JAPANADVANCED INSTITUTE OFSCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY1990

COE NEWS

Newsletter of the Center for Strategic Development of Science andTechnology, Japan Advanced Institute of Science and Technology (JAIST)

Vol. 4 No. 3

Winter 2008

Researcher Column :Studying Innovation for CrossDisciplinary Projects
Tsuruoka Hiroyuki1
1.

Center for Strategic Development of Science andTechnology, JAIST
h-tsuru@dp.u-netsurf.ne.jp
Our Ongoing COE Program (Technology Creation
Based on Knowledge Science) consists of thefollowing four initiatives as sub-programs:
Sub-Program-1: Establishing Knowledge Science,
and Tools for Its Application.
Sub-Program-2: Studying Innovation for CrossDisciplinary Projects.
Sub-Program-3: Educating Innovative Knowledge
Coordinators and Knowledge Creators.
Sub-Program-4: Forming “Center of Excellence”
Organization with Its Infrastructure.
The idea that innovation is the key to revitalizing
competitiveness has become a topical and widely
accepted argument. And the sources of thecompetitiveness of a country, university, or
company are advanced science and technology, forwhich this institute is named. This article explains
Sub-Program-2, Studying Innovation for CrossDisciplinary Projects.
The COE program is Japanese government-funded
program to develop a competitive academic
environment among Japanese universities, to elevatethem to the world’s highest echelons.

Inside this Issue
Guest Column: On the “Studying Innovation
for Cross-Disciplinary Projects” the School of
Knowledge Science, JAIST, Japan
page : 6
A Bird’s Eye Report of the International
Conference KSS2007
creative and innovative research systems andfindings[1]. This Sub-Program-2 consists of thefollowing five projects as listed in Table-1, with 2～
3 faculty members(professors, associate professors
and researchers) and 2～3 students (Masters and
PhD level students) per project.
2. Principle of Innovation [2]The essence of innovation is the problem ofmapping between a function space and an attributespace, as shown in Fig-1. Knowledge tools serve as
seeds and as attributes. At the same time, thefunctions of research (labs) that require innovative
improvement correspond to needs, located in thefunction space. The most successful project teams
will be those that are able to discover the mostimportant needs of labs and then quickly provide thelabs with knowledge tools that have the attributes tofulfill these functions.
Function Space

Attribute Space
Digital camera

SeeingCellphone

Microscopic
viewing

Electronmicroscope
Conference

Talkingvenue
1. Design of the “Studying Innovation for CrossDisciplinary Projects”
TV
Hearing
Sub-Program-2 aims to provide knowledge tools
Lab Needs
Knowledge Tools
from the School of Knowledge Science and apply
such tools to research work in laboratories of the
School of Materials Science, to produce more
Fig-1 Principle of Innovation
Table-1 Projects in Sub-Program-2

No.
2A
2B
2C
2D
2E

Project title
Innovation for Polyolefin Chemical Industry as Mature Industry
Scientific Research Philosophy
Knowledge Representation Theory for Coordinators
Laboratory Management Based on Cultural Anthropology
Experimental Laboratory Management, using Mobile Blog Albums

JAIST-COE News
Strategic Development of Science and Technology

Winter, 2008
have enough cross-cultural sensitivity to understandeach other, in order to integrate diverse disciplines.
Milton J. Bennett [5] has analyzed this crossdisciplinary sensitivity as six levels, as shown in
Fig-4 below. The key participants should hopefully
develop this sensitivity to the “integration” or“adaptation” level.
3-6) Fig-5 shows the process routes in the SECI
model of our five cross-disciplinary projects until
integration, where 2A ～ 2E show their title No.
listed in Table-1., In Fig-5, 2A-2 and 2D havestarted by providing knowledge tools to be appliedin laboratory management in the SECI model, until
needs would be fulfilled, while 2B, 2C-2 and 2E
have started to identify the needs in the laboratory
first, proceeding to the next step to find suitableknowledge tools, and then returning to laboratory
management for fulfillment of needs in the SECI
model.
3-6) Table-2 shows the combinations of research
fields of laboratories and knowledge tools supplied
from the Knowledge Science side, with integration
results for each project.

