3E Model of Episteme

What I have described above was acquired through my studies on knowledge management, my area of specialization, which is theory and practice of creation, sharing, and utilization of episteme. In fact, knowledge management handles not only knowledge but also data (in data mining), information (in information processing), and wisdom (in knowhow transfer programs). Based on these findings, I have conducted studies on knowledge management in extremely knowledge-intensive healthcare services. The value and knowledge of health are co-created by healthcare professionals and patients and their families. I have conducted a fieldwork at a university hospital, where human resources, technologies, organizational units, and episteme are elements of a complex system, thereby examining how episteme is created, shared and utilized through smartphones and tablet computers.

In what way does your research contribute to society?

As of 2010, the percentage of individuals 65 years old or older accounted for 23.1% of the entire Japanese population, which defines

Japan as a super-aged society. The elderly tends to suffer from a number of diseases simultaneously. This has become the major cause of the increase in medical costs and the financial burden and a significant problem for Japan. In addition to the increasing cost of caring for the aging population, new medical instruments and drugs needs expensive research and development and the shift in focus of healthcare from acute conditions such as infectious diseases to chronic conditions such as diabetes have increased the cost of medical care. My research aims at not only reduction in such medical costs but also utilizing effectively episteme of patients, their families, and medical professionals, all of whom are working as a team to improve health and quality of life of patients. Furthermore, to establish community care that supports better end-of-life care of the elderly, it is also essential for medical- and social-care professionals cooperate through the integration of healthcare and social welfare services. My research on the use of smartphones and tablet computers will help such interdisciplinary collaboration.

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http://www.jaist.ac.jp/ks/labs/umemoto/[email protected]

Katsuhiro Umemoto Professor

Pursuing knowledge management in healthcare services

Analysis

Systemization

ActionWisdom

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Product

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Keywords: International business cycles, Asian economy, The United States and European economies

I am engaged in research centered on international business cycle theory to explain how movements in business cycles in each country relate to each other. Looking at the recent global recession as an example, the importance of understanding the mechanism of international business cycles is clear. For that reason, one must keep an eye on trends in the monetary and fiscal policies of each country as well as in cross-border trade and investment.

In what way and towards what problems in today’s society do you think your research will contribute

(aims to contribute)?

Since entering the 2000s, trade, investment and human movement have rapidly increased within the global economy compared

to before, and ties between countries have deepened. As a result, the relationships between economies (such as differences in the timing of economic booms and recessions) are changing. My field of research, international business cycle theory, aims to explain the mechanism of these international business cycles. Do the economies of different countries behave in the same way, and if they are changing, what factors are involved? The current global recession has shown us the danger of all economies heading in the same direction simultaneously. Explaining the mechanism of international business cycles can also set the stage for us to think about policy instruments to control this kind of economic synchronism, so it can be said to be of deep significance.

What got you interested and how did you start your research in this area?

I had been involved in work forecasting the Japanese and global economies at a private research institute. Economic forecasts are

basically predicated on the notion that the mechanisms of past economic fluctuations will continue in the future. However, as I mentioned earlier, the global economy is going through major structural changes, so such assumptions are no longer valid. Sorting through the structural changes and updating the models for forecasting economic fluctuations is an arduous but worthwhile undertaking. All kinds of economic activities are conducted based on future prospects, so economic forecasts are useful for such purposes. As so many other academic disciplines continue to fragment, the significant expansion of the focus of this research is another appealing aspect. There are also many unexplored fields, such as analysis of the business cycles of developing countries. The considerable possibilities of gaining new knowledge such as this are why I chose this field as the subject of my research.

What type of personality and skills do you expect your students to have?

In Japan, there is an increasing sense of stagnation and sluggishness. Specifically, I think that students who find it difficult to see a future

constantly feel a sense of anxiety. What you have to be careful about, then, is making sure that anxiety doesn’t take the front seat and actually cause you to lose interest in things or become apathetic. If you have something to research that is truly interesting, you should be able to immerse yourself in it. The first thing I want students to do is to carefully check where their own interests lie. If they have a goal, I want them to recklessly pursue it without fear of failure. If they can do that, even if the results do not come about right away, they won’t have to worry about becoming apathetic or crushed by anxiety. I also want students to have a strong competitive spirit in a positive sense. To put it in a slightly provocative way, I want them to be more on edge. That will be an important weapon for them to overcome difficulty.


A researcher’s work can be divided into three phases, namely (1) selection of a research topic, (2) implementation of research and (3)

writing and presentation of a paper. I believe the first phase is of particular importance. Research that has no added value (such as bringing something about that did not exist before, or confirming something that had been unknown) is meaningless. In order to find a research topic with solid added value and to acquire knowledge, it is essential not only to carefully read prior related research, but also to have the dedication to expand the scope of your interests to peripheral fields and, in some cases, to fields that might seem unrelated at first glance. It’s easy to talk about reading prior research, but actually doing it is another thing. That’s because while reading one paper, the number of other papers that need to be read increases exponentially, so you have to stay focused and keep a sense of awareness at all times as you read the papers, in order to see where the gemstone of added value has rolled off to. Researchers must have the perseverance, rigor and flexibility of thought to do those things.

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[email protected]

Fumihide Takeuchi Professor

Explaining the mechanisms of international economic ripple effects by analyzing various economic data

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What is the social significance of your academic field and its research?

“Make the s t range fami l ia r, and the fami l ia r s t range” . Anthropologists have made the strange familiar, by traditionally

investigating ways of life of the people living in simple small-scale societies in remotest areas, and by demonstrating that those ways of life, however strange they seem to “us”, are coherent and make sense in their social and cultural context. This has provided perspectives from which our everyday surroundings begin to seem not “natural” and even strange. In this way, anthropologists have shown what shapes “the familiar”, and how complex such things are, through the ethnographic research approach. This anthropological approach contributes to clarifying and revitalising human culture and lives. Recently, anthropological perspectives and ethnographic methodologies have come to be widely applied to clarify problems hidden in plain sight in studies on business administration, nursing science, and science and technology studies, especially in the US and European countries. Anthropologists in these countries engage in a variety of fields. However, in Japan anthropologists have not actively engaged in fields such as business and industry. Our lab is keen to play an active role in such fields in Japan, and tries to open the potential of anthropological/ethnographic methodology in fields such as science and technology, medical and health care, and business and industry.

What is the meaning for students in this area of study?

There are many graduate schools both at home and abroad with cultural anthropology programmes. However, the Graduate School of

Knowledge Science can offer an interdisciplinary environment to students without requiring an undergraduate background in anthropology and related fields. My students (members of our laboratory) come from varied academic backgrounds: as undergraduates, some specialised in management and business administration, others in nursing science, pedagogy, engineering, or chemistry. This produces unique research results that are not possible at other graduate schools. Providing opportunities to study anthropology for students from undergraduate programmes in engineering makes it possible for them to combine knowledge acquired in their earlier studies with ethnography to diagnose problems at manufacturing facilities. This is just one example, but such approaches have the potential of producing new and unique research in ethnography that cannot be achieved by students trained only in narrowly-defined anthropology from their undergraduate years.

What are you interested in now?

I was involved in long-term field research in New Zealand, the results of which have been used in my doctoral thesis and in books,

etc. There are a number of fields (sites) where I have been working on ethnography research since then.- Comparative ethnographic research targeting experimental laboratories

in research universities, focusing on diversity in scientific research and understanding the dynamics and processes of producing scientific knowledge.

- Ethnography for medical information at hospitals - understanding and evaluating daily work practice of medical practitioners while considering organisational culture.

- Investigating the possibilities and limitations of ethnographic research in the context of Japanese business, such as consumer behaviour, business improvement, and usability.

What skills do you want your students to have and what roles do you want them to play?

Lab graduates in cultural anthropology have much potential not just academically, but also in the professional world. In the US and

UK, researchers are working at companies that utilise their background in anthropology to create and conduct consumer research. The majority of those who have doctoral degrees in anthropology in the US are engaged in such practical activities at companies and non-profit organisations. There are also some who establish consulting companies using anthropological methods (ethnography), although this is not yet common in Japan. Considering that Japan will follow such a model sooner or later, I started offering classes connecting industry and business with ethnography at the Tokyo Satellite. I hope that students will seek and apply the potential and practicality of the methods used in anthropology in a wide range of fields.

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http://www.jaist.ac.jp/profiles/[email protected]

Yasunobu Ito Associate Professor

Cultural anthropology in the fields of science and technology, medical and health care, and business and industry

Keywords: Cultural Anthropology (Anthropology of Knowledge), Sociology of Knowledge

Using anthropological and ethnographic research methods, and regarding human knowledge as "always already" situated and embedded in its social, cultural, and historical context, our lab investigates the process of generation and creation of knowledge with attention to its diversity and dynamic characteristics. The main research areas of our lab are science and technology, medical and health care, and business and industry.

[email protected]

Vesa Peltokorpi Associate Professor

Research laboratory focusing on groups and organizations

What type of skills do you want your students to have?

I would like students to have at least some basic understanding of management or organizational psychology and research methods.

Students should also be self-guided and willing to learn.

What is your philosophy or motto, or what things do you like to keep in mind while conducting your research?

I seek to conduct research in a structured and productive manner. By structured, I mean that I seek first to find a research topic that is

interesting (to scholars and practitioners) and executable (either by surveys and/or interviews). Obviously, different methodologies should fit with the research questions. Essential in the beginning of the project is to conduct a thorough literature review in order to know what has been done on that topic, and what we still don't know. In addition, it is important to choose theoretical framework(s) through which a given phenomenon is described. The theoretical framework will also guide the methodological choice and all other areas of research. The methodology, findings, and discussion of findings should be conducted then in a structured way.By productive, I mean that all research projects should eventually lead to publications in peer-reviewed scientific journals. Normally, I present my papers first in international conferences, and seek feedback from other scholars active in the same area. These conference presentations and scholarly feedback enable me to revise my paper and clarify some matters I might have overlooked. Finally, the paper needs to be submitted to peer-reviewed scientific journals. To me, a conference presentation is not the end, but just one stage of a research project. Simply, to me papers that are not published in journals are wasted effort. From beginning to the end, it takes normally from two to five years to publish a paper in a peer-reviewed scientific journal. Taking into account the time and effort invested, my message to research students is that research projects should be conducted in a structured and productive manner.

What are your current interests?

Currently, my research deals mostly with international human resource management and group cognition. My recent and ongoing

research projects on international human resource management deal with issues, such as job satisfaction, job embeddedness (i.e., why individuals choose to stay in their organizations), transfer of human resource management practices (such as compensation systems) within multinational companies (MNCs), language policies and practices in MNCs and foreign subsidiaries, and cross-cultural communication and adjustment of expatriate employees. I have derived my empirical material on these topics through semi-structured interviews and/or surveys. Most of my empirical material on international human resource management is gathered from foreign subsidiaries and foreign expatriates in Japan. Most of these studies have been or will be published in human resource management and international business journals.In group cognition, my recent and ongoing research projects deal with transactive memory systems (that can be described as shared cognitive division of labor used to encode, store, and retrieve information in teams), determinants of team innovation, boundary-spanning activities, team learning, and team leadership. In my opinion, most of this research is loosely connected to psychology-oriented knowledge management (even though researchers by themselves often do not define it as knowledge management). This research is based mostly on surveys. For example, I have collected data from daycare center teams and technology research teams in Finland. Most of these studies have been or will be published in organizational behavior or psychology journals.

