Sony Global Education (SGE) believes that "individuality" and "diversity" are of paramount importance in education in a new era in which people coexist with technology, and defines "creating the future" as the ultimate goal of education. We spoke with SGE President Isozu about his ideas regarding the education of the future.

"Diversity" and "Creativity"
Nurturing creativity and maximizing children's individuality through programming education using KOOV

-What was the background to establishing Sony Global Education?

Around 2012, a new business project team was organized within Sony Computer Science Laboratories (Sony CSL) under the direction of then Sony President Kaz Hirai. There were auditions for business plans similar to the current SSAP (Sony Startup Acceleration Program). When I presented my new business plan, which included an education business, to Kitano-san, the director of Sony CSL, encouragingly gave me the go-ahead. Sony CSL is an organization where employees have a lot of autonomy, so I worked alone for about six months to come up with a product plan and business plan, actually create a prototype of the service, conduct user interviews, and gather colleagues. At the time, I went to education providers to tell them that Sony would start an education business, but they did not take me seriously. They seemed to have the impression that Sony would try something new, but wouldn't follow through. After officially establishing the company, Sony's commitment was finally made apparent, and KOOV, the robot programming kit we are currently developing, is now used in more than 1,000 classrooms across Japan, including preschools, tutoring schools and correspondence courses for junior and senior high school students.

-Did you start the robot/programming kit business like KOOV around the time when the company was established?

No, at that time, we were creating a platform that anyone could use to create questions and problems, which would serve as the basis for an online educational platform. Using this system, we conducted an online math competition called "Global Math Challenge." Although not directly connected to our current business, this was actually the foundation for creating KOOV's learning content creation system.

-Why did you decide to create KOOV?

When the company was first established in 2015, we held on online math competition called "Global Math Challenge" that transcended national and regional borders, and at one point we had participants from over 80 countries and of a range of ages, from children to adults. However, when holding the event globally, we realized how difficult it was to handle children's personal information, and that it would be tricky to make a business out of it, so we started to think of other businesses. At that time, programming education was beginning to attract attention, and our company logo was already designed in the image of intellectual blocks, so we decided to finally try to make something we had wanted to make for a long time.

-What were the main points you focused on when developing KOOV?

First, we wanted to focus on diversity. As society is becoming more and more diverse, I wanted to help children develop a variety of values from an early age. There are many kinds of diversity, but we made the blocks translucent and designed them in a way so that both boys and girls can enjoy them. To tell the truth, making the product out of a translucent material decreases its durability to a degree, so we were initially worried if we could make it work, but thanks to the persistence of Sony's designers, we ended up with the current design, which has been highly rated externally by the education industry.

What has been the international reaction to KOOV?

In Japan, most school materials are decided by local governments and boards of education, but passionate teachers from overseas are always on the lookout, and when they find a good service, they try to use it as much as possible, and they have a certain amount of budget to do so. The decision-making process for the introduction of teaching materials is completely different from Japan. China is especially amazing. For example, if we were to introduce KOOV, the scale would be completely different, as an ordinary public elementary school would buy 200 units at once. In fact, the digitization of education in China is so remarkable that I was very surprised to see that in 2016 it was the norm to submit all homework online.

I heard that SGE is also working on educational blockchain. How does blockchain technology relate to education?

In 2016, we launched the concept of managing an individual's academic proficiency and progress records with blockchain. After we announced it in February 2016, a major U.S. university announced a similar concept for a degree certification service, and educational institutions around the world soon followed suit. Blockchain technology ensures the authenticity of transcripts, and allows candidates to keep their transcripts and education history in a secure system and submit them to cram schools, higher education institutions, public schools, local municipalities and the like. For example, a third-party cram school could use transcript data on the blockchain, where personal information is protected, for consulting purposes, and we can also consider the idea of using open data stored on the blockchain to improve education itself.

SGE's activities related to blockchain technology were subsequently studied and tested in cooperation with the copyright management initiatives of Sony Music Group (SMEJ). Copyright and academic transcripts can be treated similarly in terms of "a record of someone's accomplishment." Although SGE's activities in this area ended in March of this year, SMEJ and Sony Group's R&D Center (RDC) are currently working to build a system that uses blockchain technology to increase the credibility of information released by music creators regarding their intellectual properties. So, while this did not become a major business for SGE, the Sony Group's efforts to implement blockchain technology in society, which started with SGE, have been passed on to SMEJ and RDC, and I believe we have been able to contribute to the overall bettering of the Sony Group.

I have been interested in this field for a long time, including applying for patents related to blockchain, and I still receive inquiries on this subject from around the world. It would be amazing if I could contribute to Sony through the patents for blockchain technology that I applied for, but I think the timing was a little too early for starting business.

The educational environment for children is constantly evolving. With more and more attention being placed on STEAM education, what are SGE's goals in this area?

I think STEAM education has an image of science and mathematics education, but if you look at it globally, it actually includes art, philosophy and elements of culture. I think it is easier to understand if you think of STEAM education as education to nurture human resources who create new value. Programming education in particular is attracting attention nowadays, in a time where creativity is highly valued, because it allows people to create new value all on their own. In the past, kids would freely use clay and blocks to mold their own creations. Now, by using KOOV, they can have the experience of creating a robot that moves. Needless to say, Sony is a company that values creativity very much. I still remember the thrill of my childhood when something I built on a computer worked. Studying is important to some extent, but for children, creativity and passion are even more important in ensuring they grow into adults who can live independently. When a problem arises, it is important to be able to see it as one's own problem. We offer "KOOV" as a service that helps people to take ownership of problems and provides an opportunity to solve them.

In the future, the children of today will be working in a new society of rapid change. How can we relate to them?

I think it is important to predict the future society. By the time today's children reach adulthood, virtual economic activities and modes of behavior may become more mainstream, requiring skills to collaborate and accomplish tasks virtual spaces. In the so-called "20th century stye" of education, it was important to be able to do certain things accurately and correctly, but from now on it will be more important to be able to create new value. It's going to require something completely different from the education we've had.

In conventional education until now, it has been difficult to have contact with greater society. For example, when you ask kids, "What do you want to be when you grow up?" they only come up with jobs in the world they can see themselves in, like professional athletes and YouTubers. Even when taking university entrance exams, students choose schools based on their deviation score, and the journey of self-discovery doesn't begin until job hunting. 18 or 22 years of education often leaves students unsure of what they want to become in society. It is very important to think about what society is like and what it will be like in the future from an early age, and to have a sense of ownership of the situation. I think social media also offers a very good opportunity to interact with adults who are active in society.

I believe the two important keywords for future education are "creativity" and "diversity." In Japanese society, it is difficult to develop a mindset that accepts diverse values. In the US, a nation of immigrants where different cultures are commonplace, it is natural to be different. I strongly believe that Japan needs to educate people to think, "It is okay to be just as you are; everyone has their own individuality, so it is okay to be yourself," and society as a whole needs to change to reflect this as well.