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Innovation Design

FSTJ 2013-10 Cover Image

2013-10 (Vol.49, No.4)


This special issue mainly introduces Fujitsu's latest design activities such as innovations in the product development process, examples of solutions to problems in upstream business processes and creation of visions, and our approach to the social innovation. Fujitsu will create a prosperous future with our customers under the brand promise of "shaping tomorrow with you."


2013-10 (Vol.49, No.4) Contents

1. Preface (604 KB)
Fujitsu would like to offer advantages as a vertically integrated ICT vendor that can provide everything related to ICT—from personal products to infrastructure systems, services and solutions—all together. Besides, we believe that we can offer our customers and their customers every solution utilizing ICT in order to deal with their complex issues jointly. Under these circumstances, our designing department has extended our design objects from products to services and experiences and taken a new approach in an effort to integrate the design activity of Social-Centric Design (SCD) into the existing Human-Centric Design (HCD)-based design activity. This special issue mainly introduces Fujitsu's latest innovative design activities and our approach to the social innovation. Fujitsu will create a prosperous future with our customers under the brand promise of "shaping tomorrow with you." ---[Nobuo Otani, Corporate Senior Vice President]
2. Research Trend of HCD in Fujitsu and Prospects for Innovation Design (899 KB)
Fujitsu Design has consistently practiced Human-Centered Design (HCD), HCD methodology based on conducting user research and investigating requirements. As we are now in the age of cloud computing, we need to extend our domain into design activities that focus on society and the global environment. It is important that we consider why our products and services are needed, and whether or not they do any "good" for society. Therefore we will design them based on an evaluation of their benefits and influences on society. This paper first outlines the trend of research on HCD, practiced along with the development of information and communications technology (ICT), by presenting the methods and processes established up to now from four aspects: hardware-based HCD, software-based HCD, universal design and HCD, and ubiquitous computing and HCD. Then, it discusses Social-Centric Design (SCD) that studies designs from a social point of view, and describes new design processes integrating HCD and SCD. ---[Yoshihiro Ueda]
3. Approach of Applying Design Technology to System Development Process: From HCD to UX Design (1.05 MB )
It is important that the practice of Human-Centered Design (HCD) is widely understood and used in sites of systems development, although it is mainly seen as an area for designers and specialists. An effective way to achieve this is to convey design know-how and technology to systems engineers (SEs) in an easy-to-understand way and make them easy to use by converting them into tools. Fujitsu Design has worked to apply design technology to systems development by building an HCD process into Solution-oriented system Development Engineering Methodology (SDEM), which is its standard system development process, developing and offering tools that can be used in the stage of user interface (UI) design and evaluation, and providing support for usability requirement definition and usability education. Recently, there has come to be a great need for product development that is aware of Rich Internet Application (RIA) and User Experience (UX) because of the popularity of smart devices. We are studying systems development cases and know-how, and continuously providing information to development sites amid this new shift from HCD to UX. This paper introduces HCD activities that have been developing as design technology mainly in the field of SI solutions. ---[Hideo Zempo, Toshio Ogawa]
4. Innovation Activities by Co-creation Process (938 KB)
The conventional value delivery business is based on a relationship between a manufacturer and a customer, or service provider and service receiver. As a break from that framework, Fujitsu has focused attention on co-creation processes, in which sharing of social values and new discoveries and recognitions are incorporated into development for innovation that creates new possibilities of utilization of information and communications technology (ICT). In such processes, development of new products and services are practiced by involving not only customer companies, local governments and users but also the administration and NPOs. In practicing the processes, we have a real feeling of some benefits and effects including empathy-driven consensus building, a faster generation of ideas by collective intelligence and building of relationships with society. In addition, we also have an eye on the formation of open communities such as a future center as the basis of enterprise activities for continuous innovation creation. As an approach to innovation creation, this paper presents a co-creation process making use of design thinking that has emerged through the practice, together with its effect. It also describes the basis of activities believed to be necessary as a system for continuously generating innovation. ---[Takashi Hirano, Akihiko Ishizuka, Kazutoshi Sakaguchi]
5. Dialogue Approach for Creating New Value: Outline of Future Solution Workshop (1,011 KB)
