(October 7, 2021)
In today’s business world, everyone is expected to have a purpose, or raison d’etre. What kind of values become apparent when you review your corporate activities vis-a-vis a particular purpose? Also, what kind of social innovation can corporate activities inspire if they operate around a particular focal axis?
Professor Noboru Konno of Tama Graduate School of Business, a pioneer of purpose engineering, and Masakatsu Mori, General Manager of Hitachi’s Global Center for Social Innovation discuss these issues.
*You can also get a text copy of this program.
"Starting with a Question - Vol. 1 Purpose and Social Innovation Business"
Noboru Konno
Professor of the Department of Management and Information Sciences at Tama Graduate School of Business
Chairperson and Director of Japan Innovation Network, President of the Future Center Alliance Japan (FCAJ), and Managing Director of ECOSYX LAB, INC. After receiving his B.A. from the Department of Architecture, School of Science and Engineering, Waseda University, he gained a PhD in Management Information Science. In addition to popularizing the concepts of design management, knowledge creation management, purpose engineering, and innovation management, he is also involved in practical activities, such as leadership education, organizational transformation, workplace design, and urban development projects all based on organizational and societal knowledge ecology. He is also heavily involved in creating innovation opportunities and networking activities with the world’s top intellectuals through the FCAJ and Topos Conferences. He served as a juror for the Good Design Award in the design management field from 2004 to 2012. His multiple publications include: Innovate by Design-based Management; Art Company; and The Grammar of Knowledge Creating Management for Prudent Capitalism (co-authored with Japanese organizational theorist Ikujiro Nonaka).
Masakatsu Mori, PhD
General Manager, Global Center for Social Innovation
Research & Development Group, Hitachi, Ltd.
Masakatsu Mori joined Hitachi, Ltd. after obtaining his master’s degree from the Graduate School of Engineering at Kyoto University in 1994. As a researcher in the Systems Development Laboratory, he worked on new services and solutions using cutting-edge digital technologies. He was also a visiting scholar at University of California, San Diego from 2003 to 2004. After leading the Planning Office at the Yokohama Research Laboratory and Production Engineering R&D, he was appointed to lead European R&D as Corporate CTO as well as General Manager of the European R&D Centre of Hitachi Europe, Ltd. in 2018.
He was appointed to his current position in April 2020.
He has a PhD in Information Science and Technology.
Yukinobu Maruyama (navigator)
Head of Design, Global Center for Social Innovation – Tokyo
Research & Development Group
Hitachi, Ltd.
After joining Hitachi, he built his career as a product designer. He was involved in the foundation of Hitachi Human Interaction Laboratory in 2001 and launched the field of vision design research in 2010 before becoming laboratory manager of the Experience Design Lab UK Office in 2016. After returning to Japan he worked in robotics, AI, and digital city service design before being dispatched to Hitachi Global Life Solutions, Inc. to lead the creation of a vision-driven product development strategy. He is also involved in developing design methodology and human resource education. He took up his current position in 2020.
The Kyōsō-no-Mori Webinar is a series of online events hosted by the Hitachi R&D Group that seeks to trace the outline of future co-creation styles from internal and external perspectives through dialogue with Hitachi researchers and designers and entice people into the world of question-driven innovation.
