Let's Build a Base for Digital Personnel Development

A continuation of my presentation from the joint governmental/CoolJapan personnel development research conference.

KMD, Keio University's Media Design Lab, which has been participating in the CiP planning for the Pop & Tech SEZ, is a graduate school established in 2008 which takes as its motto a commitment to an interdisciplinary fusion of design, technology, management, and policy.

At the same time KMD takes the approach of working with sponsors through various industry-academia collaborations  in the laboratory-style creation of various services and businesses. It's a method of education that works by throwing students into various industry-led projects, improving results.

We'd like to incorporate those KMD educational/research techniques. KMD already has various collaborations with overseas art schools such as England's RCA, and America's Pratt, as well as with the National University of Singapore, but we've invited Stanford University to share space with them in Takeshiba as well.

However, Takeshiba is merely a launching point for digital development in Tokyo. As part of the government's CoolJapan concept, there's also emphasis being placed on developing an area on the grounds of Haneda International Airport in addition to Takeshiba.  Going forward, we plan to incorporate more planned collaborations.

In addition to the Takeshiba/Haneda areas, there's a lot of development going on around JR Shinagawa Station. With ten times the space at Takeshiba, it promises to be an excellent region for the social implementation of the SEZ's cutting edge developments. Moving farther north, locations can also be found in Akihabara and Todai. We're sketching out plans for a Digital Belt that will wind through the bay area.

Redevelopment has also stepped up in Shibuya. Last year, a corporation called Shibuya Creative Town was created, aiming to move Shibuya in a more media/content oriented direction.

The dream is to connect Tokyo in all directions, and see if it might not be possible to create a broad digital base.

Korea can serve as a model. Content  Korea Lab, or CKL, a personnel development organization, and the startup support organization Creative Economy Leader, or CEL. They're operated using a budget provided by the Korean government. There's also the DCM, or Digital Media City, a gathering place for media created through a collaboration between industry, government, and the city of Seoul.

We've recently concluded an agreement in Seoul for the purpose of setting up a collaboration between the CiP council and the Korean government/ Content Promotion Institute.

In Singapore's neighboring country Malaysia, in the development region of Iskandar, located in Johor Bahru, the government is setting up a base for media education and research. Although the central role in the effort is being played by London University, CiP has also concluded an agreement and entered into collaboration with them.

In this way, we're conceiving hubs that will link together Tokyo with America, Europe, and Asia.