In this age of change in business environment, what value should Fujitsu create for the future? Fujitsu is required to create a new value for the future by providing new products and services that correspond to changes in the future. The Future Solution Workshop (FSW) is a process of creating a new value through dialogue among a diverse range of people. We design a space for a workshop to facilitate dialogue and combine the wisdom and experience of people from various fields. By promoting dialogue, we help the participants develop a rapport with each other and shift their frame of reference and generate new ideas. Here we discuss the need for FSW as a way to create a new value. We also show the difference between a workshop that is based on logical thinking and FSW. In addition we show how to apply the practical method of FSW to our solution business. We then introduce our vision of creating additional value by showing our customers how to come up with innovative information and communications technology (ICT) solutions for their future. ---[Shougo Hayashi, Maki Kubota, Daiji Yamano, Megumi Kobori]
6. Phronetic Leaders: Designing New Business, Organization and Society (885 KB)
According to Ikujiro Nonaka, who is a professor emeritus at the Graduate School of International Corporate Strategy of Hitotsubashi University and a director of the Research Center for Practical Wisdom (RCPW) at Fujitsu Research Institute, "phronesis" or practical wisdom is a virtuous habit of making decisions and taking actions that serve the common good. It is a capability to find the "right answer" in a particular context. And those leaders who have such virtuous habit or capability are called "phronetic leaders." They are leaders who pursue the common good by striving to create social as well as economic value and who pair micromanagement with big-picture aspirations about the future. Phronetic leaders play critical roles in the process of knowledge creation and design-approach innovation. In this article, we summarize the basic idea of phronesis and phronetic leaders, and describe why phronetic leaders are important in society and organizations. And then, we explain our effort at RCPW to support and improve the capability of phronetic leaders and nurture phronetic leadership in Fujitsu. ---[Satoshi Hamaya, Tomohiro Oya]
7. Innovation Design Processes to Achieve Ideal Form of Insurance Sales Device (1.41 MB )
Design proposals for devices that have been desired in recent years are expected to make suggestions from the viewpoint of what good effect they have on scenes of use by users in addition to simply providing forms of devices that meet functional requirements. In order to meet customer wants as well as needs, Fujitsu Design has established a technique of innovation design consisting of four processes: grasping the current situation, understanding the ideal, making an overall plan, and designing the device. This technique makes it easier to identify potential needs and wants based on detailed forms of usage by customers, and thereby propose solutions and device designs that match them. This technique not only offers devices but also the experience of using the devices. This paper presents a case of developing an insurance salesperson's device as an example of design development based on customer understanding to describe Fujitsu's technique of innovation design. ---[Kazuhiro Fujiwara]
8. Site-Driven Service Innovation of POS Systems (1.37 MB )
Systems for distribution, finance, and other sectors of the economy (so-called "BtoBtoC" products and services) must deliver value from the different perspectives of purchaser of the system, employees responsible for operating the system, and customers who benefit from using the system since all of these stakeholders relate to information and communications technology (ICT) in different ways. It is exceedingly important in designing BtoBtoC products and services to adopt a comprehensive approach that incorporates advantages for the business in addition to user-friendliness and aesthetic appeal. The business environment of companies that buy these systems has changed enormously in recent years even as the social environment has changed, and companies now expect these systems to enhance productivity, entice shoppers into the store, boost sales opportunities, and help the bottom line in other ways. The role of design is singularly important, for it holds the key to shaping revolutionary new services that create value and address the various challenges faced by companies in providing enticing new products and services. Taking the example of a point-of-sale (POS) system for retail businesses, this paper introduces a novel product and service creation process based on combined efforts of sales, development, and design divisions. It also describes a simulation technology-based approach used to convert a conventional proposal-type business negotiation into a consultation-type negotiation. ---[Taku Ando]
9. Putting Community Design into Practice: Campus Master Plan for Kyushu Institute of Technology (1.87 MB )
In line with the Guide to the Creation of a Strategic Campus Master Plan advanced by the Japanese Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology, Fujitsu has drawn up an ideal shape for the Kyushu Institute of Technology envisioning its three campuses (Tobata, Iizuka, and Wakamatsu) 30 years into the future. In this effort, we adopted a Human-Centered Design (HCD) approach that emphasized values, ideas, and needs and derived an identity for Kyushu Institute of Technology through interviews and conversations with students, faculty, and other stakeholders. Furthermore, to incorporate future expectations of the university in the areas of community revitalization and the aging society, we conducted fieldwork, World Café sessions, and workshops with students, faculty, staff, and local residents and formulated a user-participation type of campus master plan that takes into account a new relationship between the university and community. This paper describes this process and our community design methodology. ---[Kazutoshi Sakaguchi, Takashi Hirano, Hisashi Hashimoto, Yoshitaka Sato, Hirokazu Harada]
