TOP > Publications > Basic Technologies for Service Innovation Based on Mathematical and Information Science
Feb./2009
(STRATEGIC PROPOSALS)
Basic Technologies for Service Innovation Based on Mathematical and Information Science/CRDS-FY2008-SP-06
Executive Summary

In this strategic program, the R&D of basic technology contributing to the efficiency improvement and advancement of services, especially in the aspects of mathematical science and information science, is proposed along with the specific R&D themes and the promotion method.

Since the concept of "Service Science" was mentioned in the report, "Innovate America", announced by the Council on Competitiveness in December, 2004, "Service Science" or "SSME (Service Science, Management and Engineering)" has become a hot topic and been studied in many countries. However, since the full picture of this field has not been made clear and there is a variety of definitions in "service", no consensus is reached yet. The relating discipline includes organization management, marketing tool, and business custom and ideas in addition to mathematical science, information science, cognitive science, psychology, and economics. Many people from different fields have been trying to examine whether such integration with a variety of elements can be systematically handled.

In this strategic program, we propose a continuous examination for the integration of various elements described above and an R&D focusing on mathematical science and information science that play a leading role in the field. As services significantly involve humane elements in the process, the degree of uncertainty, complexity, and transitory (non-reproducibility) is much higher than goods. Such a feature provides new R&D subjects for mathematical science and information science. To challenge these subjects, we propose to work on the following R&D.

- Technology for modeling complicated real services
- System optimization technology that allows specific uncertainty
- Technology for integrating raw data and for extracting knowledge
- Technology for analyzing the system with complicated causal structure to improve predictability of its behavior
- Integration of elemental technologies for the application to actual service

As a method for promoting these R&D, we propose the following approach. Public and influential service fields (e.g. medical service) are chosen, where service provider and the researchers of mathematical science and information science can work together. Projects are run in parallel and the results are integrated to generalize the theory and technology. An effort to integrate different technologies as above should be also maintained.