Center for Data ScienceWasedaUniversity Data Science Center

Advances in information and communication technology have made it possible to handle a wide variety of data, increasing the importance of data science not only in the real world but also in all academic and research fields, including science and engineering, humanities, and social sciences. The fusion of "theory" and "data-based verification" that have been accumulated in each specialized field is expected to lead to the development of new academic fields and research that have never been seen before.

By making the most of the strengths of a private comprehensive university and providing a platform for fusing knowledge gained in the specialized fields of science and technology, humanities and social sciences with the latest data science, this center aims to foster talent capable of creating comprehensive and new knowledge and solving complex, global social problems, while also improving the research capabilities of the university as a whole. In addition, we will form a large-scale network with universities and companies not only in Japan but also overseas, and strive to disseminate practical education and cutting-edge research as a base for a world-class model of advanced research and education.

The activities to be carried out at this center are as follows:

• Research, promotion, and deepening of data science and its applied research
• Developing human resources with data-based problem-solving skills
• Coordination of university-wide research and education on data science and its applications
• Disseminating and raising awareness of cutting-edge data science research and its applied research throughout the university
• Planning and promotion of interdisciplinary collaborative research centered on data science
• Cooperation and collaboration with related organizations both at home and abroad
• Contract research, education, and investigation of data science and its applications
• Establishing and organizing data science as an academic field

If the current state of the nation is not explained in detail, the government will lose the ability to administer.
Without examining the results of past administrations, the government has no way of knowing the merits or demerits of its policies.

These are words left by Shigenobu Okuma, the founder of Waseda University, more than 100 years ago. He states the necessity of data science, saying that the government cannot conduct politics unless it can clarify the current state of the country in detail. He also states that the government cannot know whether its policies are good or bad unless it compares the results with those of past administrations.

Okuma is well known as a politician of the Meiji and Taisho periods, having served twice as Prime Minister and forming Japan's first party cabinet. However, Okuma also had a talent for numbers, and advocated the importance of statistics from an international perspective, establishing Japan's statistical system. Specifically, as a councilor he established the Statistics Authority, Japan's first statistical institution, in 1881 (Meiji 14), and became its director himself. He continued to make significant contributions to the development of data science throughout his life, including issuing cabinet orders regarding the advancement and improvement of statistics as Prime Minister.

Okuma has left his name in history by continuing to advocate that policies based on data science that captures the actual socio-economic situation in detail were necessary to build a new Japan in the Meiji era. He is considered one of the prime ministers in history who had the deepest interest in data science, along with Hara Takashi, who led the first population census, and Yoshida Shigeru, who worked hard to establish a statistical system immediately after the end of the war. In 2017, 136 years after the establishment of the Statistics Authority, Waseda University established Center for Data Science in response to Okuma's wishes.