Kei Sakaguchi received his Ph. D degree from Tokyo Institute of Technology (Tokyo Tech) in 2006. Currently, he is working as a full professor at the School of Engineering as well as a dean in the Tokyo Tech Academy for Super Smart Society at Tokyo Tech.

Super Smart Society (Society 5.0), which will be realized through a high level of integration between cyber space and physical space, is expected to bring about innovative evolution in all areas surrounding our daily lives, such as agriculture, manufacturing, construction, transportation and medicine. There is an urgent need to develop human resources who can create and lead such a society. In order to systematize this innovative field as an academic discipline and provide education, it is difficult to achieve this goal with the conventional vertically tiered educational system. In addition, as we enter a super-aging society with expected longevity of 100 years or more, we need a place for learning that transcends age and type of business.

In response to these societal factors, from October 2018, Prof. Kei Sakaguchi has been working with Tokyo Tech and related companies, national research institutes, and local governments to establish the Super Smart Society Promotion Consortium. This industry-government-academia collaboration is working to integrate research and development with human resources as a next-generation social collaboration education and research platform for an ultra-smart society. As one of the core initiatives of the consortium, he designed the "World-leading Innovative and Smart Education Program for Super Smart Society (WISE-SSS)" to develop human resources through socially collaborative education and interdisciplinary research. The program was adopted as a Doctoral Program for World-leading Innovative and Smart Education (WISE Program) by the Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology in 2019.

In April 2020, Tokyo Tech established an integrated master’s and doctoral degree program called the WISE-SSS Program. Prof. Sakaguchi has been serving as the first Director of the Tokyo Tech Academy for Super Smart Society. This program fosters knowledge professionals with leadership skills, who (1)make core skills rooted in quantum science and artificial intelligence available to all academics, (2)encourage original research spanning the domains of cyber and physical space, (3)enhance the big picture from quantum science to a super smart society, (4)conduct innovative interdisciplinary research to create a super smart society, and (5)promote talented and seamless leadership between academia, government, and industry. The effort, led by Prof. Sakaguchi, has received high praise from inside and outside the organization, as well as from within and outside Japan. We believe his achievements are worthy of the Society’s Distinguished Educational Practitioners Award.