Naoko Daigo

Naoko Daigo graduated from Morimura Gakuen High School, Japan. After receiving her BFA degree in communication design from Parsons, The New School for Design, in New York, she moved to Los Angeles, California to work.

Her research field at SDM is development of valuation analyses for universal value in entertainment script for strengthening soft power through effective use of audio-visual content

SDM is a common language in her family. Her oldest brother, Hiroaki Daigo, is a Ph. D. candidate and another older brother, Masayuki Daigo, is working toward his master's in SDM. It is the first time in Keio University's 150-year history that three family members are enrolled in the same graduate school while still working. SDM is stimulating and makes her want to challenge herself. She is currently a president of PRESYDENT which stands for Proactive System Design Team, a group of student leaders charged with enhancing the system of SDM. She considers it a good experience.

Effective and attractive business simulation

That was SDM's unique Active Learning Project Sequence (ALPS) which attracted her to SDM. She found numerous advantages in ALPS. First of all, the lectures given by professors from Stanford and MIT who came to Japan to teach were excellent. The education and research activities are virtually bi-lingual. There is also a system for e-learning and a concurrent design facility where there is a huge 4K screen that allows students to receive live lectures from abroad as well. Leading edge information technology is applied to design projects. Secondly, throughout this course, she learned many useful tools for designing problem solving plans. System design is a creative activity to bring a concept to a real being by balancing all the technical and social factors such as customer requirements, use objectives, essential functions, costs for R&D and operations, adaptability to the environmental changes and coexistence, in addition to the trade-offs among stakeholders. Thirdly, SDM is a real fusion of technical/social-oriented students of different generations and social status; thus diversity is a major advantage of being in ALPS. The performance of every team member highly influences the result. Therefore you must learn how to feel and think about the qualities of every member and how to collaborate to find solutions to your assignments.

Each year, a different theme is given and ours was "sustainable community". After six months of ALPS, their team came up with a solution called "Closed-down Tokyo School Renewal: Roppongi Vege & Fruits". Towards the end of the course, they submitted their project solution to some competitions such as "Entrepreneur Grand Prix" and "Campus Venture Grand Prix". As a result, they ended up winning most of the awards. Now she is strongly convinced that what they have learned in ALPS can really be applied not just only to a school project but also to the real working world. Lastly but not least, she would like to mention how Prof. Kos Ishii from Stanford, who passed away last year, had an impact on her thinking. Prof. Ishii said that most products and services that bring new value to society are amorphous. To realize these amorphous and complex systems, decision makers must obtain skills not just in one discipline, such as mechanical, electrical, or management science, but in the ability to combine and deploy them as needed. Only with such strategic integration of theory, methods, and tools, can we realize new value through innovation. He also taught them that a bright smile is the most important thing, to be positive and think sky-high, to have a joyful way of looking at life. While deeply appreciating all his great efforts, and the passion and knowledge he passed on to them during ALPS, she strongly feels that they ought to repay him by using what they learned from him and ALPS for the benefit of society.

Great Potential

All courses are great but the Special Lectures from professors who are active on the front lines of specific industries are especially informative. Every lecture she heard stimulated my intellectual curiosity. By making the best use of the diversity of SDM, she feels that her work advances every day. SDM is a treasure house filled with hints for problem solving.

Yukichi Fukuzawa-sensei founded Keio Gijuku with the educational philosophy "Independence and Self-respect (dokuritsu-jison)". This spirit begins with accepting others with kindness as an act of "symbiosis and respect of others", not from being self-righteous. Today conflicts rage around the world due issues involving race, religion, and economic disparity. How to live with people that have different values is the modern proposition. Moreover, people's values are changing rapidly in this huge, complex system that is shaped by factors as diverse as internationalization, informatization, welfare, environmental problems, and wars scattered over the globe. We know we must move forward at the speed of light but that is difficult when the future seems so opaque. As the modern age becomes the post modern age, the world needs individuals like the great teacher Fukuzawa-sensei who can carve out a path to a new era. SDM was created with an innovative education concept to celebrate the 150th Anniversary of Keio Gijuku. Prof. Yuichiro Anzai the former president of Keio University said he was certain that if Fukuzawa-sensei were alive today, he would have created this graduate school.

System Design and Management requires observing global trends such as the diverse interaction between ethnic groups, languages, cultures, and economies in the transnational era. This is a new program to foster social/technology leaders of the 21st century. SDM consists of students that are versatile members of society from various fields, successful entrepreneurs, and superior university graduates. It reinforces their capability to design and operate a complex system of systems in a totally international framework. She is grateful and proud to be a KEIO SDM graduate student. She sees great potential in SDM's education and research capabilities and knows it can foster individuals who practice "dokuritsu-jison" and become leaders that solve problems and meet society's needs. Let's think sky-high and design a bright future together!