3. How These Projects Have Proceeded;3-1) Initially, when team members from theknowledge science side participated in the seminarsof the materials science laboratories and took notesin the labs, this in itself caused a certain amount ofsuspicion and caution and an exclusionary reaction.
As the projects were carried out, continuous efforts
were made to reduce this sense of opposition. The
projects started with proposals that the knowledgescience side provided as knowledge tools.
3-2) However, whether or not cross-disciplinary
research proceeds effectively towards its goal
depends on whether there is a suitable match
between the knowledge tools (seeds) and the needsof a laboratory, which leads to synergy. Success insuch research depends on whether or not the final
decisions are made on the function space side.
3-3) Ikujiro Nonaka, the first dean of the School of
Knowledge Science at JAIST, has developed the
SECI model describing the process of knowledge
creation in Japanese companies. In his model, there
are four modes of knowledge conversion. They are(1)socialization,(2)
externalization,(3)
combination, (4) internalization. Knowledge createdthrough each of the four modes of knowledge
conversion interacts in the spiral of knowledge
creation in quadrant [3]. Making use of the SECI
model, the current author delivered a presentation[4], which showed higher proportions ofsocialization and internalization in Japanesecompanies, when compared with Westerncompanies, but lower proportions of externalizationand combination, as illustrated in Fig-2.

4. Analysis of Cross-Disciplinary Innovation
Projects
4-1) Fig-6 shows the three key factors for innovation
analysis of the five Projects. Three innovation
classification patterns have been applied to analyzeeach project: “type” [6], “focuses” [7] and “route”(Seeds push or Needs pull).
Types are categorized into four types of innovation
for products, according to the MOT text book by
Niwa [6], which enterprise plans to differentiatewith their portfolio strategies. They are, (i)sustainable, (ii) disruptive, (iii) blue ocean, and (iv)revolutionary.
As shown in Table-3, the focus of innovation iscategorized based on the famous Schumpeter model,
which classified the focus of enterprise into one offive targets, ①New Goods, ②New Methods, ③
New Channels, ④New Raw Materials and ⑤New
Organization. In this relation, focus in laboratory
can be identified, corresponding to the Schumpeter
model, as ①Results,②Processes,③Markets, ④Feeds, ⑤Systems.
For the direction of innovation, as shown in Fig-5,
Seeds Push means that the project started byoffering knowledge tools (red arrow in Fig-5) first to
be applied to laboratory management, and Needs
Pull means that the project started first to identify
the needs for innovation in laboratory (green arrow
in Fig-5). Detailed description of this innovation
analysis is referred to in other papers [2], [8].

Fig-2 Features of Japanese Corporate Culture
In the SECI Model3-4) For Cross-disciplinary Projects, it is essential tohave place and time (ba) for a certain duration for
meetings that promote mutual respect andunderstanding between people from diverse
disciplines. This intersecting place and time (ba) is
required to make progress from step 3-1 to 3-2
above, which corresponds to socialization zone, in
the SECI model.
3-5) To be successful at the intersecting place andtime (ba), it is very important for all participants to2

JAIST-COE News
Strategic Development of Science and Technology

Winter, 2008

Ethnocentric States
DenialDefenseEthnorelative States

Minimization

Acceptance

Adaptation

Integration

Divide of Paradigm

Fig-4 Participants’ Cross-Cultural Sensitivity for Cross-Cultural Projects

School ofKnowledge
Science
School ofMaterials
Science

Knowledge Tools (Seeds)

2A-2
2D

*Indication;

Socialization

zone with creative “Ba”

Externalization zone with creative “Ba”
Combination: Seeds pushzone with creative “Ba”

SECI Model

2B
2C-2
2E

: Needs pullFulfillment of Laboratory Needs

Fig-5 Process Routes in SECI model of Cross-Disciplinary Projects from Start to Target
Table-2. Combination of Research Fields and Knowledge Tools, with Integration Results
Item

Project
ThemesCommonThemes

Cross-disciplinary
Integration

2A-1

Polyolefin
Chemical Industy

Research System

Subject

Research
FieldsKnowledge
Tools

TalentedInnovators

A Lab.

