A day after my returning back from Tianjin, there was a lecture session hosted by Hakuhodo Innovation Lab （Director Awata. Link of the Lab is in Japanese）.
Lecturers were myself, Dr. Komiyama, President of the University of Tokyo, and Mr. Tim Brown, President of IDEO. Mr. Brown and I were in the same panel at Davos conference this January, and I saw him at Tianjin also. We each had one hour to speak, so there was an ample amount of time. Dr. Komiyama, busy as always, arrived just in time to the conference hall, made his speech on "Japan as a front runner of global challenges (Kadai Senshinkoku, Japan)" and left immediately. It’s a pity though, that only few people raised their hands to ask questions even on this good opportunity of listening to inspiring lectures.
As for myself, I started my speech by showing a red "iPod nano" which I borrowed on the spot and, as always, talked about how "story telling (monogatari)" is important as well as "making things (monozukuri)", how "concepts"and "designs" should have diversity and surprises, importance of being involved in a project from the start, what "Melting Pot vs Salad Bowl" in this global era means, etc.
Photo1 Mr. Tim Brown and myself at the conference hallp>
Mr. Brown’s lecture was also very interesting. He talked about design, process, and speed with many good specific examples, confirming and supplementing what I have said in my lecture. Please refer to his HBR article of this year for more information. Hakuhodo is also collaborating with IDEO.