Abstracts of Magazine FUJITSU 2013-3 (Vol. 64, No. 2)

Special Issue: Innovation Design

• Research Trend of HCD in Fujitsu and Prospects for Innovation Design

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.

• Approach of Applying Design Technology to System Development Process: From HCD to UX Design

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 (SE) 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.

• Innovation Activities by Co-creation Process

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 relationship with society. In addition, we also have an eye on the formation of open communities such as a future center as the basis of corporate 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.

• Dialogue Approach for Creating New Value: Outline of Future Solution Workshop

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 ICT solutions for their future.

• Phronetic Leaders: Designing New Business, Organization and Society

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.

• Innovation Design Processes to Achieve Ideal Form of Insurance Sales Device

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.

• Site-Driven Service Innovation of POS System

Systems for business categories including distribution and finance, or so-called "BtoBtoC" products and services, are required to provide value from different perspectives for people involved with ICT in different positions including employees handling the systems and users receiving the services as well as system purchasers. Accordingly, design development for BtoBtoC products and services requires them to be comprehensively considered from various viewpoints ranging from user-friendliness and appearance to business benefits. Recently, the business environment of customers who purchase systems has changed along with the change in the social environment. Further, enterprises have increasing demands linked directly with management such as improvement of productivity, customer attraction and sales opportunities. To provide attractive products and services in this situation, design is expected to play a role in creating value that revolutionizes the ideal of services themselves based on an understanding of customers' challenges. This paper uses a point of sale (POS) system for the retail industry to present a process of new product and service creation through the concerted efforts of the sales, development and design departments. It also describes an activity of using simulation technology to turn business discussions into consultative type.

• Study of Community Design through Campus Master Plan for Kyushu Institute of Technology

According to guidance on producing a strategic campus master plan which the Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology advocates, an ideal figure of three campuses (Tobata, Iizuka, and Wakamatsu) at the Kyushu Institute of Technology was drawn up by thinking as far ahead as 30 years. The approach of Human-Centered Design, which puts importance on a sense of values, thoughts, and needs, was adopted, and the identity of Kyushu Institute of Technology was arrived at through a narration in an interview with stakeholders. Moreover, fieldwork, a world cafe, and a workshop with students, teachers, personnel and local residents were held in order to incorporate in this master plan the roles that future universities are expected to play, such as vitalizing the region and responding to an era with a low birthrate and longevity. Thus, a campus master plan was realized that users participated in formulating and that considers a new relationship between the community and the university. This paper describes the methodology of producing a community design with this process.

• Social Innovation: Trial of Designing Social System for Solving Social Problems and Creation of New Business in Social Domain

"Social innovation" is a series of activities by which we intend to design a new social system to solve social issues via the Human Centered Design approach and to create new businesses for Fujitsu in the social domain. In these activities we enter a region, in cooperation with the local residents, and examine their vision and specific measures toward solving social issues. We have done this in several areas of Japan with the themes of earthquake recovery, anti-aging, re-vitalization of local agriculture and so on. Through our efforts so far, we have found there is a problem of economic sustainability with many of the existing measures that aim to solve specific social issues. Hence we have concluded that it is necessary to have the participation of the elderly people in the community and to integrate multiple measures. In this paper, we describe an outline of our social innovation activities and some practices. We also describe the concept of a Community-based Value Chain, which we devised to build a new relationship towards solving social problems, and the Residents-participated Smart Community, which provides mutual assistance in the community when using information and communications technology (ICT).

• MACHIBATA.net—Innovation Hub for Community Development

Fujitsu Laboratories launched the Website Machibata.net in November 2011. It is a Website to link the individuals, organizations, and groups that are working to develop communities and help them create new value in society. The name "Machibata" is a combination of the Japanese words for town ("machi") and flag ("hata"), and the Website is intended to act as a "flag" that is flown to inform people that the activity of community development is being carried out. With Machibata.net, users can share the content of community development, look for companions who have an across-the-board concern, and be notified of events. Moreover, Machibata.net offers training for people to acquire skills in covering (for the media) the attractions of a region and its important people and facilities, and conveying that information. Machibata.net helps nurture human resources that are active in the community and in interregional exchange from both aspects of the real world and the Internet. In this paper, we describe the background to the launch of Machibata.net, its purpose, the content of its services, its results, and its future development.

• Innovation Process from Social Issue: Project on Dementia

The issues surrounding dementia have serious impacts on Japanese society. There are estimated to be more than 3 million elderly people with dementia in Japan in 2012, and this number is forecast to reach 4.7 million in 2025. Social issues with dementia belong to two significant areas of healthcare and an aging society, and show extreme cases of these areas. We believe advanced programs on dementia-related social issues can serve as examples that lead to significant social innovation. Here, we describe a innovation design process including "Future Session" methodology that deepens our understanding of the social issues related to dementia. The process described in this paper shows a case of enterprises approaching social issues from their points of view. We also describe the value of "creating a shared issue" among multiple stakeholders through this approach.

• Design Thinking for Future School

Transistor-based computers came into being in the 1960s and became widespread as an infrastructure of various industries. Through the birth of personal computers and the Internet, information and communications technology (ICT) has now become essential to our lives. In response to the changes in consumer awareness and social values that took place along with the development of economy and society as well as technology, ICT design has changed from "monozukuri" (manufacturing of products) to "kotozukuri" (creation of new systems). This has created a wide demand for design that is oriented toward services for customers. Meanwhile, schools, where children that will lead the future learn, in fact surprisingly lack ICT as compared with our general lives. The introduction of ICT to schools has just begun with the Future School Promotion Project, a policy of the Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications, which was launched in 2011. With the introduction of ICT as a turning point, this paper presents the Design Thinking for Future Schools, which is a project where designers cooperate with teachers at the front line to create an ideal school for cultivating future adults and to explore the concept of classes required for children who will lead our future society and the ICT necessary for schools.