A lecture commemorating the 50th anniversary of the KCG Group in 2013 was held on November 1, the anniversary of KCGI's founding, at the Kyoto Station Satellite Hall of the Kyoto Institute of Information Science, jointly with the Japan Chapter of the Association for Information Systems (NAIS)*, which has its secretariat at KCGI.This was the first lecture commemorating the 50th anniversary of the company's founding, and was attended by a large number of students as well as the general public.Mr. Keiichi Murakami, Senior Managing Director of the Digital Media Association of Japan (formerly of Fujitsu Limited), spoke on "Trends and Issues in the Contents Business." Based on his long experience in the industry, Mr. Murakami emphasized that "one must have the tenacity to endure and the spirit of challenge" to survive, and that "collaboration ability is an important element in contents development.Since human networking is also important, we need to be willing to lend others a lot of money on a daily basis," he said.
After explaining the scale of the content business market, the structure of the production and distribution system, and copyright issues that stand in the way of business, Mr. Murakami listed the following issues to be addressed in the global development of the business: - Responding to differences in national circumstances, consideration of religion, and consideration of harmful information.In recent years, Korea has made great strides in the content business, he said, adding, "In the past, the U.S. used Hollywood movies to spread American culture and products throughout the world as a national policy.Korea is also trying to dominate the Southeast Asian market with the same approach.Japan needs to be inspired," he said. "We are waiting for the development of creative and professional human resources," he said.
Mr. Murakami joined Fujitsu in 1979 and participated in the launch of research and development of diagnostic ultrasound systems in the Medical Equipment Research Department of Fujitsu Laboratories.He was involved in the development of medical imaging networks and residential care systems using ISDN-TV telephones.During his time at Akashi Research Laboratory, he was engaged in research and development of personal devices, mainly PCs.The compact, lightweight, and long-hour operation of mobile PCs won the grand prize at COMDEX, the largest PC-related exhibition at the time.After working at IT Media Laboratory and Ubiquitous Systems Laboratory, he has been the Executive Director of the Digital Media Association of Japan since 2008.
At the KCGI foundation commemoration ceremony held prior to the lecture, President Toshihide Ibaraki said, "The KCG Group will celebrate its 50th anniversary in 2013.Let us take this opportunity to once again recall the pioneering spirit that is the founding spirit of our university, and let us move forward toward further development," he said.
Executive Director, Digital Media Association of Japan (Formerly, Fujitsu)
*National Association of Information Systems (NAIS) Japan Chapter
The Japanese branch of the Association for Information Systems (AIS), an international association for information systems.There is an office in The Kyoto College of Graduate Studies for Informatics.