What is knowledge science? What do you think about the role of your research in knowledge science?

Knowledge science deals with various knowledge-related issues. The role of part of my research in knowledge science is to examine

innovation-related issues in teams.

How can your research possibly address problems faced by our modern society?

Perhaps my research can address issues related to social interactions determining innovation and performance in teams.

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Keywords: Knowledge management, International human resource management, Transactive memory systems

The influence of human resource management (HRM) practices on social interaction process performance, and innovation in teams and organizations

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What is your general view of the discipline of knowledge science? How do you position your research within it?

Knowledge science is, as the name suggests, a science related to knowledge in general. I understand it to encompass everything from

the basic question of what knowledge is, to practical questions like how knowledge is created and how to put knowledge into practice and distribute it. Of course, the role of philosophy is to handle the very basics.

In what way and towards what problems in today’s world do you think your research will contribute (aims to contribute)?

In modern life where information devices connected to the Internet are everywhere, it’s increasingly important to have your own ideas

and not get lost in the information. There is no value in simply having more information or knowledge. What is important is what you think based on that information. As it happens, though, we are often only parroting what others have said, even when we think something is our own idea (particularly when we are young). Philosophical training is ultimately required in order to critically examine one’s own ideas and compare them with others’. In Europe and the United States, students are subjected to thorough training in this respect at the undergraduate level, but in Japan, unfortunately, perhaps out of ignorance of philosophy, philosophical education is almost entirely neglected. I am fortunate to be in charge of philosophy classes at JAIST, and I hope it will contribute to sending out into the world as many individuals as possible who can think for themselves and get to the root of problems, in developing new theories and new frameworks for their own research.

What do you think is important in your students? Please include what you hope for, the qualifications you look for,

fields they should show interest in, etc.

The attitude of a student should not be one of seeking to learn passively. Instead, the minimum qualification of a student is the capacity to start

from your own questions or problems, no matter how small they are, and develop them using your own words and thoughts. I’m even happier if the students have questions that are not yet part of their main research, and are so revolutionary that they do not know how to quantify them, or even whether or not they can be considered science.

Please describe your philosophy or motto as an educator, and what you consider most when interacting with your students.

Rather than teaching them something, I want to help students think on their own. In doing so, I hope we can learn from each other.

In particular, it is my hope that through discussions with myself or their peers during class, the students will deepen their own thoughts as much as possible. Since graduate schools are a place to engage in research, all the professors can do in graduate school education is to simply assist students in that sense.

What type of student were you? Please tell us about concentrating your efforts as a student, experiences

that are connected to your present situation, and impressive encounters with people you have had, etc.

To be honest, I wasn’t a very good student when I was an undergraduate. I was a member of the film club, and busy shooting

movies. One of the former members of that club is now a Taiga drama director. I was also part of the executive committee that put together movie festivals for movie clubs from various universities, and I was able to meet famous movie directors who are still active today, major manga artists, and many other people in that capacity. I no longer have any ties to that world, but reading books and articles of people like Kojin Karatani and Shigehiko Hasumi is what led me to read Wittgenstein and Lacan, so I’ve realized once again that my past is connected to my present.

As someone with experience exploring knowledge science, what is your message for undergraduates who are

interested in it?

You’ve made it all the way to graduate school, so please have big dreams like winning a Nobel prize as you go about your research.

You must already have topics that you like, want to do or want to know most. Look into yourself and re-discover them. They must be things that encourage you to keep doing your research without ever growing tired of it. As long as you have some special topics, even if you think your current research is boring, you should be able to get through it, if you can think of it as a way to get to what you really want to know. Good luck.

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http://researchmap.jp/mizumoto/[email protected]

Masaharu Mizumoto Associate Professor

Pursuing knowledge science throughthe method of analytic philosophy

Keywords: Analytical philosophy, Wittgenstein, Epistemology, Philosophy of mind

My research includes what it means to know (and understand) something from a conceptual, formal, cultural and linguistic standpoint, based on conceptual analysis common in analytic philosophy and the approach of experimental philosophy. I am also doing research on topics such as the body, self, awareness and meaning from a Wittgensteinian approach.

What do you think knowledge science is, and what is the role of your research in the field?

My understanding of knowledge science includes not only knowledge itself, but also the integration process of the knowledge

and its owner and/or processor.Currently, my main research area is knowledge discovery from medical data including genome sequences, clinical records of patients at hospitals, and so on. For example, “interferon plus ribavirin therapy is a current standard treatment for chronic hepatitis C” is a kind of medical knowledge and fact, being used in medical practice and research. Knowledge discovery from medical data is a way to discover such useful knowledge, rules or patterns from medical data by using computational methods. Medical knowledge is related to life and biological processes. Which are based on not only natural rules but also complex factors of lives. Therefore, in order to approach medical knowledge, both the objective “correctness” of natural science and subjective intuition, experience and knowledge of medical experts are indispensable.

What got you interested in this area?

I have been working on knowledge discovery and data mining, especially on frameworks and methods of discovering knowledge

from medical data since my master course, while I majored in literature and human geography during my undergraduate studies, quite a different area. The secret of this development is that I happened to join JAIST after several years of working experience, with the motivation to understand success factor differences between Japanese companies and foreign companies. Then, after joining JAIST, I happened to take a lecture on “Knowledge Emergence” by Professor Sakurai and Professor Ho, using the textbook “Machine Learning” written by Tom Mitchell. There were many interesting and new ideas for me in the lecture, including PAC (Probably Approximately Correct) learning, a convincing idea, so then I shifted my target area of research.

What kind of student were you?

My undergraduate life consisted of club activities and chatting in the laboratory. The atmosphere in the laboratory was very open and

liberal. The members of the laboratory used to discuss everything related to their interests, not only their research. Even when I did not understand clearly what we were talking about, I got used to adjusting my way of thinking with comprehensive and various views, which has affinity also with knowledge science. With appreciation to my supervisor, Professor Nozawa of Kyushu University and his laboratory members, one of the topics I sometimes remember from that period is “any objective fact may also reflect somebody’s philosophy or values”, true even when handling data quantitatively.The other thing I would like to mention here is that I have learnt much more from practice than from classroom learning. My working experience in companies and other organizations has convinced me that actual involvement and spending sufficient time led me to real and substantive knowledge. Therefore I would like to advise younger people not to hesitate to directly try new things.


Computational methods can suggest various possibilities from data. My major interests focus on discovering patterns based on correct

interpretations in the target domain, as well as on methods to integrate appropriate computational methods. In addition, currently I serve as staff for the “Center for Advanced Education for Working Professionals”, and luckily have chances to discuss with experts in the fields of management and communications who have impressed me with their wide range of interests and warm insights on Japan and the Japanese. It seems also interesting and challenging to find and to construct such great insights from public literature, or discover patterns appearing in human activities, while it is not always true that the significant idea is clearly described in writing, because “what is essential is invisible to the eye”.

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http://www.jaist.ac.jp/profiles/info.php?profile_id=384&syozoku=33&[email protected]

Saori Kawasaki Research Associate Professor

Discovering knowledge from data from a wide range of information resources

Keywords: Knowledge Discovery Process, Knowledge Discovery in Technology Management, Medical Data Mining

Studies on methods of extracting characteristic patterns from related data, and knowledge discovery processes utilizing a wide range of information resources.

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How do you define the discipline of knowledge science?

In my opinion, knowledge science is an incomplete discipline. As there are journeys without destinations, perhaps there can be projects

without endings. What is important in such processes is the element that makes one resolve to move in a certain direction; in other words, incentive. Creativity is linked to being driven by an adventurous spirit to head toward a world that seems uncertain but somewhat interesting, and find out what it really is with one’s own eyes, rather than simply selecting a popular or secure path. Sensitive emotion and individuality create the shape of this new academic field of knowledge science.

What constitutes the social significance of your research?

Creativity and creativeness. There has been no period when the power of design has been sought so earnestly as today. For example,

in order for a product to gain popularity and to be used for a long time, it needs to be excellently designed. Furthermore, good design does not provide a final complete form in advance, but rather the design is improved to fit in with the surroundings, with the involvement of many people in the world, and it is necessary to establish a design development structure that incorporates a process like this. I think ecological design, sustainable design, and barrier-free design are some issues directly connected with our ideals of how society should be.

What type of personality and skills do you expect your students to have?

It is wonderful if they have the ability to feel design. Such ability may spring from imagination, sensibility, or intellectual curiosity.

It may be largely influenced by past experience, by something they have in their memory or they were impressed with. Anyway, such ability will serve as the trigger for the students to work intensively on something, and enhance creativity in individuals and in teams. It seems to me that any student who has an obsession about something, even if it is not well-defined, tends to understand the true nature of design, while having a certain eagerness for their dreams and research.For example, research topics of the students who graduated last March, such as “Influence of Music on Drawing,” “Observation of Moving Images for Searching Needs,” “Embodied Synchrony between Salesclerk and Customer in an Apparel Shop,” and “Feel and Impression of Glass,”

which originally had developed from the students’ interests, involved very challenging research that vividly captured the knowledge creation processes in terms of design.

What type of student were you? What experiences and meetings made an impact on you when you were a student?

I spent my student days in an extremely creative environment at an art university, and as might be expected, I was making something

every day. I was always thinking about the act of creation, searching for methods of creating my artworks, and wondering about this concept all the time. Once I started creating my artworks, I became so immersed that I neglected all other things. Every other student around me was like this, thinking about nothing but their art. That environment was one that went beyond creative (laughs). That was a group that was bubbling with personality, where even inconsequential matters ignited stormy debates. These debates were always really serious, placing me in an overwhelmingly tense atmosphere. So, I was just a normal student in that environment. But once I step outside all that, I am nothing but an eccentric individual, right?

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http://www.jaist.ac.jp/ks/labs/nagai/cgi-bin/Japanese/[email protected]

Yukari Nagai Professor

Research on the knowledge creation process from the viewpoint of design. Inquiry into the state of design directly linked with society.

Keywords: Design (design creativity, design knowledge, creative thinking processes)

Mechanism elucidation and practice of design thinking. Design innovation processes for connecting new materials and technologies with people’s livelihoods.

Design of lighting productsExperiment on visual impressions

Mark design

Study on the sense of touch

(Designs by students)

What is the significance of your research for society?

I am working to create a society in which everyone can enjoy worth-while, fulfilled, and happy lives. More and more people, men and

women alike, have trouble feeling that their existence has meaning. This has led to a loss of social vitality. To correct this, it is extremely important for us to feel needed, or that our existence is meaningful to society. I am promoting research and development focusing on universal media systems for creative activities utilizing information and communication technology that allows us to contribute to society and the people around us with our full potential. We do not know all the creative abilities we have; and even if we notice some of them, we cannot exercise such abilities at will. There are only limited numbers of people who can fully exercise their abilities. However, this does not mean that others do not have creativity. We have creativity that has not been exercised, or that we have not noticed yet in ourselves. Universal media systems for creative activities allow everyone to fully exercise their own creativity, through the discovery of such potential creativity and the ability to use it freely. From the viewpoint of knowledge science, this is an approach to expanding the base of talented professionals capable of pursu-ing knowledge creation. I believe my studies will contribute to a significant improvement in the productivity of overall knowledge creation.

