Anime industry tour as part of off-campus activities in Management and Finance Strategy class. Group photograph at the company’s galleryJanuary 2012

Message from the Director and Dean

Giant steps for SDM

Happy New Year! I look forward to another year of working with you and enjoying your insights and guidance.In 2011, Japan experienced a major earthquake and electric power crisis; the world saw financial crisis, competitive

devaluation, armed conflict, and widening gaps between the rich and poor. These developments are in some senses all interrelated, and provide a painful illustration of just how difficult it is to find solutions that are optimized for the whole in a time when systems in Japan and the world are growing larger and more complex. Personally, I also mourn the loss of that most respected innovator, Mr. Steve Jobs. If anything, it was a year that demonstrated the need for the Graduate School of System Design and Management (SDM) and its approach of viewing phenomena as systems and designing innovative solutions for them. This year, SDM will need to articulate its concepts even more clearly, encouraging teamwork among a diverse group of faculty, students, and researchers to produce world-class research results and to foster human resources that match the world’s needs.The Dean has always authored this section in SDM NEWS, but this year we will be asking twelve full-time supervising professors to share their visions and aspirations for SDM. For this January issue, I join them in sharing a brief glimpse of what each of us hopes to accomplish. I look forward to great things from SDM as it uses its diversity to contribute to a better society.

Takashi MaenoDirector, SDM Research Institute

Dean, Graduate School ofSystem Design and Management

“Aspirations for 2012” (SDM full-time supervising professors)

This will be a year in which faculty and students work together to show the world just how innovative SDM really is! (Takashi Maeno)

I want my research to lead to the kind of society one can only dream about today. (Tetsuro Ogi)

SDM is a melting pot where the “half-student/half-teacher” principle (both students and teachers learn each other) applies and challenging tasks are welcomed! (Naohiko Kohtake)

I want to give students the insights they need to be viable in society, and I also want to help spread the use of EVs and PHVs. (Shoichi Sasaki)

I want to create a track record for the SDM methodology and its emphasis on thinking at more of a meta level and enjoying broader solution spaces! (Seiko Shirasaka)

I want to research interesting topics that will bring hope to a society that has been depressed since the earthquake, and I want to communicate our findings to Japan and the entire world. (Kenichi Takano)

I want SDM to be the engine driving post-3/11 Japan. (Ryuichi Teshima)

I want to encourage students to follow their dreams, and to work together under a common vision to further develop SDM. (Tetsuya Toma)

As the person responsible for international partnerships, I want to maintain our ties with Europe and North America, but also to develop new ties with Asia. (Masaru Nakano)

I want to focus on models that view events as systems regardless of the specific field of knowledge. (Hidekazu Nishimura)

I want this to be a year of the “rising dragon” in our education, research, and social activities. (Shinichiro Haruyama)

I want this to be a year in which resolutions are kept, aspirations are fulfilled, progress is made, and insights are gained; the year of the dragon through and through. (Ken Victor Leonard Hijino)

http://www.sdm.keio.ac.jp/en/

SDM at Peking University’s Study Abroad Fair1

Students tour a leading anime production company2

Intensive lecture on “entrepreneurship” by Professor Duncan Moore3

Mini-projects in project management4

SDM NEWS January 2012

http://www.sdm.keio.ac.jp/en/

Keio University and other partner schools participated in Peking University’s “Study

Abroad Fair” on December 6, 2011. A total of four members from SDM and the Graduate School of Media Design attended. Project Professor Dick Greene introduced SDM and responded to questions

from students.The Keio University session attracted a large number of ambitious Peking University students seeking to become the next generation of leaders. They were impressed by the presentation, which highlighted the many tools in system thinking methodologies that originated in Japan and are now taught at universities around the world. They also valued the opportunity to learn under instructors at SDM who have worked with actual companies to develop those tools.China encourages students to study abroad after they complete their undergraduate degrees, and many appear to choose universities that their instructors and research partners have attended. Tuition is, of

course, a major topic of interest, and the availability of scholarships is one of the most important factors. We think that SDM will be able to attract talented exchange students by highlighting the activities of its instructors and showing how international graduates later utilize their SDM experience in the workplace.

On December 1, 2011, students toured Toei Animation Co., Ltd. as part of their off-

campus activities in Management and Financial Strategy class. Anime is one of Japan’s top “soft power” industries, and Toei has been a leader in the field ever since its founding in 1956. Guest Professor Atsuo Yoshida, who is an advisor to the company, led a group of roughly twenty instructors and students

from SDM on the visit to the company’s head office in Tokyo. The group consisted of students taking the class and other interested SDM members. It began with a briefing on the history and status of the anime industry in Japan before viewing the anime production process firsthand. The Q&A session after the tour lasted over an hour and generated an active discussion of systems approaches, and management.

