We live in an age of digital innovation, and it is difficult to say where the future will lead, as the challenges facing society and business continue to prove intractable in the face of conventional theories and approaches. In the age to come, we need people capable of providing us with insights into the challenges and emotions underlying society.
Designers are among the specialists equipped with the attributes to provide this, and design management, which applies the design mindset and sensibility to management, is becoming increasingly popular worldwide.
At the same time, however, Japanese management structures have been slow to appreciate the basic principles of digital technology, something which observers have attributed the under-realization of innovation in Japan to.
In the Department of International Digital and Design Management, students cultivate the digital technology-related knowledge essential to management in the coming era, while at the same time they are equipped with a capacity for design that will allow them to chart a sure path in an uncertain future, becoming deeply creative and internationally-minded innovation leaders.
The distinctive educational approach used in the Department of International Digital and Design Management takes a solid foundation of business administration and incorporates into it a three-track emphasis on “design,” “digital” and “international” education.
For digital technology, a systematic curriculum is used which starts with a solid grounding in science and technology and takes students from first principles through to applications. In order to ensure students are able to communicate and collaborate across borders with people representing a diversity of backgrounds, students learn a variety of different means of expression, including English as a global language. Design-related education is expansive in scope, encompassing style, process and strategy, in order to refine students’ ability to maximize the value created by companies and organizations.
Through this combined, three-track emphasis, students are equipped to navigate an uncertain future by acquiring expertise in management theory and digital technology, learning to cast off their fear of failure and to welcome challenges, and cultivating a deep capacity for creativity.
Research Groups & Research Areas
This course focuses on how to apply digital technologies within the context of “information systems studies.” Specific emphasis is given to how digital technologies can be applied to address challenges in business and society.
Iijima Research Group / Suzuki Research Group / Yagisawa Research Group
From the standpoint of design as an “intellectual activity for producing man-made objects and materials to help in addressing problems,” this course focuses, in an “empathetic manner”, primarily on identifying specific problems and producing man-made objects and materials to help in addressing the problems in human and organizational management.
In the context of the various problems which the introduction of new, digital technologies creates, as well as exploring the diversity of meaning and significance which “Japan” conveys, this course focuses on how to approach the global development of digital technology-driven products in an ethical fashion.
Management Studies Course
Addressing “more complicated problems” requires an integration of the three fields of international management, digital management and design management, with the common foundation of all three being management studies. The primary focus of this course is on applying the various theories and techniques arising out of management studies towards the integration of these fields of studies.
Lee Research Group / Sato Research Group