A message from the Dean

The remarkable progress made in the field of information science and technology has had a profound impact on all areas of society, to the point where it is now being said that we stand on the precipice of the Fourth Industrial Revolution. A “super-smart society” (Society 5.0) that can solve various social problems by implementing that latest information technology throughout industry and the life of society: this is being touted as what Japan should be aiming for.

In order to achieve Society 5.0, it will be necessary to produce a new place to create value, leading to the solutions for societal problems, by combining, through big data analysis, various automated technologies such as artificial intelligence and machine learning.
In addition, by combining the models and sets of laws found from the data with the various sets of laws that have been found in each field of the natural and social sciences, it will be possible to perform multifaceted and precise simulations, and to predict the future using complex systems.

That is to say, “data” and “simulation” are represented by “data science”—the fourth paradigm, a scientific research method advocated by Jim Gray—and “computational science”—the third paradigm, which is a scientific method developed by the leap forward in computer technology, respectively. It can be said that both methods need to be organically connected and developed in a complementary and integrated manner.

Cutting-edge IT personnel will be imperative in order to achieve Society 5.0 and promote the utilization of big data, but it is predicted that in 2030 there will be a shortfall of some 450,000 people, and the need to cultivate human resources to ameliorate that is a serious task for universities and other institutions to tackle. In the future, it will be important for data analysis and simulation calculation based on it to serve as two wheels, which can be useful for solving social issues and for creating value and making decisions in industry and society. There will be a greater need for human resources that can tackle various issues in a wide range of academic fields including the natural and social sciences, from a broad perspective based on data science and computational science.

In order to achieve education and research that incorporate these kinds of trends in information science and technology and respond to the need for human resources trained in the most cutting-edge information technology, the Graduate School of Applied Informatics and the Graduate School of Simulation Studies have been reorganized into the Graduate School of Information Science. While both of these graduate schools were located at the Kobe Campus for Information Science (Chuo Ward, Kobe), the Graduate School of Information Science will both carry on their legacies of education and research, while being located in both the Kobe Campus for Information Science and the Kobe Campus for Commerce (Nishi Ward, Kobe), fulfilling also the role of graduate school connected to the School of Social Information Science at the Kobe Campus for Commerce.

As a result, it will now be possible for students from across these three organizations to receive education in one organization, on the data science and computational science required in Society 5.0, such as data collection/analysis, modeling, simulation, and its calculation base. We provide a bird's-eye view of the basic concepts and information related to data science and computational science, in addition to providing an opportunity to acquire knowledge and techniques in a wide range of application fields, including health science and information security.

We are looking forward to welcoming those who want to study these kinds of advanced disciplines and technologies of information science, and want to play an active role in society as advanced information engineers, as well as those who aim to be advanced researchers in information science.