By Yuji Suzuki – President, Society of Japanese Value Engineering (SJVE); Director-General, National Federation of UNESCO Associations in JAPAN (NFUAJ)
At the Society of Japanese Value Engineering (SJVE) Annual Business and Board of Directors Meeting on June 17, 2022, Mr. Yuji Suzuki, who is the Director-General of UNESCO in Japan, was installed as the new President of SJVE. The article below is his inaugural address which was published in the August issue of SJVE journal “Value Engineering.”
At the Annual General meeting and the Board of Directors meeting of SJVE on June 17, 2022, I was elected as the 7th President to succeed the former Chairman Tamotsu Saito. I appreciate this opportunity to serve the Society as its new President.
Former Chairman Saito has set forth the wonderful theme of “Advancing VE to a new stage in order to create new value for society and solve many social issues” and has been striving to build concepts such as “sustainable value design.” In addition, the Tokyo Metropolitan Government is actively working on approaches to the field of education and is working on bold educational reform with a purposeful mindset.
Mr. Saito had a discussion with Mr. Yuichi Kudo, the principal of Kojimachi Junior High School in Chiyoda Ward, and was convinced that VE-oriented thinking is effective in the field of education as well.
At the National Federation of UNESCO Associations, of which I serve as Director-General, we organized an international event for high school students from Japan, China and Korea to hold a workshop on SDGs (Sustainable Development Goals) initiatives. With the support of former President Saito, we conducted a trial facilitation session using VE-oriented thinking. It was effective in encouraging discussions and building consensus, and it was found that VE can be applied without discomfort even in such situations.
I myself am not an expert in VE, but through the teachings given by former Chairman Saito and the above-mentioned examples, I have come to understand that VE can be applied not only in the field of manufacturing, but also in any area of expertise.
Against this background, I have been appointed as President, and in the future I will inherit the theme of “Advancing VE to a new stage in order to create new value for society and solve many social issues” advocated by former Chairman Saito, and to continue to evolve VE and nurture the next generation. We intend to work on this with the help of you all.
In September 2015, the United Nations Summit adopted the SDGs, and as development goals for the international community as a whole, 17 comprehensive goals and 169 targets were agreed to be achieved by 2030. Countries around the world are starting to run toward the achievement of the SDGs and the government, local governments, companies, organizations, etc. are beginning to work diligently on it, albeit with a slight delay in Japan.
However, if we look around the world closely, we can still see various problems such as poverty, discrimination, expansion of war and conflict, and environmental destruction. Of course, emergency support such as food and medical care for living today is important, but it is also necessary to have wisdom and ingenuity to solve these problems from the root and to continue steady activities to put them into practice.
Above all, education is the foundation for building a peaceful and fair society. Education creates a fortress of peace in people’s hearts, becomes a force to break the cycle of poverty, fosters a spirit of respect for culture and nature, and provides hope for tomorrow.
Perhaps due to the effects of SDGs education, young people have recently been saying “NO” against the excessive pursuit of profits and the management stance of prioritizing shareholders. They are beginning to ask for a clear indication of a company’s contribution to society and the significance of their existence by asking a question like “What is your company’s purpose?” It is said that many companies have no ready answer with this question and getting confused. This is not to say that we should just put up a specious management philosophy. It is meaningless unless each employee can resonate with the company’s purpose and implement it in their daily activities.
In the environment surrounding companies, I have heard that the concept of “sustainable investment” which encompasses ESG investment and Impact investment are spreading and the ratio of assets under management is also increasing which is becoming the mainstream nowadays. I am convinced that there is an urgent need to “develop value designers who can create sustainable value,” dealing with such a situation.
Print 
PDF