Thirteen of Professor Shimura’s seminar students won the Future Creation Prize awarded to the top winning team in the 14th Data Business Creation Contest sponsored by the Data Business Creation Laboratory (Representative: Jun Murai) of Keio University's SFC Research Institute and co-organized by NTT Plala.

In addition, this is the second consecutive year that the Shimura seminar has won a prize in the same contest.

The aim of this contest is to foster practical data scientists, who carry out advanced statistical analysis of data provided by companies and their own data obtained through surveys, etc., and propose a business plan based on the analysis results. The novelty and feasibility of the data analysis and business plan are then evaluated.
In particular, the business plan proposal received a high evaluation for the data analysis score, and Soka University's proactive approach to data science was highly valued.

The theme of this year's event was "From Japan: New Lifestyle Shapes Using Content Data," and it was a proposal to improve future life based on a wide variety of content data. Survey results showed that today's youth are looking for new places for communication and self-expression, and opportunities to learn new things. As a solution, seminar students proposed a metaschool, a space where students can learn without age, gender, or disability differences. using the virtual space of the metaverse and keeping in mind the SDG's goal of "leaving no one behind." The judges also appreciated the new way of learning after Covid-19 and the elaborate business plan of the Meta-school, which understands the latest IT trend called metaverse. 

Professor Shimura, said, "It was the first time for all participants to meet each other in person and to conduct full-fledged data analysis, but they were all commended for not forgetting the 'purpose of learning' cultivated at the university, and for making use of each other’s strengths, and reflecting Soka University's educational philosophy as global citizens. In addition, I believe that it is precisely because of Soka University's proactive approach in data science that we were able to achieve such results."