Polyolefin
Research・Innovation
Theory・Road Map

2A-2
2B

Scientific Research Research
Philosophy
Life

2C-1

Knowledge
Representation
Theory

2C-2
2D

2E

Lab.Management,
based on Cultural
Anthropology
Lab. Management
using Mobile blog
albumsA)The Types ofInnovation(Niwa,2006)(ｉ) Sustainable(ｉｉ) Disruptive(iii) Blue ocean(iv) Revolutionary
cf. C.M.Christensen, 2001

Integration
Results
National Innovation
System for Chem.Ind.
Research Theme Map

Lab. Culture forHigh Quality
Education
Scientific The Essence ofTheoryScience &Technology
Animation Physics
Phenomena

Philosophy to develop
・All Liberal Arts,
Excellent Researchers
・Knowledge
Creation Theory
and Research Results
Method of Clear
・Understandable
Presentation Method Presentation of
for Science
Scientific Principles
Physics built-in
・Animation
TheoryAnimation

D Lab.

Biochemistry
Research・Cultural
Anthropology

E Lab.

Surface Science

Exploiting Laboratory
Studies Based on
Sociological Approach
Organizing Lab. Identity
・Mobile blog
albums①Sociological（System for sharing ②Educationalof Tacit knowledge) ③Lab. activation

B)The Focus(Target) ofInnovation(Schumpeter, 1926)① New Goods② New Process③ New Market④ New Supply Sources⑤ New Organization

C)The Directionof Innovation(from MOT)
(Technology Push)
Seeds Push(Market Pull)
Needs Pull

Fig-6 Three Innovation Classification (A, B, C) Patterns to Analyze Innovation

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JAIST-COE News
Strategic Development of Science and Technology

Winter, 2008

Table-3 Focus of Innovation for Labs, based on the Schumpeter Model
Focus in Original Schumpeter Theory
Corporate activity
No. "Theory of Economic
Development,Vol.1" by
Schumpeter
Development of① New Goods
New Products② New Production Methods

New Methods③ New Sales Channels

New Markets④ New Raw Material(semi-

New Raw Material
and Semi-finished
Product Supply
Sources
New Forms of
Oraganization

finished products) Supply
Sources⑤ Establishment of New
Organizations

Focus, applied to Lab. Management⇒
Abbrev. Application to lab. Focus of Lab. ApplicabilityNewmanagement
combination（general）
DeliveredResearchers,①Results ・Results fromgoods
researchResearch results, Papers,
Research themes
Delivery
Guidance by professors,②Process ・Process of
methodproducing results
Research management,
Knowledge science.
Research philosophy
DeliveryPotential employers, The③Market ・Beneficiaries ofdestination
reseachPublic, Organizations andCompanies applying Research
Resource④Feed・Raw materials and Specimens,Social needs,
acquisition
resources for
Courses, Research training,
methods
producing results
Accumulated lab.knowledge
Resource
utilization
methods⑤System ・Organization andsystems for
producing results,
inside & outside

Supervising professors, Lab.
organizations, Researchsupport organizations (e.g.
universities, academic

Table-4 Results of Project Integration, with Analysis of Innovation and Expecting Output
Analisis of Innovation
Item

Project
ThemesCommon Innovation by
themes
Cross-disciplinary
Integration
2A-1 Innovation for the
Polyolefin Chemical
Industry

2A-2

Integration
Results

Type by
Niwa
Model

Focus inSchumpeter
Model

Innovation Output
Direction
Model
Knowledge
Innovator Theory

Innovation System for
Chemical Industry(iv)Revolutionary②Process⑤SystemNeeds Pull

Research Theme Map(i)Sustainable ②Process(iii)Blue ocean ④Feed

Seeds Push

National Innovation
System for Chemical
Industry
Research Road Mapping

2B

Scientific Research
Philosophy

Philosophy to develop (i)Sustainable ①Results
Excellent Researchers (iii)Blue ocean ②Process
and Research Results⑤SystemNeeds Pull

Philosophy for Innovative
Researchers and Reseach
Results(Findings)

2C-1

Knowledge
Representation
Theory(iv)RevoluClear Representation
tionary
Methods for ScientificPhenomena①Results

Seeds Push

Presentation Methods for
Representing Scientific
TheoryPhysics built-in
Animation(iv)Revolutionary①Results

Needs Pull

Physics
built-in Animation

2C-2
2D

Lab.Management,
based on Cultural
Anthropology

Exploiting Laboratory (iv)Revolutionary
Studies Based on
Sociological Approach②Process⑤SystemSeeds Push

