Smart Machines and Systems at the Service of Mankind: Masahiro Fukuhara - “Designing Education System for the Next Millennium: The Role of Smart Systems in Human Advancement”

Dr Masahiro (Masa) Fukuhara, a social entrepreneur and academic, is at the forefront of innovation in Blockchain, AI, EdTech, and HRTech. As CEO and Founder of the Institution for a Global Society (IGS), and a professor at Keio University and Hitotsubashi University, Masa’s work revolves around redefining the global education and labour markets. Dr Fukuhara’s global experience includes leadership roles at MUFG and Managing Director at BlackRock, and he holds an MBA from INSEAD, a master’s degree from HEC Paris, and a Ph.D. from Tsukuba University.

The topic covered during this conference was “Designing Education System for the Next Millennium: The Role of Smart Systems in Human Advancement”.

The speaker began with asking the questions about what education would look like in 1000 years. What will be the relationship between humans and AI in learning? Is one teaching the other or could both learn from each other?

To delve deeper, the speaker described that AI might not only be used to assess traditional teaching but might open new doors and help explore new dimensions. It is even possible, he stated, that machines could learn machines and with that level of advancement, education could beyond the traditional knowledge we have valued for centuries. Perhaps other types of skills, which we have not valued much until now, could become as important as the cognitive capabilities we have focused on since the Industrial Revolution.

This brought the speaker to the question where learning would take place in the future. Would it still happen on e-learning platforms, in schools and universities, or have moved to DAOs. He stated that Estonia’s X-Road already shows how decentralised systems could work; these systems could also push us to rethink what is prioritised in learning. Dr Fukuhara added that it was not only important to solve today’s problems but ask the right questions for the future. For example, how can we make sure that our education systems are properly equipped to take on the challenges of the future. He adds that education will be the solution to many large-scale problems, like climate change or inequality.

Dr Fukuhara also emphasises that future education systems need to be more resilient and adaptable to different events. By using game theory, the speaker showed where current education systems fail, especially in market inefficiency and funding challenges. By applying decentralised tools like DAOs and NFTs we could redesign the market to make education more resilient and equitable. Through game theory modelling it was discovered that the most pressing issue in future education will not be content creation but financial barriers.

Without solving these financial issues, it would be impossible to build the education system of the next millennium.

The keynote speaker added that the global education financial gap right now is growing. The right question would be how to close the gap before it becomes too wide. If education must evolve for the future, how could such resources be secured? Research showed that NFT-driven funding can outperform traditional donations by ensuring consistent and equitable distribution of resources. It was also shown that a crypto donation is 82 times larger than a traditional online donation.

Taking a step further, the speaker continues by saying that in the future there would be an education system, free of bias, that helps to scientifically identify and optimise individual capabilities of people and then match them to the labour market across countries. He also adds that in the future our non-cognitive skills will be very important in finding a suitable job.

To conclude, the speaker explained what his creations ONGAESHI and GROW could be capable of achieving together. You can find full discussion on our Youtube channel. More information at conference homepage.