“Family Ensemble” is musical performance media that discovers creativity in musical performance: Allowing children and parents with little or no experience playing the piano to enjoy playing duet and succeed in exercis-ing their potential ability to create musical expression.

What is your principle or motto as a researcher?

I am interested in making creative activities possible. In order to do so, I am working on research and development for a wide range of

systems and media utilizing computers. However, people often misunder-stand me. I am not interested in creating systems that automatically create things. For example, I like music and want to be able to compose and play. In order to realize this, I am working on an information system targeting music. Automatic composition and performance are a major area of research in the field of music information processing. As the name suggests, the research is carried out for the purpose of creating systems for automatic composition and performance. Such research, I believe, is significant and meaningful as science that seeks to clarify the mechanism of thought when humans create music. However, frankly speaking, creation of such systems does not make me happy at all, because the music and performance created by such systems are not what I want to achieve. What I think musical creativity is cannot be correctly reflected in such systems. Creation is ultimately a human activity that brings intellectual excitement and satisfaction to us. Therefore, I think humans should do the creating. Why do we need to give such a special human ability to machines? I believe that engineering research and development on machines that create is not now and never will be beneficial for humans. I know some may criticize my opinion; however, it is my individual principle and motto. Therefore, my study group does not work on research related to the automation of creation, because I do not want to do it. Humans create things. I will continue working on research and development of systems and media that support the creative activity of humans.

What do you want students to learn through their research?

Highly-advanced technology is not always necessary for the creation of systems and media that support creative activity. In many cases,

we can create such systems and media utilizing existing technology. What is important is the ability to objectively observe and analyze the creative activ-ity of humans, and to have insight into the problems and limitations which are not readily apparent, even for those who are involved in creative activity. I hope all students will develop their skills of observation and their insight.

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http://www.jaist.ac.jp/ks/labs/knishi/[email protected]

Kazushi Nishimoto Professor

Discovering potential creativityExpanding the base of talented professionals capable of pursuing knowledge creation

Keywords: Creativity Support System

Research and development focused upon realizing universal media systems for creation that allow everyone, professionals and amateurs alike, to use and communicate the results of creative thinking easily, appropriately, and directly.

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Definition of Knowledge Science: Broadly, how do you view the discipline of knowledge science? And how does

your research fit into this discipline?

Knowledge Science heralds a new era where the major part of our activities build on the flow of knowledge worldwide. We have only

seen the start of a knowledge-intensive society. Theory of information was, for example, first established more than fifty years ago, and it took a half century for the concept to materialize within our society, that is, as the Internet. The same will happen to knowledge. We tap sources of knowledge, consume some portions and reproduce some new items of knowledge, and distribute them. Broadly speaking, the emerging science is about meaning. Now is the time to start thinking about knowledge, as we have already done a substantial amount of work concerning information.I used to work on the semantics of natural language, a theory of the mean-ing of language. Provided with a rich history of research on language for more than two thousand years, my work is to extend semantics further with new materials and resources, that is, advanced science and technologies.

Social Significance of your Research: What kind of contribution do you think your research will make (or you

hope it will make) on what kind of issues in today’s society?

I have been leading research on embodied knowledge, which is a different view of knowledge than traditionally taken by many

researchers concerned with knowledge. Knowledge is often conceived as formal, abstract entities. We, however, focus on the concrete part of it, calling it 'body' metaphorically. What we are interested in includes context, environment, process, relation, etc. We are interested in practice, which is often contrasted with theory. We study how a body acts to create knowledge.These topics have traditionally been treated within the areas of art or ethics. We will cast a new light on these topics from a scientific point of view. Sci-ence is a sort of common language on the earth, and studying phenomena difficult to explain in language facilitates mutual understanding between people with different backgrounds, beliefs, customs, languages, laws, etc. With rapid globalization, we expect many conflicts to occur between societ-ies. Resolving issues with a scientific approach is the way for us to go.

Motivation for your Research: How did you become interested in your topic of research, and what was the

motivation for starting your research?

I love to play music and have devoted some time to practice. Many professions require a long term of practice to become a master, e.g.,

artists, performers, craftsmen, athletes, to name a few. Little formal research has studied these skills, despite the fact that they play an important role in our society. Apprentices are often required to continue practice with little feedback. They are sometimes lost, even unsure whether they are improv-ing. It is a pity that such valuable items of knowledge remain inaccessible, and face a danger of extinction. I love good music, beautiful performances, fine arts, and nice foods. I like things made carefully by human hands, and want them to survive and develop. Our work may contribute to preserving and nourishing such goodness.

Current Interests: In what area do you currently have a strong interest? If there is a connection to your area of

research, please tell us that also.

We are involved in the research of assistive technology for people with dementia. As the number of elderly persons increases, more

people may have to live with dementia. I am sorry to hear that many people are afraid of aging due to dementia. Being old is not particularly welcome in our society, which is an ironical situation, because it is due to the success of industrialization. We got rich to become unhappy.Our research on embodied knowledge may contribute to understanding people with dementia, as we focus on the body. Some people with dementia have difficulties with language and its use. Our work may establish another channel to access their minds. We can accommodate people with dementia properly in our society once we have understood who they are. We would like to contribute towards the realization of a cognitively “barrier-free” society.

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http://www.jaist.ac.jp/~fuji/[email protected]

Tsutomu Fujinami Professor

Towards the science of skills or embodied cognition

Keywords: Embodied Cognitive Science, Skill Science, Assistive Technology for Dementia Care

We are interested in skills which are only acquired through a long period of training. We investigate how skills are different from other normal behaviours with respect to both movement and perception.


Knowledge science can be viewed as the science of creating and using knowledge. Knowledge can be created and used by human

or by machine, and our research- on machine learning and data mining- is about how machines can create knowledge from large and complex data.

How can your research possibly address problems faced by our modern society?

We are living in the most exciting time of our modern society, with computers and the internet, and thus there are more data around us

than ever before. People in my field often say “there is much more data around us...” As a consequence, we are facing the problem of how to deal with such huge data in our daily life, for example, how to find information on the web, or how to evaluate business risk concerning trends of the financial market and economic changes. Such kinds of problems can be solved using data mining methods to analyze voluminous and complex data.

What is your basic idea on laboratory management?

Our lab is managed based on the self-awareness of the lab members. I focus on educating students in scientific methodology, and the

ability to direct their own learning. We conduct such training by regular study and research seminars, and by regular discussion between each student and supervisor. I encourage students to think freely and to pursue challenging research.

What are the advantages of being a student at Jaist, the school of KS, and your lab?

Students can learn new and unique content in knowledge science. In our lab, we aim to reach the top level of research in machine

learning and data mining.

What is your educational philosophy or motto, or what things do you like to keep in mind when interacting with your students?

The essence is to educate students to learn on their own.

What type of student were you? What experiences and meetings made an impact on you when you were a student?

To be an indispensable and complementary part of the supervisor’s research team.

What are your current interests?

My current interest is to achieve significant results in my research in the next five years, especially research in simulation-based data

mining, and mathematical models and methods in biomedicine.

What is your message for undergraduates who are interested in knowledge science?

Knowledge science is a new science that will play an essential role in our society. You are pioneers in this science, and you will contribute

to make it wonderful as it should be.

http://www.jaist.ac.jp/~bao/[email protected]

Tu Bao HO Professor

Developing methods for creating knowledgefrom large and complex data.

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Keywords: Machine Learning, Knowledge Discovery and Data Mining, Data Analytics, Computational Science

To develop new and effective methods for discovering knowledge from large and complex data (big data). Our research is primarily motivated by challenging problems in other fields such as biomedicine, materials science, and service science, where solutions cannot be found without the ability to analyze big data.

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When I was an elementary school student, I loved watching TV shows and movies, especially, films that had special effects. This was

before CG technology had been developed, but I was so excited by the trick photography involving monster costumes and analogue technology. The ability to thrill or move audiences with film attracted me, and I remember that I kept drawing imaginary monsters and future cities in my sketchbooks. When I was in the 12th grade, I was exposed to a one-board microcomputer called the TK-80 and learned about using computers for calculations. Soon after I entered university, I bought an Apple II and learned computer-assisted drawing. The invader game boom got me interested in video games, which motivated me to learn CG. Although I was studying in the Department of Applied Physics, I joined a lab dealing with graphics to finish my thesis. When I entered graduate school, movie makers were starting to use CG, which got me even more interested in CG.

What areas do you emphasize with your students?

Student progress in my laboratory should very much be a function of proactive thinking. However, it is often the case that students have

not yet developed this type of thinking when they enter graduate school; therefore, I recommend that they participate in the International Collegiate Virtual Reality Contest (IVRC) as a place to learn how to work on research. The IVRC gives students a chance to learn a series of processes in manufacturing, such as idea creation, plan writing and presentation, system equipment, and system exhibition, for a half year. During this half year, students show remarkable growth in the development of their thought processes as well as improvement in skills. After participating in the IVRC, students continue their research on their individual themes. Throughout their research, I discuss the themes that students have proposed to give ongoing advice tailored to their individual projects. (I believe that a top-down approach in which instructors assign themes to students does not give them a chance to grow, so I allow students to choose their themes.)

What is the meaning for students in this area of study?

My specialty is CG technology, which is a fundamental technology that has already deeply penetrated into our lives. CG technology

itself will expand and improve as media and interface technology. What will be important from now is to consider carefully both how and where

we can apply the existing technology, and how it can be used to improve our lives. The School of Knowledge Science tries to provide education not focusing only on technology, but focusing on knowledge creation, including what is necessary for knowledge to be of value to others, what kinds of problems exist, and how to solve problems. Needless to say, the School of Knowledge Science not only provides students the opportunity to learn technology itself, but also provides students a place to utilize value obtained from others and produce new value. Students at this school have a wide range of backgrounds. I hope all students here will interact with as many people as possible to improve themselves.

What kind of student were you?

I was a mediocre student without much motivation; but I was into microcomputers, which I had been introduced to when I was in the

12th grade, and I spent most of my spare time with an Apple II that I had bought. I think I was probably trying to find the great potential that I was dreaming about in that Apple II. I was excited about the American game software I read about in magazines and interested in creating easy software. I was a full-blown computer geek at that time, and I vividly remember reading an article about computer-assisted drawing utilizing turtle graphics commands, which sparked my interest in computer graphic algorithms. When I was in my last year at the university, I attended a presentation on fractals by a professor at an overseas art university, who talked about the automatic production of complex forms that cannot be drawn by hand. That presentation was one of the major reasons that I choose my current field of research.


I am very interested in the expression of material. We recognize a significant part of physical material by its appearance. That is, we can

obtain information about material such as temperature and softness, without actually touching an object. How do we sense these things? Why does plastic give the impression that it is a cheap material? And why does the impression we get of plastic change to an impression that it is a high-quality material through certain processing? Research on material expression requires collaboration among a wide range of academic fields, such as affective computing, brain science, and human eye characteristics. As a member of the field of brain and information science on material perception, I am working on research to contribute to the development of this new academic field.