Theory of Innovative
Research supported by
Sociological Approach

2E

Lab. Management,using Mobile Blog
AlbumsOrganizing Lab.
Identity①Sociological②Educational③Lab activation②Process④Feed

Needs Pull

IT Network System for
Tacit Knowledge
Externalization inExperimental Laboratory(iv)Revolutionary

4

JAIST-COE News
Strategic Development of Science and Technology
5. Conclusion
5-1) For cross-disciplinary projects, it is importantfor participants to have great eagerness for the
integration of diverse disciplines, to have the highest
possible cross-cultural sensitivity ， and to have agood socialization “S” zone to start with, withrespect for each other and broad-minded sensitivity ,in order to fulfill the project goals, while
appreciating the real difficulty of meeting thesegoals. From this viewpoint, we can conclude that
our COE projects have been very valuable to learn
about and strengthen our research structures.
Through this program, the professors and students
have acquired considerable integration skills for
multidisciplinary research work, and they can be
expected to be active cross-disciplinary coordinatorsand creators of innovation from now on.
Especially, through this project activity, one of the
postdoctoral researchers disclosed that heestablished his guiding principles, and felt
confidence in becoming an excellent researcher inthe future.
5-2) Table 4 summarizes the innovations that we
tried to develop in the process of pursuing eachproject, based on the above understanding ofinnovation. This analysis is organized by the Niwa,
Schumpeter, and Innovation Direction models,
which are outlined above. This Niwa model
corresponds to the Roman numerals(orange in Fig-6
and Table-4), the Schumpeter model (blue in Fig-6
and Table-4) corresponds to the circled Arabic
numerals in Abbrev. column for focus of lab.
management in Table-3, and the Innovation
Direction model (purple in Fig-6 and Table-4)
corresponds to the direction of seeds-push or needspull, in Fig-5. In the right column of Table-4, output
by integration are listed.
5-3) Among five Projects, the most well-integrated
cases are, the ones having good S zone in SECI atfirst, and these successful Projects proceeded, pulled
by needs.
5-4) For the university culture of the SECI model (inFig-7), to organize intersecting time and space (ba)as socialization zone in activities has been a very
important point in these five cross-disciplinary
innovation projects.

Winter, 2008

That is why, until now, integration has seldom
occurred in cross-faculty activities inside
universities, and in activities outside the university
in conjunction with society. In JAIST, thanks to this
COE activity, our COE center (Center for Strategic
Development of Science and Technology) is now
playing the role of a socialization zone, for aninteractive interface for cross-faculty activities andwith the local community.
At the same time, if the socialization zone could
be developed more in the personal activities of eachprofessor, then cross-disciplinary projects might
become much easier from now on.
All the participants, students and researchers, also
could develop new sensors to diverse disciplines,
through this COE activity, which will enhance their
sensitivity for integrating network of wider fields,
not only in Materials Science and Knowledge
Science, but also in other disciplines.
5-5) The purpose of the pursuit of learning is toshape the future of society. In terms of integration,some of these projects were able to achievesufficient integration, while others were not. Some
projects failed to reach integration because theparticipants pushed their own particular scholastic
frameworks too heavily.
We thus conclude that construction of a laboratory
culture aiming for cross-disciplinary and innovative
research will promote enhanced competitive edges
in advanced science and technology fields.
6. Final Comment
It is said that “innovation system shifting to front
runner type” for new advanced technologicaldevelopment is essential, to cope with rapidly
globalizing business competition. To implement thiskind of development, the role of cross-disciplinary
innovation management is most important.
In 7 years in the 21st century, GDP(growth % over
7 years) is 23.5% for the world average, 12.2% forJapan and 90.3% for China. As a manufacturingoriented country, Japan is confident that our “crossdisciplinary” and “innovation creation” experiencesin these Projects can contribute to enhance
efficiency of combining diverse disciplines andcreating innovation in advanced science andtechnology development, to stimulate national
competitiveness, which is the final target of our
COE program. We highly appreciate all participants’contributions to this COE program.
References[1] Nakamori Yoshiteru, “Design and Evaluation forKnowledge Creating Ba”, Chishiki Souzo Ba
Ronshu, Vol.1, No.1,
pp.2-25, Center for
Strategic Development of Science and Technology,
JAIST, Nov. 2004