On November 30 and December 5, 2011, students attended an intensive lecture

on the topic of entrepreneurship. The lecturer was Professor Duncan Moore, now the Vice President of the Entrepreneurship Center at University of Rochester (US) and formerly the Assistant Director of the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy in the Clinton administration. He developed graded index plastics that he used to develop borescope industrial endoscopes which he now markets through a venture company.During the intensive lecture, Professor Moore

spoke about his experiences in managing a venture company as well as numerous other case studies to teach students about the role of entrepreneurship in technology management. Topics included the treatment of intellectual property, financial and marketing strategy, and how to sell ideas to investors. The students were inspired by the many case studies and examples he shared.During his stay in Japan, Professor Moore also attended the SDM Information Session held on December 3, at which he gave an enthusiastic presentation on entrepreneurship.

On December 5, 2011, students in the (English-language) Project Management class put

their newly acquired tools into action in a “mini-project” workshop.

Students undertake mini-projects every year with different themes. The challenge this year was to build a paper tower. In the 2009 paper tower competition, the goal was to build the tallest tower. This year, students were asked to satisfy customer requirements for strength and materials while sticking to a predetermined height. The parameters gave them a more realistic experience and forced them to think innovatively about their task.The competition was fierce but friendly. The students were divided into a “Japan Team”, mostly comprising Japanese students, and a “World Team”, mostly comprising international students. During the “Lessons Learned” session at the end, the teams acknowledged their departure from their plans in a process that was often “making it up as we went along” and that they had misunderstood customer requirements because of lack of communication. The

experience reconfirmed the importance of project management.

News

Keio University booth

Project Professor Greene’s presentation

Participants at the pre-tour briefing

Students listened with interest to an explanation of the industrial endoscope developed by Professor Moore

Students building paper towers

Applying load to the project to test whether it satisfies the standards

Intensive lecture by Associate Professor Rashmi Jain5

Reports from students returning from abroad6

Science education dome animation now showing at National Museum of the Emerging Science and Innovation7

“Digital 3D Ukiyoe” displayed at the Visual Media EXPO8

SDM NEWS January 2012

http://www.sdm.keio.ac.jp/en/

http://www.miraikan.jst.go.jp/dometheater/ ▲

　chikyuwomitsumete.html

Associate Professor Rashmi Jain of National University of Singapore was invited to give

an intensive lecture on “Cases and Applications of Verification and Validation” over a 2-day period beginning December 8, 2011 as part of the core subject on “System Verification and Validation”.Associate Professor Jain geared her presentation to new graduates and returning students as she discussed the kinds of verifications and testing required when building systems. The lecture was a follow-up to the lecture on “System Architecture and System Integration” held one year earlier and, together with the lecture held two years ago, completed the overview of V-model systems engineering. Among the topics covered were the relationship between the number of items to be

validated and costs, and the need for third-party management of validations and tests. Students

learned the importance of validation and testing in the creation of safe systems.

SDM students studying at Purdue University (US) and Delft University of Technology (the

Netherlands) (TU Delft) presented reports on Tuesday, December 13, 2011. Three students in the second year of the master’s course, Yuko Kagami, Aria Iwasawa

and Shusuke Morimoto, made presentations.Ms. Kagami spent three months at TU Delft where she studied corporate finance and other business topics. She was particularly challenged by the three-hour final exam in English. Ms. Iwasawa and Mr. Morimoto were guest researchers in the School of Aeronautics and Astronautics of Purdue University, where they worked under Professor William Crossley and Professor James Garrison respectively. Mr. Morimoto also played in the Chicago Open on the Purdue University Badminton Team. Meanwhile, Ms. Iwasawa took flying classes at Purdue’s airfield and visited local elementary schools where she taught classes. All three exchange students found

the three-month stay to be both satisfying and rewarding. They spoke about how invaluable the experience was and encouraged their fellow students to grasp the opportunity to study abroad.

“Encounter with Earth”, an animated feature produced especially for domes under

the leadership of Takeshi Chikakiyo (Researcher, SDM Research Institute and visual producer of the National Museum of the Emerging Science and Innovation), began a run at the planetarium of the National Museum of the Emerging Science and Innovation on December 7, 2011. Professor Tetsuro Ogi of the Visual Simulation Laboratory oversaw the video effects for the project. The show uses the dome environment and spatial video

expression technology in its applied research into how highly-immersive spatial imaging can be used in education. It focuses on the earth’s carbon cycle, with an alien visiting the planet and viewing the entire ecology of people, animals, plants, space, and ocean as a single system. The show, which targets families, will be screened at a number of planetariums around Japan.