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http://www.jaist.ac.jp/[email protected]

Kazunori Miyata Professor

Seeking helpful ways of using CG, technology that has become fundamental for society

Keywords: CG, Media Integration, Procedural Modeling, Material Expression

I am interested in CG, especially in procedural modeling and Material expression along with the development of interactive systems combining media technology and sensing devices. In order to produce new methods of expression, I employ CG technology and technology in related fields.

What is knowledge science and what do you see as the role of your research in this field?

I see knowledge science as the integration of knowledge creation and knowledge verification. Based on the W-shaped problem-

solving methodology proposed by Jiro Kawakita for knowledge science, I created a problem-solving process model (abduction, deduction, and induction) to clarify the relationship between the W-shaped problem-solving methodology and C.S. Pierce’s Principles of Philosophy. The process model in the W-shaped problem-solving methodology consists of presenting a given problem by clarifying the given task, understanding the status quo of the given problem, i.e. understanding the current situation, hypothesis generation, deciding the most effective hypothesis to solve the given problem, forming a grand plan, forming a detailed plan, establishing a practical procedure by using PERT or Workflow, practical actions to verify the hypothesis, verification by testing, and a conclusion and reflection process.


The biggest influence was Mineo Omoto, the science club advisor when I was in the first grade of junior high school. I asked him,

“If we can give lower pressure, will we get more distilled water? ” He suggested that I make an apparatus to find the answer to my question. I spent a month during summer vacation creating a reduced-pressure distillation apparatus, which won the top prize at the municipal and prefectural science exhibitions. It also took a special prize at the Yomiuri Shimbun nationwide invitational contest. My confidence and interest in science during junior high school grew. In high school I got interested in puzzles. When I was at university, I made a creativity study team in the psychology club, and met great teachers such as Otoya Miyagi, Jiro Kawakita and Masahiro Mori. After I was a researcher of IIAS-SIS, Fujitsu Limited, I solved several puzzles using a Lisp programming language. This helped a lot for participation in the Japanese 5th generation computer project. I was happily surprised that the famous puzzle collection “Nob Collection” has been presented to JAIST. I truly feel that life is a human network.

What is your guiding principle or motto as an educator?

I try my best to encourage students to focus on what they are good at in order to develop their strong points. In addition to this

encouragement, I give them small goals that they can achieve to give them experience with success, which is based on Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi’s “Flow: The Psychology of Optimal Experience.” I learned this approach in a natural way from my mother who was really a nice educator. It is difficult to always find the right challenge for each student, but I try to tailor my guidance to fit the specific areas that my students have chosen, areas that may become their lifework, and which seem to motivate them. In order to guide them, I think it is important to present problems, conduct surveys, and find essential hypotheses (abduction) that can be achieved with some effort. From that point, students can start creating proposals that lead to their studies in master’s or doctoral programs. Because all of the students choose their own study themes, they put their full energy into them.

Would you tell us a bit about your background, and experiences related to your having become who you are?

When I was in my second year at the Tokyo Institute of Technology, there was a famous strike, which had me looking for things to do

with myself until it finished. I became involved in the Kurohime Nomadic University (which is a 2-week camp) established by Jiro Kawakita, a cultural anthropologist, who had resigned from the Tokyo Institute of Technology when the strike started. I also became involved in the Lake Ira Nomadic University as a member of a working group. Nomadic Universities were offered 22 times in the 20th century, and fostered excellent and talented professionals. I co-authored “The Problem-Solving Methodology KJ Method Workbook (1970, Kodansha)” edited by Jiro Kawakita and Shin-ichi Makishima. A total of 23 editions have been printed, and it became a best-seller. I gave a copy to Toshio Kitagawa, Professor at Kyushu University, as a gift. I joined the IIAS-SIS, Fujitsu Limited (whose Director was Dr. Toshio Kitagawa) after finishing my master’s program. At IIAS-SIS, I was involved in studies on artificial intelligence, during which I utilized my experience working on puzzles. And now I am working at the School of Knowledge Science utilizing the network developed at the Nomadic Universities. Utilizing the network, I worked on a mini-Nomadic University project, a 1-week camp for group knowledge creation education, and validated the effectiveness of the mini-Nomadic University for regional revitalization in local towns.

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http://css.jaist.ac.jp/[email protected]

Susumu Kunifuji Research Professor

How can tacit knowledge be crystallizedinto explicit knowledge ? How to realize creativity support systems ?

Keywords: Creativity Support System

Research and development of creativity support systems which make use of knowledge-base, groupware, and awareness technology.

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In my school days, I was very interested in mathematics and computer science. In university I majored in physics at the faculty of

science. In graduate school, I was greatly inspired to experience computer simulations using state-of-the-art high performance computers and state-of-the-art experimental equipment. In my research I extrapolate from physics equations to construct computer simulations of complex interactions. Now our aim is establishing a knowledge discovery methodology through the integration of data mining and computer simulation.

What areas do you emphasize with your students?

Students with diverse backgrounds come together in the School of Knowledge Science. In my lab we start from training students in very

basic skills of mathematics, computers and simulation, and data analysis. Then, we guide students to find and carry out research themes based on their interests. We aim to inspire and train students with an international outlook and humanity through academic life at our lab, by emphasizing education in the philosophy in knowledge science.

What do you expect from your students and what do you think is important?

The students are expected to have the ability to think independently from a multifaceted viewpoint. I think, this ability should be

developed while we are young. Further, living in our global society, I think that an international outlook is the most important thing. We also need strength and the ability to take action, as well as a challenging spirit.

What is your educational philosophy?

Humanity is the most important thing we have in our little lives, therefore I do everything to help and encourage my students. To keep

scientific curiosity is my motto.

What kind of student were you? What experiences and meetings made an impact on you when you were a student?

I came to Japan for my undergraduate education. At the beginning, it was quite hard for me to enter Japanese society, without having

enough Japanese language ability. I have experienced how hard it is to have true international companionship. From this experience, I feel keenly the importance of an international viewpoint, and this feeling helps me greatly in supervising my students’ activities.

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DAM HIEU CHI Associate Professor

Looking forward to establish a new computer-based knowledge discovery process for natural science

Keywords: Computational Materials Science, Datamining

We aim at establishing a knowledge discovery methodology through the integration of data mining and computer simulation.

What are the reasons for your research?

In today’s world, called the knowledge society, I have an interest in all aspects of the science & technology that support the intellectual

production activities carried out by many individuals. Tadao Umesao, in his 1960s book ‘The Art of Intellectual Production’, aimed to establish universal technology based on his own experiences. He gave many practical examples and recommendations, such as using index card systems. His book defined intellectual production as ‘making knowledge’, and not ‘accumulating existing knowledge’. He also pointed out that the act of making knowledge is something that is necessary in our daily life, and suggested that with technical training, anyone can do it. We are therefore engaged in research supporting intellectual production activities, empowering people, using a range of tools and technologies from paper and pencil to digital technology, such as computer networks and smartphones. Through rationally investigating those technologies and activities, I believe that we can scientifically understand knowledge creation and activities. Many psychologists, who focus on intelligence and creativity, believe that anyone who makes the effort can create meaningful knowledge equal to the effort put in. I have explored group techniques and intellectual production techniques, some of which, such as the QC Seven Tools and KAIZEN method, were born in the Japanese rapid economic growth period after World War II. I am particularly interested in the KJ Method developed by Jiro Kawakita as a methodology for the creation of hypotheses and new idea generation from huge data and ideas in our daily lives. One concept of the KJ method is well known as Affinity Diagram for contextual design. These techniques were developed amidst the post-war boom, as a result of the efforts and work of many people, and are the pearls of wisdom of our forefathers. If we can handle these techniques scientifically, I believe that we can understand more about intellectual production techniques. I also have an interest in diffusion of techniques such as social skills.

How did you become interested in your research topic?

Nearly 20 years ago now, I was a university student (before Windows 95), I saw ‘Team-workstation’ by Hiroshi Ishii in ‘Practical training

at an NTT factory’. I experimented with the KJ method using the screen-sharing software Timbuktu in ‘Information Engineering Experimentation I’, and in ‘Program Practice III’, and I made email software using an event-driven communication API in a leading-edge GUI programming environment called HyperCard. Experiences such as these made me think

that computer networks looked interesting and had potential. When I was trying to decide what to do for my final research project, I bought and read a Human Interface book, and I was fascinated by words such as groupware, hypertext (including KJ method support systems), and hypermedia (including knowledge media). One of my professor’s areas of research was idea generation support groupware, which I thought was lucky, so I chose groupware for my final research project. The research interested me, so basically, I made my decision as the result of a range of experiences and interests that happened to come together.


With regards to research topics, I would like my students to first try new things. Even if they fail, I want them to try and try again, and

understand that things can improve through this process. In particular, in their master’s research, I would like them to form good study habits, and experience creating knowledge.When I was a student, one of my senior research fellows told me of a logical way to do research in your area of interest, by making sure you finish the topic assigned by the research supervisor, but also doing what you enjoy. The former task enables you to acquire research methods from your supervisor as a pioneer, and to be able to expand your range of skills. Conversely, the latter task enables you to work in your own area of interest, and the potential for being able to continue the work and maintain one’s originality is higher. Of course, you need to be careful about becoming complacent.In summary, I basically would like my students to be able to think for themselves and learn from others. With regards to the latter, I would of course naturally expect cooperation with their peers, but also I would like them to learn the value of respecting the knowledge of those who have gone before them. We should follow in the footsteps of those giants, but still look towards the future.

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http://www.jaist.ac.jp/ks/labs/yuizono/[email protected]

Takaya Yuizono Associate Professor

Collaboration Technology for Our Intelligence, Knowledge, and Innovation

Keywords: Collaboration Technology, CSCW (Computer Supported Cooperative Work), Creative Problem Solving, Information Systems

Art and Science of Intellectual Production, Collaboration Technology, Groupware for New Idea Generation, Group Intelligence, Intercultural Collaboration and Social Computing

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How do you view the discipline of ‘Knowledge Science’?

Knowledge Science is an interdisciplinary field for problem-solving, with its main purpose being to process and analyze information

(dependent on people) and to add new value (knowledge). For this purpose, we are using a range of approaches to look at how we can create knowl-edge, and how we can identify and rationalize it. The School is currently attempting to build a Knowledge Science discipline out of a social science/management science approach, an information science/cognitive science approach, and a systems science approach. Ultimately, it will be necessary to integrate these existing disciplines at the theoretical level and create a new disciplinary structure, but we are currently working towards our end goal while initially trying to achieve consolidation at individual applied levels. Experiments with technology management, service management and community management will contribute to the systemization of knowledge science at the application level.

How will your research contribute to society?

I am working on a knowledge organization systems theory, in terms of how knowledge is created and how it is rationalized, with the aim

to create a knowledge science discipline based in systems science. This is a methodology that seeks to find systematic and systemic solutions to the complicated problems involving a variety of people in society. It can be applied to technology management problems, academic research evaluation problems, demand forecasting problems and regional environmental problems, etc. This knowledge organization systems theory consists of three parts – a systems model for how to consolidate knowledge, the ability of the ‘actors’ necessary to collect and integrate the knowledge, and a rationaliza-tion method for knowledge that has been collected and consolidated. At this point, since there is a necessity to deal with knowledge dependent on people that is subjective or emotional, there is a necessity to express and analyze the implicit nature of people’s emotions (kansei), and thus I am also active in research on kansei engineering. In addition, development of a decision-making analysis method is also an important focus, where multiple pieces of (ambiguous) information are integrated and alternative ideas are ranked.