Fig-7 Features of University Culture
In the SECI Model

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JAIST-COE News
Strategic Development of Science and Technology

Winter, 2008[5]Bennett Milton J., “Towards Ethnorelativism: A
Development Model of Intercultural Sensitivity”, pp.
27-69, CROSS-CULTURAL ORIENTATION,
University Press of America, Inc. 1986
[6]Niwa Kiyoshi, “Innovation” Management ofTechnology, pp. 111-160, University of Tokyo Press,
Oct. 2006[7]Schumpeter J.A., “Theorie der Wirtschaftlichen
Entwicklung 2”, 1926 (Translation by Shionoya,
Nakayama, Tohata, Iwanami-Shoten, 1977)[8]Tsuruoka
Hiroyuki,
Yoshinaga
Takashi,Nakamori Yoshiteru, “On the Cross-Disciplinary
Innovation Creation Projects as COE Activity”,
International Journal of Knowledge and Systems
Sciences, Vol.4, No.2, pp. 19-26, 2007

[2] Tsuruoka Hiroyuki, Yoshinaga Takashi,
Nakamori Yoshiteru, “Innovation Study for
Materials Science Laboratory Management,
Supported by Knowledge Science Tools: Five
Cross-Disciplinary Projects”, The proceedings of theEighth International Symposium on Knowledge andSystems Sciences, pp. 386-392, JAIST/ISKSS, Nov.
5-7, 2007[3]Nonaka Ikujiro, Takeuchi Hirotaka, “The
Knowledge-Creating Company”, Toyo Keizai Inc.,
Mar. 1996[4]Tsuruoka Hiroyuki, “Creating Competitive
Corporate Culture –freeing from Japanese Language
Culture”, The Proceedings of the 19th, Annual
Conference, pp. 702-705, The Japan Society for
Science Policy and Research Management, Oct.1516, 2004

The Bird's Eye Report of the International Conference KSS2007
Information and Creativity Support Systems(KICSS2007), took place in Japan on November 57 to show some new achievements and prospects
for continuous thinking and studying, especially toobserve the power of synthesis in knowledge
creation. During the conference, a total of 64
papers were presented. The participants came fromabout 17 countries and regions including Australia,
Austria, Canada, China, Czech, Germany, Ireland,
Japan, Korea, New Zealand, Poland, Russia,
Slovenia, South Africa, United Kingdom, andTaiwan. Those papers are roughly grouped into 10
categories, Knowledge Management in Academia,Intelligent Knowledge Management Systems,
Intelligent Computing, Knowledge Representation,
Knowledge
Coordination,
Ontology,
Organizational Knowledge, Prediction and
Planning, Knowledge Science, and Management
Of Technology, which cover the highlighted topicsof theory and practice of knowledge and systems
sciences, and reflect the continuum of thinking andunderstanding about the scope of knowledgescience.

As the world is entering into the era of theknowledge economy, the significance ofdeveloping knowledge has grown to a level where
it is coming to dominate other socio-economic
factors. The recent developments challenge manyof institutions to understand the nature ofknowledge and its role in applications, toeffectively utilize knowledge for improving
corporate competitive advantage and national
strength, as well as establishing development ofknowledge sciences. The First International
Symposium on Knowledge and System Sciences
was held in Ishikawa, Japan in 2000 to start somerecombination of different ideas and opinions,
methods and technologies, schools and disciplines,
theorists and practitioners, which aim to develop
knowledge science from a systemic perspective,
and may be regarded as use of meta-synthesis
system methodologies toward complex problem
solving. After 8years of work, the 8thInternational Symposium on Knowledge andSystems Sciences (KSS2007), jointly with the 2nd
International
ConferenceonKnowledge,

JAIST-COE News is published by the Center for Strategic Development of Science and Technology, Japan
Advanced Institute of Science and Technology, 1-1 Asahidai, Nomi, Ishikawa 923-1292, Japan.
Questions, comments, article proposals and for more information about the JAIST-COE News, contact
Tomoko KIKUCHI at tkikuchi@jaist.ac.jp, tel. +81-761-51-1839 or go to the link:www.jaist.ac.jp/coe/index.htm
Articles in this newsletter are based on a variety of sources. Signed articles reflect the views of the author.
Unsigned articles are prepared by the editorial staff, which is solely responsible for their content.

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