There are many issues in the world for which there are no right answers. As the members of society become increasingly diverse, it is difficult to find an answer that is satisfactory to everyone, and in an era of rapid change, the right answer today may not be the right answer tomorrow.
In order to address vexing issues like these, some came to believe that a new science was needed—a science that aims to realize goals and values, rather than just taking the conventional approach of recognizing and understanding "things," such as natural and social phenomena. This is the approach of design science, which explores the “the way things should be”

In 2013, Ritsumeikan University established the Research Center for Design Science to serve as a hub for the discipline of design science. We spoke with the center's director, Dr. Satoshi Goto (Associate Professor, Department of Business Administration, College of Business Administration), about its objectives, activities, and vision.

A massive research lab for creating the society of the future

Dr. Goto elaborates as follows: “OIC is a space where students, faculty, and staff come and go, as do members of the general public. The goal of this project is to establish OIC as a ‘living laboratory,’ that is, a laboratory for research and development near where people live, and to experiment with both technology and laws and social systems." The project team is working to develop a system for collecting, managing, and sharing data to ensure human safety as well as to demonstrate its effectiveness by operating it on campus. They will also conduct technical verification of the System of Systems (SoS), which integrates multiple robots and different control systems.

Turning the entire campus into a lab is a grand endeavor. Globally, there are still no universities promoting this kind of initiative, and the fact that it can be verified from a human perspective is particularly noteworthy, according to Dr. Goto.

Active industry-government-academia collaboration and collaboration with the community are also hallmarks of the Center. Among these initiatives, each research group is pursuing distinctive efforts to apply the findings of design science.

The Manufacturing Solutions Research Group aims to design and create business models of manufacturing skills from a total business standpoint, not just as a technical theory of engineering. Its current focus is i-Construction, which incorporates ICT into every process at a construction site. The group is collaborating with companies to explore issues in the area of construction production system innovation.

Meanwhile, the Design Management Lab (DML) conducts design management research on the utilization of design knowledge in organizational management strategy and innovation. The process of defining issues from the needs of users and clients and incorporating these into design is known as design thinking, and in recent years, efforts to apply this approach to business have become increasingly proactive. DML is moving forward with the systematization of this design thinking approach as well as various other types of design knowledge that have been developed overseas, and it is promoting activities to introduce this to companies in Japan. As part of its joint research with local governments, DML is also conducting a project to support management innovation with design management practices for small and medium-sized companies.

The Innovation Meaning Creation Research Group aims to establish a methodology to search for "value," which is the essence of design. Research is underway that leverages the ability of researchers in the humanities and social sciences to uncover value. In recent years, ethnographic methods, in which cultural anthropologists observe behaviors and interact with subjects through fieldwork to record culture and behavioral patterns, have come to be used in design and marketing research. According to Dr. Goto, the Center is focusing on an even broader range of research methods from the humanities and social sciences.

“Literary scholars, for example, employ a research methodology that allows them to interpret a great deal from a text—not just the meaning of the words, but also the background. The research skills of these researchers in the humanities and social sciences are an asset that can be utilized for design research, which is not about researching a predetermined market, but rather about studying people and society at large,” emphasizes Dr. Goto. Currently, the Center is also pursuing research into how archaeological research methods can be used in the business arena.

It is precisely because design science seeks to create a society with outstanding value that people can recognize that knowledge from the humanities and social sciences, fields where scholars explore the nature of people and society, can be utilized. Dr. Goto says he hopes to establish and spread the use of design research methods by creating as many use cases as possible.

The Center has also come up with a new approach to training talent. Dr. Goto has been leading the EDGE+R entrepreneurship education program, in which teams of diverse participants engage in project-based learning (PBL) to practically acquire the mindset and skills necessary for problem-solving and value creation. In AY2023, the Center established a new metaverse course and launched a program where a wide range of people, from high school students to adult learners in the doctoral program, can learn about design thinking.

Dr. Goto describes the significance of learning about design thinking in the metaverse as follows.

Design has come to be seen as a means of creating societies and communities that go beyond activities involving the two-dimensional and three-dimensional objects around us. How can we build a sustainable society where people can feel enriched? There are high expectations from society for the activities of this Center, which explores the frontiers of design science and fosters talent who can envision "the way things should be.”