What is the significance of studying Knowledge Science?

Japan, being poor in natural resources, is working towards becoming a nation built on the creativity of science and technology, and is thus

working on the formation of intellectual assets that will lead to the science and technology of tomorrow. It is innovation-producing knowledge that is likely to become the most valuable and unlimited resource for our country. In order to realize this, it is essential that we immediately work on the theory and practice of methods for sustained and organized innovation, and the discipline of Knowledge Science is at the forefront of this process. However, it has been only a decade or so since the establishment of the School of Knowledge Science, and there are few teachers who study Knowledge Science and become researchers. Because of this, we hope that the students will contribute to the realization and progress of Knowledge Science. For this to happen, there is a necessity for the students to study seriously the issues of how new knowledge can be formed in a range of fields, and what needs to be done to integrate different knowledge and to solve the problems raised. At this research laboratory, the talented individuals working on innovations using a wide range of knowledge are called ‘Knowledge Coordinators’, and we would like to put more effort into educating them.

What is your educational philosophy or motto?

Since the goal of Knowledge Science is to educate talented individuals who have general skills in problem solving, I would encourage the

acquisition of a wide range of knowledge, rather than studying one specialized field in great detail. Up until now, many universities have established schools of research in interdisciplinary domains, and schools of research with an integration of the humanities and sciences, but if the theory and practice for implementing this integration is not carried out, there will be no creative research outcomes. The working adult students at our school of research all have field work placements but also study theory, and so the educational philosophy of the research school is being realized at a high level. Even for those young students who do not have a field work placement, we do as much as possible so that they can have a go at real-life problems in companies and in the community, and make sure that they are not limited to an impractical theory worked out on paper. One example of this is the lecture ‘Regional Revitaliza-tion Systems Theory’ where students work with members of the community on regional revitalization problems. By thinking through real problems alongside the people who are facing those problems, we hope they can experience the consolidation and creation of knowledge as well as management theories.

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http://www.jaist.ac.jp/ks/labs/nakamori/[email protected]

Yoshiteru Nakamori Professor

Experience of knowledge consolidation & creation and management theories can be gained by thinking alongside the people who are facing the actual problem.

Keywords: Systems methodologies, environment system theories, Kansei engineeringA big focus at present is the theoretical and applied research of systems methodologies for knowledge consolidation and creation. Theoretical research includes decision-making analysis and kansei data analysis in addition to the complex systems approach.Applied research includes environmental problems, regional revitalization problems, technology and economic problems.


Knowledge science is a research field involving the study of the creation, sharing, and utilization of knowledge through approaches

based on analyses, design, and management. Of these three types, my own research mainly involves an analytic approach.Creation, sharing, and utilization of knowledge are a part of human nature. In other words, all humans do these things, but other creatures seldom do, and these activities characterize our day-to-day life and society. I am conducting research on knowledge creation and sharing by human beings as a knowledge-creating species, with language, communication, and social institutions as research targets. Language, being used in the process of thinking as well as describing and communicating knowledge, brings about great strides in creativity. The use of symbols is a special feature of human communication. Symbolic communication prompts people to not only share but also generate or create information and knowledge. Also, interaction between people leads to the formation of social institutions, enabling social life. I am studying these research targets from the viewpoint of the complex systems of how they were made (origin, emergence) and how they are changing (evolution).An institution in itself is a kind of knowledge, and institutional design to create a better society is a subject of knowledge science. Accordingly, I am also conducting research on applying the findings — obtained through analytic approaches to the creation, sharing, and utilization of knowledge — to the design of institutions.

What is your basic approach to laboratory management?

My approach is for students “to make themselves grow as individuals through research.” Research is an activity to investigate a subject

deeply and successfully, and to add a new piece of knowledge to an existing body of knowledge. In this process, students learn their predecessors’ thoughts through the literature, communicate and deepen their own ideas through discussion with other people, and delve into and clarify their ideas through writing papers. The process largely consists of the serious work of collecting data through experiments or surveys. The important thing, however, is the consideration and discussion involved in reaching conclusions based on the results of the experiments and surveys. The students make an assertion that something was obviously achieved based on the data and facts they found, and they build up the logic for reaching

their conclusion from the research purpose. This is not a simple kind of operation, but the culmination of a process involving difficulties at the end of a research project. It goes without saying that students conduct experiments and surveys on their own; however, I think it is important to support students so that they can build the logic for reaching a conclusion on their own.After students graduate, they are sometimes able to use the results of their research, and the knowledge and skills they obtained in graduate school, directly. But, more importantly, the ability to think, the ability to obtain the required knowledge and skills, and the ability to communicate, share and deepen ideas, which they have acquired through their research activities, can be exercised at any time, allowing the graduates to continuously improve their capabilities. This is an essential point of the creation, sharing, and utilization of knowledge. In the hope that all graduate students will experience this, I supervise and guide them.

What is your message for undergraduates who are interested in knowledge science?

Many problems in modern society cannot be solved within a single existing discipline. Knowledge science, having an aspect

of “problem-solving study” and aiming to solve such problems, is an interdisciplinary field of study that reorganizes and integrates existing disciplines from both the humanities and the sciences. The teaching staff who pursue knowledge science here include those from a variety of fields. The students gathered here to study knowledge science are also of a very wide variety in terms of backgrounds, nationality, age, interests, dreams, and so on.As mentioned above, you can meet a wide variety of people when studying knowledge science, and this is another appeal of this discipline. You can interact with people whom you would not usually meet at places where conventional studies are conducted, as well as discovering a new world and experiencing new ideas that you have never before been exposed to. I am greatly inspired myself through interacting with other teaching staff members and meeting with students every year, and feel encouraged to try new things. I hope you will interact with diverse people and try new possibilities in the new field of knowledge science.

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http://www.jaist.ac.jp/ks/labs/hashimoto/[email protected]

Takashi Hashimoto Professor

Our goal is to clarify how knowledge is created,shared, and utilized, with focus on language, communication, and social institutions

Keywords: Complex Systems, Evolutionary Linguistics, Evolutionary Economics, Knowledge ScienceIn our laboratory, we conduct research on the creation and co-creation of knowledge (an important aspect of human nature) focusing on language, communication, and social institutions. In particular, we aim to understand knowledge creation from the viewpoint of complex systems that emphasize interaction and dynamics. Our research methods include modeling and simulations, cognitive experiments, and social surveys.

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How do you position your research in knowledge science?

Knowledge science deals with problems of individuals , organizations, society, nature, and so on. There are forms of

knowledge: declarative and nondeclarative knowledge (or memories). There are processes with regard to knowledge: creation, acquisition, accumulation and utilization. My research deals with organizational knowledge creation and focuses mainly on procedural knowledge which can be acquired with experience and training. I believe that systems methodologies can be used as a tool to promote the efficient acquisition of such procedural knowledge. For example, we can apply a systems methodology in order to change an organization. Members of a project team for organizational change feel that a situation is problematic and try to articulate their feelings. The application process of a systems methodology and its results can be media of mutual understanding of the members. Series of activities by using a systems methodology play an important role in cultivating creative members. This underpins my research about systems methodologies.

What is your motive for the research?

I began my research about systems methodologies and knowledge management after I joined School of Knowledge Science in the

year of its foundation. At that time, the knowledge creation theory was spreading like wildfire throughout the world. The founding dean of the school was Professor Ikujiro Nonaka, the father of the organizational knowledge creation theory and practice. He gave me a copy of the book ‘The Knowledge-Creating Company’ co-authored by Prof. Nonaka and Prof. Takeuchi, and translated by Prof. Umemoto. I remember I felt a great interest in its contents while reading the book. A few years later we had an opportunity to survey research and education in fields related to knowledge science around the world. During the survey I visited the University of Hull in UK and met Prof. Jackson who was very active in the research of systems methodologies. He gave me a copy of the book ‘Creative Problem Solving’ which he co-authored with Prof. Flood. It was relatively easy for me to understand the contents because the underpinning concept of the book was systems engineering, my major research domain. Although I found its content quite interesting, I was not aware of the connection between systems methodology and the knowledge creation theory. Several years ago I realized the connection between them. The key was ‘tacit knowing’ by Michael Polanyi. Since then, I have studied and advanced the theory and practice of systems methodologies and knowledge management.

What is your guiding principle or motto as an educator?

A wide range of students enter School of Knowledge Science. To better respond to their individual needs, I always start by trying to

gain a solid understanding of what each student is and is not good at, and what each student’s wants are. By doing this, I try to provide support to help students to gain the abilities to play their roles in society after graduation. I respect students’ interests and autonomy in their research activities. I also strive to create a fun environment for their school life. Research requires hard work like reading books and academic papers, observing reality and thinking about it while maintaining a good balance between theory and practice. I look forward to seeing students who strive to observe practice based on theory, and develop a theory based on practice.


I am currently interested in the social systems theory by Niklas Luhmann. It is constructed on the basis of autopoiesis. Based on this

concept, he defines the social system as an order which has emerged from a nexus of communications. People are not elements in such a social system, but environmental elements. This is the reason I am interested in this theory. When we discuss the organizational knowledge creation theory, we face some difficulties in the theoretical handling of the innate part of embodied knowledge. Excluding people from a social system, we may overcome such difficulties. I think that the dynamism of an organization emerges from a nexus of communication, and in turn the dynamism reproduces communications for organizational knowledge creation.

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Taketoshi Yoshida Professor

Focusing on key abilities for innovation andenhancing organizational abilityby applying systems methodologies

Keywords: Systems Methodology, Systems Engineering, Knowledge Management

My aim is to construct and practice a theory of systems methodologies as a tool of knowledge management from the viewpoints of tacit knowing and social systems theory.

What is the significance of your research for students?

Whereas humans from hundreds of years ago could think about and debate ideas, we who live now and future humans must think of

things from observing facts and using intellectual analysis, which can only be understood through the experience of challenging “specific research assignments.” Many master’s programs cultivate people to be productive in companies, arming them with information collection and performance analysis abilities and enterprising spirit (project leaders, etc.), rather than cultivating them to become researchers. Of course, the expertise obtained in studies is extremely important for choosing a career path and industry. Our students will utilize network theory (near future technology wide-area wireless) and Java technology.

What piqued your interest in your research subject?

Ten years ago, around the turn of the century, I was surprised and my intellectual curiosity was shaken when the common structure

and properties of networks which have completely different targets and elements and nothing in common became scientifically clear, such as the connections between people and corporations, the internet and power grids, and biochemical reactions at the gene level extending to pathogenesis and treatment. Furthermore, there are important issues related to society wrapped up in the research of these kinds of networks, such as the economy, communications, transportation, logistics, counter-terrorism, food chain, epidemics and demographics. Many international researchers are physicists and computer scientists and I like feeling the power of different fields. I am also deeply involved in areas such as social networks and urban planning.

What type of student were you and what background do you have?

