ORF to be Held | Tomoyuki Kojima (Dean, Faculty of Policy Management)
November 18, 2004
On November 23 and 24, the world of SFC will be recreated at Roppongi Academyhills. This is because the ORF (SFC Open Research Forum) will be held on the 40th floor of the Roppongi Hills Mori Tower. The ORF is a venue for presenting SFC's research outcomes and an opportunity to experience the cutting-edge and practical nature of research at SFC. Following last year, the reason it is being held off-campus again this year is to disseminate SFC's research achievements to a wider audience and to further develop industry-academia-government collaborative research based on these achievements.
This year's ORF will feature not only presentations of remarkable research outcomes from each laboratory but also a special event: the "12 Dialogues to Create the 21st Century." To show how SFC's research anticipates the future through diverse, cutting-edge studies driven by various problematics while responding to the needs of the times, the ORF will recreate the interdisciplinary dialogues that are a daily occurrence among researchers at SFC.
Three generations of SFC researchers, drawing on their respective research achievements, will engage in dialogues on topics "From Future Technology Strategy to the Fukuzawa Spirit." In the opening session, Professor Hideo Aiso (current President of Tokyo University of Technology), who served as the first Dean of the Faculty of Environment and Information Studies and Chair of the Graduate School of Media and Governance, representing the first generation of SFC; Professor Jun Murai (Executive Director, Keio Research Institute at SFC), who now leads research at SFC, representing the second generation; and Professor Takashi Iba (Full-time Lecturer, Faculty of Policy Management), a young researcher and SFC alumnus representing the third generation, will appear to discuss "The Network Society of the 21st Century" from various perspectives. This will be followed by discussions on "Science and Technology and Regional Policy," "Declining Birthrate, Aging Population, and Gender," "Environmental Technology and Asian Strategy," "Mass Media and the Internet," and "The Fukuzawa Spirit and Pop Culture." Finally, Heizo Takenaka, Minister of State for Special Missions, Cabinet Office, and Professor Ikuo Kaneko will hold a dialogue on "Markets and the Commons." The following day will feature discussions on "Future Technology Strategy and Ventures," "Embodied Knowledge and the Sports Business," "The Global Environment and the Digital Earth," "Genetic Information and Richness of Mind," and "Dialogue with the Islamic World." Finally, Professor Jun Murai and Professor Shigeru Ban will thoroughly discuss "Architecture and Social Design" from both real and virtual perspectives.
By listening to these 12 dialogues, you will not only gain an understanding of the 21st-century world, but you should also come to appreciate that SFC's research and education are at its core. We look forward to welcoming you to Roppongi Academyhills, where the world of SFC will be recreated on November 23 and 24.
(Date of publication: 2004/11/18)