Industry-Government-Academia Collaboration - A Case Study
"So-Hatsu suru Shakai" (Society to Observe the "So-Hatsu" Phenomenon)
-- Message from the Keio SFC - DNP Emergent Project
This page offers a case study of various research activities and the results of industry-government-academia collaboration conducted at the Keio SFC Research Institute. (Position titles are those at the time of release.)
>> Archive of Industry-Government-Academia Collaboration - A Case Study
"So-Hatsu suru Shakai" (Society to Observe the "So-Hatsu" Phenomenon)
-- Message from the Keio SFC - DNP Emergent Project
A collaborative research project between the Keio SFC Research Institute and Dai Nippon Printing Co., Ltd. (DNP), called the "Keio SFC - DNP Emergent Project," was started on 1st September 2004. This project was made possible after a series of meetings and discussions between the two parties at the SFC Forum research conferences. We would like to introduce a recently published book entitled "So-Hatsu suru Shakai" (Society to observe the "So-Hatsu" Phenomenon) that focuses on this project.
The Project makes full use of the specialized expertise of both the Keio SFC Research Institute and Dai Nippon Printing Co., Ltd. DNP believes in a philosophy of management that aims to "Contribute to a sophisticated, revitalized and enriched society emerging in the 21st century," while SFC encourages research in advanced and interdisciplinary areas specializing in information technology and social sciences. Combining the philosophy and belief of both DNP and SFC, the project emphasizes social synthesis and technological fusion to shape an information-oriented emerging society.
Research scholars from both SFC and DNP began formal discussions on the project in September 2004, and were able to establish a hypothesis and develop a mechanism to induce the So-Hatsu phenomenon, the results of which were later published in a book entitled "So-Hatsu suru Shakai." The book also highlighted the meaning and possibilities of the So-Hatsu phenomenon from standpoint of each SFC specialist.
Natural scientists were always captivated by the So-Hatsu phenomenon. In recent years, as human society became increasingly fluid, social scientists too became interested in it. As society is changing the So-Hatsu phenomenon is acquiring greater significance.ĦĦThe spread of the Internet has facilitated the spread of information by individual users. The access to information has forced people to redefine their traditional mind-set and methods. The So-Hatsu book, mentioned above, provides direction to modern society and creates a new value. In brief, the "Keio SFC - DNP Emergent Project" is an excellent model of industry-government-academia collaboration.
What is the So-Hatsu concept?
 The word "So-Hatsu" has been used in biology, system theory and the formation of complex systems. It is usually translated as the "emergence" of something. Today it is used in organizational, collaborative and innovative theories and network generation. It has become a metaphor and a concept to understand emerging social, organizational and technological realities. In other words this implies that when we use the So-Hatsu concept there is no need to "understand or to know the whole picture to maintain order. All behave in their own way; there still will be some kind of order". The So-Hatsu concept uses the behavior of ants as an analogy to understand human organization. Most ant colonies possess a systematized order even when individual ants lack a unified perspective. The queen ant does not order each worker ant to do daily chores and yet ant colonies maintain a task-oriented order. In our emerging society too many dimensions and constituents connect and get tangled. They then affect each other creating an energy that makes things move in the same direction with unexpected results.
>> "Keio SFC Research Institute" website "Keio SFC - DNP Emergent Project" (available in Japanese)
>> "So-Hatsu Site" (available in Japanese)
>> "Dai Nippon Printing Co., Ltd." website
(Release Date: 2006/11/10)
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