Erika Ikeda (1st year masters course), Hao Lu (1st year masters course), Project Assistant

Professor Yoshisuke Tateyama and Professor Tetsuro Ogi of the Visual Simulation Laboratory were invited to display their research into “Digital 3D Ukiyoe” at both the Digital Content EXPO held at the National Museum of the Emerging Science and Innovation on October 20-22, 2011 and the Visual Media EXPO held at Pacifico Yokohama

on December 7-9, 2011. The project analyzes the perspective techniques used in ukiyoe and applies it to three-dimensional VR to create a 3D digital representation of Edo Period ukiyoe. The technology is expected to attract young people to science and art museums. The two Expos had a combined total of approximately 40,000 visitors, providing an excellent opportunity to demonstrate the technology.

Lecture by Associate Professor Rashmi Jain

Aria Iwasawa reports on her studies

From front left: Aria Iwasawa, Yuko Kagami, Shusuke Morimoto, and Project Associate Professor Nobuaki Minato

http://dcexpo.jp/en/program/asiagraph/tenji_asiagraph.php ▲

http://www.adcom-media.co.jp/vme/innovation/ ▲

The Visual Simulation Laboratory booth

(in Japanese)

(in Japanese)

SDM NEWS January 2012

SDM Research Institute, Graduate School of System Design and Management at Keio University

Collaboration Complex, Keio University, 4-1-1 Hiyoshi, Kohoku-ku, Yokohama, Kanagawa 223-8526Tel：045-564-2518　　Fax：045-562-3502 　　E-mail：sdm@info.keio.ac.jp

Lab profiles do notappear in this issue.Note

Event report: 2011.12.11 “Fukushima Future Meeting”9

Voice navigation system for the visually impaired10

Article on roundtable discussion attended by Professor Takano published in the journal of the Engineering Advancement Association of Japan

11

On Sunday, December 11, 2011, “Link wi th Fukush ima” , a Fukush ima

reconstruction assistance organization led by Motoshi Kanke, a 1st year master’s course student, held a “Fukushima Future Meeting” in Fukushima. The SDM Research Institute provided cooperation for the event, and Dean Takashi Maeno, Project Professor Toshiyuki Yasui, and Associate Professor Naohiko Kohtake participated from the faculty. During the morning

session, lectures were heard on the theme of “the earthquake and the past, present and future of Fukushima”. In addition to lectures from Fukushima University’s Fukushima Future Center for Regional Revitalization and the Fukushima Economic Research Institute, Dean Takashi Maeno of Keio SDM delivered a lecture titled “The need for unified, overarching perspectives and the potential for the Future Center: designing a Future Center that will solve social and civic

challenges.” During the afternoon, there was a collaborative workshop where participants used Design Thinking to explore the topics of “jobs”, “industry” and “special reconstruction zones”. SDM faculty, researchers and students were responsible for the design and administration of the program. The event, attracting over 100 participants, was well received. The participants expressed their high degree of satisfaction in the follow-up survey.

On December 15, 2011, a group led by Professor Shinichiro Haruyama went to

ATC, a large shopping mall complex in Nanko, Osaka where they used visible light communications technology developed by Panasonic Corporation Eco Solutions company (formerly Panasonic Electric Works

Co., Ltd.) to give the visually impaired an opportunity to experience how visible light communications can be applied in audio-based guidance services.Professor Haruyama has been involved in demonstration testing conducted by the Robot Laboratory of the Osaka Metropolitan Center for the Promotion of Urban Industry since 2011. A report of the experiment was posted on this website: http://robo-labo.jp/modules/d3blog3/details.php?bid=99 (in Japanese).The system uses indoor location information sent from LED lighting fixtures and received by smartphones to determine the position and attitude of the user and provide audio guidance. Four people who are visually impaired or blind participated in the experiment; a comment was made that the headphones made it easy to understand the directions.

The experiment was conducted prior to a public feasibility experiment that is scheduled to be held at the Ageless Center on the 11th floor of ATC from February 14-19, 2012. We encourage you to participate.

“Engineering”, the journal of the Engineering Advancement Association of Japan, featured “Expectations for Engineering in the Age of Uncertainty”, an article on a roundtable discussion in which Professor Kenichi Takano participated.

On December 24, 2011, Professor Takashi Maeno’s research into human tactile reception mechanisms, tactile sensors, and tactile displays was awarded the Prize for Academic Excellence in the Systems Integration Division by the Society of Instrument and Control Engineers.

The entire article can be viewed here (http://www.sdm.keio.ac.jp/news/2011/12/01-123248.html (in Japanese); link will take you to the Engineering Advancement Association of Japan site).

The workshopThe workshopDean Maeno, lecturer

Visually impaired participant experiences a navigation system

■ Name of Journal: Engineering

■ Publication date: October 2011

■ Publisher: Engineering Advancement Association　 of Japan

■ Publication: “Engineering”, October 2011 issue, 　 No. 128, pp. 4-11

Award receivedNotice

http://www.sdm.keio.ac.jp/en/