10. Use of Social Innovation to Solve Problems at the Community Level and Create New Businesses in the Social Domain (2.08 MB )
"Social innovation" at Fujitsu Laboratories centers on designing a system for solving social problems through Human-Centered Design (HCD) and on creating new businesses for Fujitsu in the social domain. It involves entering a community and establishing a collaborative relationship with its residents to create a vision and to formulate specific measures for solving social problems. Fujitsu Laboratories has put this process into practice at various places in Japan with a focus on key social themes: disaster reconstruction, the aging society, local agriculture revitalization, etc. These activities have revealed that many existing measures are problematic in terms of economic sustainability and that the integration of multiple measures and the participation of elderly residents are essential to solving social problems. This paper describes the social innovation process, presents four case studies, and introduces the concepts of a "community-based value chain" for achieving the new relationships needed for solving social problems and of a "participatory smart community" for achieving new forms of mutual assistance among residents through information and communications technology (ICT). ---[Kazushi Ishigaki, Naoki Sashida]
11. Machibata.net—Innovation Hub for Community Development (1.11 MB )
Machibata.net, a Website supporting the publicizing and linking of community development activities, was launched by Fujitsu Laboratories in November 2011 with the aim of interconnecting individuals, organizations, and groups involved in community development and creating new value for society. The name "Machibata" combines the Japanese words for town ("machi") and flag ("hata/bata") and signifies a flag that is flown to inform others of community development activities. Machibata.net can be used to describe thoughts and content associated with community development activities and to share that information with other groups or individuals, as well as to find others with shared interests and to announce seminars and other events. The Website also provides training for users who would like to acquire skills in gathering and disseminating news on attractive features of a community and important people and facilities. Machibata.net supports exchanges between communities and the nurturing of community activists from both real world and Internet perspectives. This paper presents the background to the creation of Machibata.net, describes the purpose, service content, and achievements of the Website, and touches upon future developments. ---[Hirokazu Harada, Ryuhei Yagi, Naoki Sashida]
12. The Dementia Project: Innovation Driven by Social Challenges (1.17 MB )
Dementia is a social phenomenon that has an enormous impact on Japanese society. As of June 2013, the number of elderly with dementia in Japan exceeded 4.6 million, a number that is projected to reach 5.5 million by the year 2025. The challenges surrounding dementia are particularly evident in two key areas: the aging society and healthcare. The initiatives that we describe here for dealing with dementia could serve as a pilot project for instigating social innovations for dealing with the aging society and healthcare. Here, we describe an innovation design process including the "Future Session" methodology that deepens our understanding of the social issues related to dementia. We also describe the value of creating a "shared issue" among multiple stakeholders through this approach. ---[Makoto Okada, Yoichiro Igarashi, Takahiko Nomura, Takehito Tokuda]
13. Design Thinking for Future Schools (1.14 MB )
The great advances in information and communications technology (ICT) since the emergence of computers in the 1960s, followed by the widespread adoption of personal computers in the 1980s and the advent of the Internet in the 1990s, have made the use ICT virtually indispensable. As the economy and society have evolved along with these changes in technology, there have been transformations in consumer awareness and social values that have triggered a shift from product-oriented (monozukuri) to system-oriented (kotozukuri) ICT designs, and this accounts for the enormous demand seen today for customer-oriented service design. Yet, surprisingly, adoption of ICT by schools—where children that will lead Japan in the future learn has lagged behind that by society as a whole. This realization motivated the Japanese Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications to launch the Future Schools Promotion Project in 2011. In this paper, as a participant in this project, I will highlight some of the onsite design initiatives in which Fujitsu worked with teachers to build better schools for educating future generations through the use of ICT. I will also describe the Design Thinking for Future Schools Project in which the use of optimal ICT resources is incorporated into fully evolved classes for educating future societal leaders. ---[Keiichi Takeda]

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