The Marketing Information and Forecasting Department (sometimes called Marketing Information and Forecasting Division), or MIFD for short, is Shiawase's corporate intelligence agency. Its director is Ichiro Kiyomoto. It is well known for its prowess at Matrix intelligence, utilizing several powerful dedicated Matrix hosts and proto-AI semi-autonomous knowbots. It is probably the largest and most sophisticated corporate intelligence agency in the world, and rivals even the intelligence agencies of the most powerful industrialized nations.
The MIFD is responsible mostly for information gathering and analysis. Since these rely heavily on pattern-detection algorithms and semi-autonomous knowbots, the MIFD also excels at cryptography. The MIFD has a special interest in both AIs and otaku/technomancers. The MIFD is also theoretically the division responsible for hiring shadowrunners for Shiawase. The MIFD is rumored to be responsible for share-price manipulation, corporate blackmail, and other illegal corporate activities.