I was in the department of Electrical and Electronic Engineering, there I learned electromagnetics, transmission circuits, and

programming languages, and experimented with motor measurements and high-pressure discharge. Math and physics were most interesting to me, and the things that I studied on my own came in handy later. In my senior year research assignment, I was allowed to participate in the algorithm division of information engineering, and upon completion went into enterprise information systems. I think if I had been placed in a research department for something that was popular at the time, like superconductors, my life would be totally different. My career was also decided due to a university corporate scholarship, I still network with the people I met in a 2-month internship. Also, fortunately, I was able to learn the proper technology at a research department connected to a company in the mecca of computer science, the West Coast of the United States. These technologies are the foundation of the PC and Internet, which have changed the world; the mouse, the multi-window, spreadsheet tools, communication, protocol, decentralized processing and object-oriented language. Including a few years of transfers, I spent about 10 years working for a corporate research department, I pursued research in development of image processing and character recognition and neural net learning algorithms. I was able to make recurrent models my theme, which was in the forefront at that time, and I was inspired by the pioneering research of Dr. Amari and his personality, I was lucky to be around when such a fascinating theme was popular. After that, I strongly felt the societal importance of the Internet, and have been working with it since the nineties in connection with my current network science research. Technology is becoming obsolete more quickly now than before, so I think that it is of deeper significance to choose fresh, new things rather than things that are mature and well understood, and have run their course, whether it is issues that are to be tackled or people. I feel that the various colleagues I’ve met at academic conferences through research activities are a treasure. Although research is an intellectual activity, it is important for everyone who will live in the future to participate and contribute to society as a community linked through hobbies.

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http://ds9.jaist.ac.jp:8080/[email protected]

Yukio Hayashi Associate Professor

Aiming for robust communication technology during disasters or terrorist attacks, and the attainment of an economic society that encourages the distribution of wealth.

Keywords: Science of complex networks, ad hoc wireless communication, self-organization, distributed computing

Using optimum techniques and simulations, from both real data and models, we examine the self-organizing mechanisms of complex network science, such as preventing chain-reaction damage and the spread of viruses, using Ad hoc communication, Load balancing and efficient distributed computing, and social network analysis.

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In my view, Knowledge Science is a scientific discipline that draws on Philosophy, Management, Information Science and Systems

Science along with emerging technologies in Neuroscience and Complexity Science to, first of all, study what “knowledge” is, and to establish and develop principles, theories and methodologies of how knowledge can be created, managed, synthesized and used. Our research aims towards the development of intelligent decision systems from the perspective of knowledge science. Meanwhile, we promote research and education in the field of Knowledge Science based on Decision Scienceand Systems Science.

How can your research possibly address the problems faced by our modern society? Please clarify “problems”

and “methods” in your answer.

With increasing globalization, changes in the business and management sectors, together with the increasing complexity of

the social-economic environment nowadays, organizations and firms face complex problems regarding policy-making, product innovation, quality management, and environmental management, among many other issues. Solving such real-world decision-making problems often requires the integration of data and knowledge from different relevant sources, and taking into account uncertainty and imprecision. Therefore, innovative research in strategic decision analysis and knowledge management has become increasingly important, more than ever before, from both the theoretical and practical points of view. Our research aims to address this challenging situation by combining foundational work on knowledge management, computational intelligence and decision analysis with practical applications, so as to develop novel frameworks and methodologies for dealing with complex decision-making problems in practice.

What do you want to teach your students? What type of person do you want your student to become?

What I would like to teach my students is the integration of models, techniques and methods from knowledge management,

computational intelligence, information fusion and decision theory. This training strategy specifically aims to develop and enhance the capabilities of students to deal with complex decision-making problems, so as to enable them to become confident, thoughtful and effective decision makers (decision-related knowledge creators) and decision analysts (decision-related knowledge coordinators).

What type of students do you want? Please clarify the interests or abilities your students should have.

Open mind, flexibility and willingness to cooperate with others,self-motivated with sound background in the field of their major.

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http://www.jaist.ac.jp/~huynh/[email protected]

HUYNH Nam Van Associate Professor

Knowledge Modelling and Decision Analysis

Keywords: Decision Analysis, Computational Intelligence, Knowledge Modelling, Operations Management- Multi-criteria evaluation and ranking of products/services for personalized

recommendation in e-commerce applications- Knowledge management and integration for screening evaluation in new product/service

development.- Research and development for intelligent decision support systems, and their applications

in business and management.

Research Agenda and Approach

Methodologyand TheoryResearch

Explorationand

Innovation

Validationand

ApplicationE-commerce and Web-based Services

Personalized recommendation eMarketing

Ranking and searching

Safety and risk assessment Product innovations

Quality management Product and service evaluation

Operations Management and Engineering

AppliedResearch

Research Strategy

Development of Knowledge Modelsfor Decision Analysis in ComplexSituations

Providing Innovative Frameworks and Methodologies for Decision Analysis and Decision Support Systems

Serving as a Duide for Theoretical Research, and Ensuring Its Realization, Effectiveness and Reliability

Knowledge Science forthe Development of Intelligent DecisionSystems

Principles, mechanisms and methodologies ofhow knowledge can be created, represented,managed and used for decision-making.

Innovative Decision-MakingMethodologies

ComputationalIntelligence

DecisionAnalysis

Integrative Approach toward the Development of InnovativeDecision-Making Methodologies

Knowledge ConstructionSystems

What research do you conduct within the discipline of knowledge science?

Knowledge Science involves scientifically explaining various knowledge creation processes, and forming a knowledge society

in which the process of knowledge creation is enhanced; I hope I can contribute to this development. The research approach of our laboratory is to alternate between practical research based on knowledge engineering, and research that transforms these results into fundamental knowledge based on ontology engineering. Ontology engineering is an area of research that is attracting attention in the knowledge engineering field, as an important new way in which an axiom is assigned to the formation of a concept, and an attempt is made to assign a computational form (expression) to ambiguous and elusive knowledge. At our laboratory, we are working to focus our research on methodologies to improve the quality of public services, mainly in the medical and education fields, based on ontology engineering. Service is something that is provided as value from one person to another, and so we look at issues like: how should we understand others’ sense of the value of that service? How should we create new service value? What type of knowledge co-creation processes exist or should exist between the service provider and the recipient of that service? We then create an ontology based on the understanding of services, so that our research can be applied in the medical and education sectors.

How will your research contribute to society?

The backbone of society lies in the relationships between individuals, and the foundation of those relationships lies in knowledge and

communication. We think as individuals and then refine our thinking through communication of our ideas with others, and thus the outcomes are realized in society. Our laboratory carries out research focused on service, based on ontology engineering, and our aim is to construct new knowledge media to assist in the formation of a solid service society, where people have improved thought processes and cooperate better with each other. For that purpose, we study models and theories in a range of fields related to thinking and communication, and based on these models, we develop software to support knowledge creation processes, and then research ways in which to expand use of these processes in society. In particular, we work on research that focuses on knowledge creation for the improvement of relationships between people, by focusing on public services which are not aimed at creating excessive profit. Through our research results gained

in this way, we hope that both service providers and recipients can co-create service value for society, and that we can suggest a service model satisfactory to both parties, which can be deployed in medical organizations and education institutions.

What type of skills do you want your students to have?

Our laboratory carries out research on ‘thinking about thinking’, so I welcome students who have an interest in thinking to join us. There

are no specific qualities required, however if I were to point out one thing, it would be that this is the best research field for students who like thinking and studying about abstract things. To be a little more specific, I think an important quality is to be able to look at everything about your internal thinking objectively, for example, your research plans, learning methods, and how you spend your free time, taking into consideration not only yourself, but also others.

What is your educational philosophy or motto?

The activities of our laboratory focus on many issues facing society, and thus a range of skills are required, such as being able

to learn new knowledge, being able to identify problems and solve them, communication skills, being able to deal with human relationships, stress control, international relations, and other skills. It is my hope to create an environment in my lab where students can, as much as possible, remain conscious of these skills. I hope that my students will enjoy a time when their failures become learning experiences, they can understand things as they are, think for themselves and have opportunities to talk with their peers. I believe that students should not only be taught by others, but should experience and think for themselves, along with being able to talk informally with their peers. These are the best ways to learn at a research institute.

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http://www.jaist.ac.jp/ks/labs/ikeda/cgi-bin/wiki/[email protected]

Mitsuru Ikeda Professor

To create an ontology for the understanding of services, and apply it in the medicine and education sectors

Keywords: Artificial Intelligence, Knowledge Engineering, Educational Engineering

I do basic research in ontology engineering, i.e. knowledge engineering methodologies for knowledge systemization, as well as research on modeling methods based on ontology engineering. Furthermore, I also carry out research to apply these methods to knowledge management systems and learning support systems.

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What type of research are you working on in the discipline of Knowledge Science?

The behavior of customers has changed to collaborative consumption in the past decade. Sharing of services (for example, car-sharing) is

now becoming a major trend in our daily lives. From the view of customers, these shared services have both benefits and risks: they offer benefits such as money-saving and environmental protection, but also non-negligible risks, such as a risk of stumbling into crime in a worst-case situation. Therefore, it would make sense for human beings not to choose to share services, since human beings are risk averse by nature. But why then have people recently chosen sharing services? We will apply Knowledge Science to obtain an answer to this.

How do you view the discipline of ‘Knowledge Science’?

What comes to mind when I hear the words “Knowledge Science” is the Nexialism that is mentioned in A. E. van Vogt’s classic science

fiction novel titled ‘The Voyage of the Space Beagle’. The protagonist of this book, Elliott Grosvenor, is the only Nexialist on board the Space Beagle which is manned by 1000 specialist crew members. The story tells of how he uses Nexialism to overcome the threats posed to the Space Beagle, while the other specialists who are so wrapped up in their own specialist fields cannot solve the problems. Nexialism is defined as combin-ing knowledge from different specialist fields and extracting the necessary knowledge as needed to solve problems, and I think that this is the expected role of Knowledge Science.In the research of Knowledge Science, by combining various perspectives from a range of fields together, even higher goals can be reached compared with conventional methods. And so I think that a change in research style is necessary, from the seeds-driven research style where familiar knowledge is applied to a current theme, to a needs-driven research style where knowledge is learned as needed.


It is the duty of a graduate student to engage in research activities.There are several things I would like students to experience in their

lives as graduate students. Number one is the experience of choosing a research topic. It will not be easy choosing a topic worthy of research. It

is better to have the habit of accumulating experiences in your memory, which leads to stockpiling hints for your research topic. You will also find it interesting to narrow down your research topic step by step through discussion with lab members. Number two is the experience of writing down the research topic in the form of a research paper. Research papers require novelty and inventiveness. Writing a research paper is like inventing something. Those inexperienced at inventing tend to think ‘this is big!’ when they get an idea. But this is a big mistake, since for the most part, someone has already thought of it and it is not good enough to be patented. Those experienced at inventing, however, have developed an intuition for the level of novelty and inventiveness of ideas, so that they can guess the patentability of their idea and tweak it slightly to raise the patentability. Through the experience of writing your research papers, develop your intu-ition for the level of novelty and inventiveness in research. Number three is the experience of continuing to think. One has to fight with the doubt that the answer might not actually exist. I have called this ‘wander thinking’. A research topic is something you decide yourself, and you always have the freedom to rework the problem.Acquire the habit of continuous thinking and the courage of radical rethinking in the academic environment. I think they will help you throughout your entire life.

What type of people do you want your students to become?

