ProjectsISSS

March 9, 2007

Dear ISSS Members and Colleagues

As you may notice, now we have just half a year till the 51st Annual Meeting of the Society. I would like to take this opportunity to encourage you all to participate in the meeting. Indeed, it will be held at Tokyo Institute of Technology, Japan, from August 5 through 10, 2007. Tokyo is a wonderful showcase of harmony of modernism and * tradition as well as a crossing point of western and eastern cultures. The structure of the meeting looks “isomorphic“ to Tokyo; you get together from all over the world to share views on cutting-edge systems research in the sessions, while you enjoy Gagaku, the traditional music of the Japanese imperial court, at the banquet.

The main theme is “Integrated Systems Sciences: Systems Thinking, Modeling and Practice”. It attempts to promote systems sciences as an approach to complexity in a broad sense, identified in organizations, communities and societies, and their environments, in such a holistic and integrated way that we draw on all of systems sciences from systems thinking and systems modeling to systems practice. It also tries to integrate formal and verbal approach, theoretical and practical research, and western- and eastern-culture-based systems thinking.

In addition to conventional sessions organized around Special Integration Groups (SIGs), there will be more other interactive formats for dialogue and synthesis, namely, Daily Roundtable and Mini-Conversation, as well as sessions for Tokyo Special Tracks (TSTs) covering hot and unique research issues.

The 51st Annual Meeting also provides an occasion for bringing together scholars and practitioners from academic, business, and government. To promote such collaboration, the meeting enjoys a strong support from the 21st Century COE program “Creation of Agent-based Social Systems Sciences” established by the Japanese government in financial and other aspects. Moreover, we have distinguished co-sponsors and conference partners including: American Society for Cybernetics, The DAPAD Foundation (INTERPROSTAD), International System Dynamics Society, The Japan Association for Social and Economic Systems Studies, The Japan Society for Management Information, The Operations Research Society of Japan, The Society of Instrument and Control Engineers, The 21st Century COE program “Technology Creation based on Knowledge Science” (Japan Advanced Institute of Science and Technology), and Research Institute for Information Technology and Management (Waseda University).

We are proud of the list of distinguished plenary speakers for this year’s meeting from government, industry and academia. The following speakers have agreed to give a talk:

• Hiroshi Deguchi (Tokyo Institute of Technology, Japan)
• Nagia Mohammed Essayed (African Union Commission)
• Takahiro Fujimoto (The University of Tokyo, Japan)
• Debora Hammond (Sonoma State University, USA)
• Michael C. Jackson (Hull University, UK)
• Louis H. Kauffman (University of Illinois at Chicago, USA)
• David C. Lane (London School of Economics and Political Science, UK)
• Soho Machida (Hiroshima University, Buddhism priest, Japan)
• Gary Metcalf (InterConnections, LLC, USA)
• Gerald Midgley (ESR Christchurch Science Centre, NZ)
• Teruyasu Murakami (Nomura Research Institute, Ltd., Japan)
• Yoshiteru Nakamori (JAIST, Japan)
• G.A. Swanson (Tennessee Technological University, USA)

Lastly I would like to acknowledge the members of the organizing committee and local committee with sincerest appreciation for their collaborative efforts:
Organizing Committee:

• Satomi Segawa, ISSS Vice President for Membership and Conferences, Program Committee Chair
• Jennifer Wilby, ISSS Vice President for Administration, ISSS Business Office
• David Ing, ISSS Vice President for Communication and Systems Education, 2005-2007, ISSS Communications

Local Organizing Committee:

• Yusuke Arai, Tokyo Institute of Technology
• Hisako Chujo, Tokyo Institute of Technology
• Xu Chunhui, Chiba Institute of Technology
• Hiroshi Deguchi, Tokyo Institute of Technology
• Pri Hermawan, Tokyo Institute of Technology
• Yoshihide Horiuchi, Shibaura Institute of Technology
• Takehiro Inohara, Tokyo Institute of Technology
• Norimasa Kobayashi, Tokyo Institute of Technology
• Tatsuyuki Negoro, Waseda University
• Shingo Takahashi, Waseda University
• Takao Terano, Tokyo Institute of Technology
• Ryo Sato, Tsukuba University
• Naoki Shiba, Chiba Institute of Technology

I would also like to thank Gary Metcalf, the ISSS President-Elect, and Simon Kalechstein , the ISSS Web Moderator. Gary has been participating in our (almost) monthly Skype teleconferences held by the Organizing Committee and has offered numerous, helpful suggestions and comments. While Simon, working closely with David Ing, is offering excellent work in keeping the ISSS web page updated.

The 51st anniversary meeting promises to be a memorable event and I look forward to seeing you there.

Sincerely,

Kyoichi Jim Kijima
ISSS President, 2006-2007
http://isss.org/conferences/tokyo2007/