Outline

The objective of the present program is to form an international education and research center that fosters Ph.D students and young researchers in the areas of computer science and information technology through advanced research.

Our previous 21st Century Center Of Excellence (COE) Program called“Informatics Center for the Development of Knowledge Society Infrastructure” accomplished outstanding achievements in the understanding of humanity and integrated media for knowledge generation, the development of knowledge delivery software platform, and social information systems. Based on these achievements, we aim at establishing an international and interdisciplinary research center in the present proposal, focusing on "computer science and information technology that organize a knowledge-circulating society" to push the frontiers of science.

Information systems as social infrastructures have been improved along with the development of information technology. However, numerous technological and social problems have begun to surface, including unfamiliar human-computer interfaces (information equipment and robots), the threat of unpredictable behavior based on unreliable knowledge acquired from the Internet, and the fragility of social information systems. These problems can be ascribed to the congestion of knowledge circulated among people, communities, and societies. Knowledge becomes useful if one person’s knowledge is linked to another’s and circulated throughout society. It is important to pursue not only engineering methodology but also new research methodology to facilitate the smooth circulation of knowledge among societies, communities, organizations, and individuals by organizing inter-disciplinary research teams.

[Overview of Center formation program]

Important aspects of information technology for promoting the circulation of knowledge include human interfaces to communicate knowledge, knowledge searches, collaboration based on knowledge sharing in fieldwork, and reliable high-speed computing infrastructures. The present program has therefore established four (education and research) cores: "primordial knowledge models", "knowledge searches", "field informatics" and "knowledge grid computing" based on interdisciplinary research.

The primordial knowledge model core focuses on the fundamental mechanism underlying knowledge in co-action. In order to develop better human interfaces for knowledge communication, it integrates multi-modal, brain and biological measurements to uncover how knowledge and communication induce each other. The knowledge search core focuses on new search-engine technologies to enable reliable knowledge to be searched from a variety of information sources, and on social systems and business models related to searching. The field informatics core focuses on the methodology to constructing social information systems based on collaboration with field experts. The knowledge grid computing core focuses on the construction of reliable high-speed knowledge-service infrastructures to support the previous three cores. The four cores enable cooperation between them to form the world's highest level of international education and a research center related to "information technology to promote the circulation of knowledge".

The major education programs are:

Young leader-training program

Young researchers and students are encouraged to competitively propose research projects, international workshops, and other plans. The training program provides research funds so that young leaders can experience leadership and build an international network of personal contacts. This program is open to assistant professors, and post-doctoral and Ph.D. students at Kyoto University and overseas.

Seminars for improving strategic communication skills

The seminars, in cooperation with Berlitz and NHK (Japan Broadcasting Corporation), will provide opportunities to train assistant professors, and post-doctoral and Ph.D. students in presentations and negotiations in both English and Japanese, and develop curricula that will improve young leaders' ability to communicate.

Multi-adviser system for Ph.D. students

Two or more Japanese and foreign professors, researchers and field experts are requested to supervise Ph.D students’ research as advisers.

Improvement in international COE hubs and financial support program for foreign Ph.D. students. The present program has been designed to establish international COE hubs in the U.S.A., China, and Thailand, and send assistant professors, and post-doctoral and Ph.D. students as interns to institutes such as universities and corporate laboratories in the U.S.A. and Asia. The program will also invite post-doctoral and Ph.D students from overseas, and provide economic support to them.

Interdisciplinary project-based learning

To promote the cultivation of young researchers with a leadership in the new research field, we will host an interdisciplinary project-based learning projects and environment led by Ph.D. students and young researchers.