I want them to become innovators who make innovations happen. By constantly developing your thinking within yourself, the probability

of producing an innovation that will stand up to criticism will be a lot higher. But that is not enough to become an innovator. Let me draw an analogy. Anyone can read a novel and enjoy it, but it is difficult to write an enjoyable book and make it a best seller. This means reading and writing are very, very different things. Having an intuition for the level of novelty and inventiveness in research is prerequisite for a researcher, but is not enough for an innovator.I believe that an innovator must have the skill of questioning oneself relentlessly. To put it another way, you must have the ability to ask ‘the right questions’ to everyone, including yourself. Making the right questions will require experience and skill. In the lab, through the process of choosing your research topic and putting together your research paper, you will struggle for the answers to the questions that are thrown at you. But I promise you will be able to enjoy asking the right questions to others in a short time. The eventual goal is that you become a true innovator, who can automatically ask themselves the right questions on any occasion.

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http://www.jaist.ac.jp/ks/labs/kohda/[email protected]

Youji Kohda Professor

Aiming to study ‘service’ scientifically, and to explore its possibilities and applications

Keywords: Internet Services, Service Science, Business Innovation

I aim to construct methodologies for dealing with service scientifically, and then apply these methods to concrete examples. Furthermore, I aim to establish knowledge systems for the creation of services through cooperation with industry, as well as foster talented individuals who are able to create service businesses by themselves.

http://www.jaist.ac.jp/ks/labs/kosaka/[email protected]

Michitaka Kosaka Professor

Keywords: R&D Management, Innovation, Integration of Systems Engineering and Knowledge Science, Business Information Systems, System Control (Estimation Theory)

I aim to create new methods for innovation, through the integration of Systems Engineering and Knowledge Science, and then develop these methods for specific purposes.

Aiming to contribute to 21st Century innovations through the research and development of methodologies that will create new service value.

What is the social significance of your research?

I am currently working on research and development in Service Science. Service value is created through the relationship between

the customer and the service provider. In the 21st Century, this is an important concept, not only for the conventional ‘service industry’, but for information and manufacturing industries as well. I hope to be able to carry out R&D on methodologies for the creation of new service value, and to make a contribution to 21st Century innovation.

How is your laboratory managed?

My laboratory is made up of working adult students from the Tokyo Satellite facility and ordinary students from the Ishikawa campus.

At the Ishikawa Campus, there are many overseas exchange students, and two thirds of the students come from China, Vietnam, South Korea and Bangladesh. Everyone supports each other like family, and we value an environment where we can debate things freely. Everyone has an area of expertise, and through the presentation of one’s research at laboratory seminars, and subsequent debates, we are able to focus on new knowledge creation. As part of my research related to Service Science, I make presentations at international academic conferences and submit research papers, and in regards to Service Science, I would like my laboratory to be one of the best in Asia. Furthermore, I would like to create more opportunities for exchanges between the Tokyo Satellite working adult students and the ordinary students at the Ishikawa Campus.

What are the advantages of being a student at JAIST, the school of KS, and your lab?

At the School of Knowledge Science at JAIST, in the Tokyo Satellite Master’s Program for Working Adults and the Ishikawa Campus’

Master’s and Doctoral Programs, the salient feature is that students are able to create new knowledge while debating issues with a range of different people. Education and research activities are carried out with the aim of fostering talented ‘knowledge creators’ who are willing to try new things. In other words, our aim is to foster talented individuals who can make use of not only the conventional, established technologies, but also use their experiences and discussions to think up solutions in response to actual issues in society, such as the creation of new services or suggesting new value for customers.

What is your background? What experiences and meetings have led to your current achievements?

When I was a student, I studied system control theory – in particular the Kalman Filter. And even in my first 10 years working in Hitachi

Ltd’s Systems Development Lab, I carried out theoretical and applied research on systems control in the aerospace field. For the next 10 years I worked on information systems research, particularly business information systems in the financial and distribution fields. You can see that my research has always been in the field of systems research. Following this, I began working in the area of R&D Management, as the Head of the Systems Development Lab at Hitachi. During this period, when I did my management training, I met Professor Nonaka, and encountered Knowledge Science and the SECI model. It was then that I realized the importance of integrating problem solving using people’s knowledge (knowledge science) and problem solving using systems engineering. I took up my post at JAIST in 2008, and since then I have been involved in Service Science research and education. Service Science is a new research and education field, but it has a close relationship with systems and knowledge science, and all my experiences during my years as a student and my years as an employee are useful to me in my current research.

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In what way and towards what problems in today’s society do you think your research will contribute (aims to contribute)?

In spite of the fact that quite a few recent research projects pursue low-hanging fruit, ontological engineering is unlike such a trend.

Ontological engineering aims at solving problems that people want to solve in the long-term perspective. This is because researchers involved in ontological engineering would like to make a real contribution to society by solving difficult problems that need to be solved. To do this, ontological engineering tackles fundamental issues and practical issues, which is definitely one of its remarkable features. Such an attitude toward research requires researchers to be patient with late-coming results. In addition, researchers need to hold a sense of mission that they can eventually contribute to society in an essential way.Ontology is a conceptual structure of the target world revealed by articulat-ing things and phenomena that appear in the world, intended to reveal how people view the world as being built systematically. It is therefore close to “ontology” as discussed in philosophy. Needless to say, all knowledge is about being, and relationships with things which exist. Ontological research can thus contribute to in-depth understanding of what knowledge is.

What got you interested and how did you start your research in this area?

I was deeply involved in research on knowledge bases and their robustness, reusability, etc. when expert systems, which solve real-

world problems by putting the expertise of human experts into so-called knowledge bases, were popular in the 80’s and the early 90’s. Among many topics, I have proposed a notion of generic vocabulary, and have been working on research into modeling the task structure of diagnosis, design, etc. in terms of generic vocabulary. In 1991, I encountered the notion of “ontology”, and realized that the notion of “generic vocabulary” is exactly within the framework of ontology. This is why I was able to propose the notion of task “ontology” as which is one of the few notions proposed by Japanese researchers that has been acknowledged by the global community. Considering also the time I was involved in research on generic vocabulary, I can say I have been working on ontology for about 25 years.

What do you think is important in your students? Please include what you hope for, the qualifications you look for,

fields they should show interest in, etc.

I strongly believe students should be full of enthusiasm for anything and should not be afraid of possible mistakes. I want them to be

patient and thoughtful, and to possess long-term goals. They should not be passive but proactive, and should improve their physical and intellectual strength.

Please describe your philosophy or motto as an educator, and what you consider when interacting with your students.

We, professors and students, are equal before science. Discussion is a game in the best sense, and in such scientific games the person who

brings the most convincing logics wins, that’s it. Research is essentially collaborative, and hence research should proceed with discussion and the collaborative work of group members who play their own roles in the group. Papers are not only a knowledge source but also a target of criticism, by which I mean, students should read papers with a high-level of critical thinking, a way to train their insight to distinguish between good and bad research.


There is a proverb in Japan: A Samurai pretends to be full even if he is hungry. Although this translation is poor, what it tries to express is

that “people should not easily expose their weaknesses. Rather, people try to live their lives beautifully without asking for help too easily.”

What type of books did you read as a student? What type of effect have they had on you or your research now?

I have read almost all of Dostoevskii’s novels. I couldn’t read super-ficial books. I did a lot of sports and trained my body, sang songs and

listened to classical music. I thought a lot and wrote many papers. In short, I really enjoyed my 9-year student life. I have only been deeply impressed by papers three times in my life. Those three are the paper on MARGIE by Roger Schank, one on Prolog by Alain Colmerauer and one on SOAR by Allen Newell. All the other papers I read did not appeal to me and I thought, “Yes, you can do so if you try to do it.” In general, I was very critical of most papers and liked to criticize them. I have continued on my way with strong enthusiasm, to produce fruitful results that would have a strong impact.

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Riichiro Mizoguchi Professor

To scientifically pursue the existence underlying knowledge for knowledge modeling.

Keywords: Artificial Intelligence, Knowledge Engineering, Ontological Engineering, Educational Engineering

Research on fundamental theory of ontology, upper ontology, medical ontologies and learning theories, development of various ontologies such as sustainability science, together with development and research on ontology application systems.


I believe that Knowledge Science is ‘understanding and interpreting the phenomena and events that occur in the activities of people and

society’. If we think about who is involved in knowledge (wisdom), it has been created and accumulated through the various activities of people, whether it be in the real world or in a digital space such as the web. My spe-cialist area is the Information Engineering Field, and my research topic has always been ‘Implementing an XXXX support system to support people’s activities’. Through research and development for this support system, I have aimed to implement a next-generation computing environment. The XXXX part basically relates to people’s activities, and I have specifically researched a variety of words/phrases such as manufacturing, being aware of information and things, communication, lifestyle and the elderly. First of all, I would conduct an analysis and comprehension study of the XXXX in question, and identify any issues. I would then consider what methods I would use (in my case methods based on information engineering) to solve and provide support for these issues. The result would be the construction of a system which would then be evaluated for its effectiveness and usability. So the role of my research in Knowledge Science is, as I have mentioned above, ‘understanding and interpreting the activities of people’. The research method (tool) is Information Communication Technology (ICT), and for the resolution of the comprehension and interpretation results, I use information systems to support people’s activities (i.e. the research focus or the XXXX part).

What is your educational philosophy?

I hope that my students will think and act for themselves, and become people who can take responsibility for the results of their

actions. I don’t point this out because they are students, but because I think

it is an important quality for an individual. These days, it is becoming easier to gain a wealth of information and knowledge from a range of information resources such as the internet. I think this is a good thing, however it makes people (myself included) view things from a critic’s perspective, and it is easy to forget that we are ‘actors’. So people who can think and act for themselves, and take responsibility for the results of their actions are, I think, precisely the type of person who can persistently and honestly put effort into achieving their goals. It is more important to ‘give it a go’ rather than thinking about the pros and cons beforehand. I think it is necessary to have the willpower to honestly and sincerely make the effort to work towards the goal you have set, right until the end.

What things do you like to keep in mind as a researcher?

Don’t dislike something without trying it, and you can do it if you try – you can’t do it if you don’t try. You should never evaluate

something on first impressions, or by how it looks or from what you have heard. You should jump right into the issues and problems, and experience and engage in them for yourself - then you can think about what you are going to do. If you take a look at the problem or issue just once, and then dislike the outcome, then you can say ‘I knew it’ and stop, but since there is a chance you may like it, then you can think yourself lucky and continue. I think an attitude of flexibility to try everything and rethink it if it doesn’t work is more fun in both research and in life. This is something that I always tell myself. Even for new things, I always just try it first. If you do not think and act for yourself, nothing will start and nothing will happen. It is okay if you fail, but it is important to make a start. Through simply doing something, new discoveries are made, and even if you don’t achieve a big success, you should at least get out what you put in. Of course there are many things you may fail at. And in that situation I just try and think ‘well, that’s okay, it was a good experience’ and start working on the next thing.

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Hideaki Kanai Associate Professor

To analyze, understand and interpret people’s activities and practices, and to research and develop systems to support them.

Keywords: Social Computing, Persuasive Technology, Persuasive Healthcare, the Semantic Web

Our laboratory conducts applied research following the motto of ‘realizing next-generation computing environments through research and development of systems supporting human activities’. Common keywords in our research are: databases, information searching, information visualization, information filtering, web information processing (the Semantic Web), ubiquitous and aware technologies.

