Data mining has now been established as a proven and recognized technique that is highly effective in the fields of product development and sales. The extraction of knowledge from data is intimately linked to the discovery and creation of novel needs and sales opportunities in the business area.

Nowadays, expanding choices in both products and lifestyles are giving rise to ever more diverse consumer purchasing behaviors. In order to grasp tendencies in such behaviors and reap benefits in suitably targeted sales activities and product development, many companies are compiling over-the-counter and net-based sales histories and information on customer attributes. The volume of this information is increasing daily, and we find ourselves surrounded by mountains of data.
At the Data Mining Laboratory (DMLab),we analyze this enormous raft of data with theoretical and practical data mining approaches that create new sales opportunities and aid product development, thereby contributing to corporate activities in a number of industries.

When one of the projects we are currently working on, 'Practical science approaches for data mining business applications', was adopted by the Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology as one of their Support Projects for Strategic Collaboration between Private Universities (2009-2013), we made a new start for the Laboratory, aiming to create a world-class hub for data mining research. ('Strategic Project to Support the Formation of Research Bases at Private Universities': Matching Fund Subsidy from MEXT (Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology), 2009-2013').

As part of this project, we are collecting and compiling huge amounts of stream data far exceeding the scale existing to date.Furthermore, the Center will develop concrete system technology to optimize in-store product positioning layouts using customer movement and purchase data. The technology will allow theoretical and experimental validation of optimum asset allocation based on measurements of advertising effectiveness. Moreover, this technology will be further formed in such a way that it can be cheaply constructed and operated by the companies in which it is introduced.Store merchandising plays a fundamental role not just in retail stores but throughout the manufacturing industry. The Data Mining Laboratory aims to further broaden industry-academia linkages and opportunities for collaborative development, and deepen cooperation with researchers both in Japan and overseas.

In future years, the Laboratory will maintain its drive to conduct research and innovate in the field, working towards a vision of a world-class research hub producing powerful data mining technologies for application to marketing.
All of us at the Data Mining Laboratory look forward to your continued understanding and kind support in the years that lie ahead.