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ResearchInterests

Knowledge Science

Professors and

Associate Professors Knowledge Science

Assistant Professors

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Specialization

Simulation-based Data Mining

Research Area


Ayumu SugiyamaAssistant Professor

Simulation-based Data Mining

Computational simulations have become essential tools to further the fields of natural and social sciences. However, understanding phenomena reproduced as a huge quantity of numerical data is difficult. My research seeks to discover knowledge in natural law, combining computational simulation and data mining techniques.

Specialization

Cognitive Science, Information-Theoretical Analysis of Behavioral Data,Language DevelopmentResearch Area

http://www.jaist.ac.jp/~shhidaka/[email protected]

Shohei HidakaAssistant Professor

From Behavioral and Brain Measurement to Understanding of Cognitive Processes

How do people learn complex systems such as language? It is intriguing to wonder whether we can make a machine to autonomously learn such complex systems. One of my research goals is to build a computational model which accounts for human learning and development. Recently, I am also interested in mechanisms of bodily imitation, and “mind reading” from bodily movements.

Specialization

ACT-R, Analogy, Cognitive Modeling

Research Area

http://www.jaist.ac.jp/~j-morita/wiki/[email protected]

Junya MoritaAssistant Professor

Understanding Human Minds by Cognitive Modeling

My main research approach is cognitive modeling; that is, a computational system developed to imitate human minds. I am using this approach to contrast human thinking with formal computational logic. Extending this approach, I am also seeking to develop a learning method that cultivates learner's metacognition by cognitive modeling.

Specialization

Financial Market, Evolutionary Economics, Institutional Analysis

Research Area

http://www.jaist.ac.jp/~s-kobaya/[email protected]

Shigeto KobayashiAssistant Professor

Social Institution Design: Evolutionist Approach

My research focuses on institutional design in financial markets and local communities. More specifically, my current research interests are: 1) analysis and design of circuit breakers based on synchronic and diachronic perspectives, 2) circulation mechanism of community currency using multi-agent simulation and gaming, and 3) money consciousness research using institutional ecology approach.

Specialization

Cognitive Science, Cognitive Developmental Robotics,Evolutionary LinguisticsResearch Area

[email protected]

Takeshi KonnoResearch Assistant Professor

How do humans form communication systems?

Humans communicate with others via intentions. This is a unique feature of humans. How do we form communication systems? I try to approach problems using two types of experiments: co-creation of artificial language, and human-robot interaction.

How do you largely view the discipline of knowledge science? How do you position your research within it?

I think knowledge science is a discipline that should function to enable us to change the simple information around us into effective

information that we can use. As it is an extremely practical discipline, many questions can be posed. I specialize in service science, and possible examples of questions are; “What kind of advertisement should we run so that customers will think that they need this product (that it is effective)?” “What kind of information will improve the quality of people’s lives?”, and so on. An interesting side of Knowledge Science research is in posing such questions, those concerning value acquisition for people, and then working towards solving them yourself. The service of “the value co-creation process between provider and recipient” has a high affinity with knowledge science, and I am researching by always thinking of questions from various value co-creation perspectives, paying attention to people, organizations, government and nature.

What kind of teaching policy do you have? How is your laboratory managed?

In my laboratory, I attach importance to fostering personnel who can formulate concepts. Specifically, I teach the basics, although there

are differences in scale in being able to (i) make long-term predictions by modeling a number of phenomena, (ii) implement innovation through integrating elemental technology, and (iii) analyze service structure from micro to macro levels. Additionally, with the idea of aiming to make JAIST or the JAIST Service Science Research Center a top level service research hub, we contribute articles to journals in Europe and the US, and actively participate in national and international conferences regarding service science. The subject matter is primarily marketing and technology manage-ment. Furthermore, we recommend annually presenting at the Forum for Knowledge Co-Creation (FoKCs), a knowledge science related forum, in order to study service science from the perspective of knowledge science, and strengthen and convey its uniqueness. Individual training regarding paragraph writing that is an essential skill for such thesis development is also provided.

What type of books did you read as a student? What type of effect has this had on you or your research now?

Development of Freedom by Professor Amartya Sen is a book I read as a student, and is still a book I pick up now. He discusses

economic development from the perspective of people’s well-being, and argues that enhancing the capabilities needed to feel a purpose in life and to live in freedom is in itself economic development. Although I was studying economics at university, my being attracted to the messages in this book has had an effect on deciding my career.I am now in the process of pioneering a new field within an international research network in service research known as Transformative Service Re-search. The target of this research is also people’s well-being. The service economy is already reaching maturity, and from steps to simply pursue the expansion of economic scale, we are getting to the stage of aiming toward a Transformative Service Economy, which is the development and sustain-ability of society and the environment in a more qualitative manner. Until now it has been thought that if service is a win-win relationship for both the provider and recipient, it will improve the quality of the value co-creation process, producing better results. My research deals with the importance of the maturation of the service economy, especially with the deterioration of the win-win relationship in the concept of development. I'm searching for a new transformative paradigm.

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http://www.jaist.ac.jp/~kunios/[email protected]

Kunio Shirahada Associate Professor

Transformative Service Research: investigating sustainable service models at the individual, organizational, and city levels

Keywords: Services Marketing, Transformative Service Research, Organization Management, Technology Management

I am interested in the creation, sharing, utilization, and advancement of knowledge at the individual, organizational, and city levels. I am focusing my research on effective urban policy to innovate service systems and create knowledge so that nature and human society will develop in a sustainable way, through their value co-creation relationship, against a background of human service activities that largely affect the environment.

Knowledge Science

Assistant Professors

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Specialization

Kansei Evaluation Data Analysis; Knowledge Construction Systems

Research Area

[email protected]

Yukihiro YamashitaResearch Assistant Professor In order to support traditional craft industries, I am developing a

Kansei recommendation system and conducting marketing research by using the Kansei engineering technique. I am also interested in knowledge construction; that is, the processes and conditions used to reconstruct knowledge.

Specialization

Knowledge Modeling, Knowledge Circulation System,Medical Service ScienceResearch Area

[email protected]

Taisuke OgawaResearch Assistant Professor

Application of Kansei Engineering Technique toPractical Problems

Medical service and educational service need professionalism. Professionalism consists in not only deep domain knowledge but also a high sense of worth. My research interest is how to obtain and deal with the sense of worth as knowledge. Now, some knowledge externalization and sharing systems have started to appear.

Specialization

Cognitive Psychology/Educational Psychology, Educational Engineering,Learning Science, Medical EducationResearch Area


Tomohiro NabetaResearch Assistant Professor

Education for Learning Support

Knowledge Sharing Systems in Professional Services

My main research interest relates to learning and education in the “knowledge society.” In addition, my research interests include knowledge-building and expert cognition. I am studying these topics from the perspectives of psychology and educational engineering.

Specialization

Service Science, Service Marketing, Applied Microeconomics,Knowledge EngineeringResearch Area

[email protected]

Hisashi MasudaAssistant Professor

Constructing methods of service evaluation to handlechanges in customer criteria

In the service economy, a lot of enterprises have issues regarding the quality of service. One of the characteristics of service is that there are a variety of criteria from customers. However, the development of methods that take into account this variety is insufficient to handle all possible cases. The purpose of my research is to interpret and utilize the dynamic aspects of service evaluation. We construct dynamic models of customer satisfaction, apply microeconomic models to service issues, cluster a variety of customers' criteria and develop knowledge management systems that handle the dynamic aspects of service evaluation.

What led you to enter JAIST? What research interests did you have when coming to JAIST?JAIST is famous for its remarkable research achievements in the domain of information science, and also its pioneering works on knowledge science. Aiming to develop more interactive artificial intelligence, I was interested in research on communication systems regarding interactions between people, which is a highly interdisciplinary field. The school of knowledge science of JAIST provides an excellent environment for carrying out such research.

What kind of research are you currently undertaking at JAIST? And what do you feel is the significance of that research for society and for you as an individual?I am currently investigating the neural mechanism for forming symbolic communication systems, involving methods regarding both cognitive neuroscience and complex systems. This research could not only benefit the development of artificial intelligence and robotics from a new perspective, but also contribute to research in linguistics, sociology, and education. In addition it is the theme that I am interested in, and will be a good start point for my later research career.

What kind of future do you see for yourself after finishing at JAIST? Is there a specific career that you are aiming for, etc?I am planning to continue my research at research organizations around the world, encouraged by the extensive opportunities provided by JAIST for academic communication. Also, I am also looking forward to put my ideas into social and industrial practice. The wide range of knowledge I learned here could definitely help me a lot in my future career.

What is good about JAIST, and what aspects of JAIST can you recommend to prospective students?Well known for its academic environment, JAIST is able to provide the most advanced instruments and the most powerful computers for research. The professors here are not only world-famous and knowledgeable, but also very helpful. Various interdisciplinary research projects can be found here, providing excellent opportunities for those who wish to study a wide range of subjects. Although located far from the city, JAIST does provide a perfect environment to live comfortably and study intensively.

What led you to enter JAIST? What research interests did you have when coming to JAIST?Computer graphics is a creat ive applied science f ield based on multidisciplinary studies, which has been totally fascinating to me since I was an undergraduate. Before enrolling in JAIST, I found out that JAIST is a wonderful institution for researchers, and then contacted my supervisor unhesitatingly. I sincerely thank him for accepting me as a research student at first, and letting me begin life in JAIST. My initial research interest was texture representation of human skin, after reading recent papers about leather textures written by my supervisor.

What kind of research are you currently undertaking at JAIST?Currently I have begun a new research topic in computer graphics, immersed body dynamics, which considers the intricate motions of bodies fully immersed in fluid (air, water, etc). This is a very challenging problem which will contribute to the simulations of freely falling or rising objects and self-propelling bodies in real flow in feature films and game development.

What kind of future do you see for yourself after finishing at JAIST?After finishing at JAIST I would like to continue my current research as a researcher in an institute or game company. It will be exciting to facilitate new methodology and technology with other intellectual researchers. I am looking forward to an innovative career full of challenges.

What is good about JAIST, and what aspects of JAIST can you recommend to prospective students?One of the main benefits of JAIST is the freedom you have to follow your interests. There are various great opportunities to help you improve your research skills and exchange ideas with experts. In my case, I visited the University of Sydney and UC Davis as an intern. In conclusion, JAIST is definitely a perfect place to pursue your interests and enjoy life actively.

Guanhong LiCountry of Origin: University: Faculty:

Year of admission into JAIST: Name of Research Laboratory:Research theme:

ChinaGuilin University of Technology (BE); Swansea University (UK)(MSc)Department of Electronics and Computer Science (BE);Department of Computer Science, School of Physical Sciences (MSc)2012Hashimoto LabInvestigate the Neural Mechanism of the Emergence of Symbolic Communication Systems

Haoran XieCountry of Origin: University: Faculty: Year of admission into JAIST: Name of Research Laboratory:Research theme:

P.R. ChinaAnhui University (BS)Department of Applied Mathematics2010 (5D program)Miyata LaboratoryComputer Animation: Rigid-body Simulation, Turbulence Modeling and Model Reduction

Knowledge Science

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