Re:public Inc., is not a design firm nor a research agency, but a Think & Do tank specialized in architecting innovation ecosystems in an organization, a society, or a nation. When problems are becoming increasingly complex beyond the control of a single entity, we take a systemic, human-centered approach to understand the issues and build innovation capacity to act. A team led by Hiroshi is engaged in developing a “Citizen-led Innovation” platform in Fukuoka (a city of over a million inhabitants in the southern island of Japan) where citizens are taking an active role by shaping trans-boundary innovation teams with national and regional business enterprises. He will show the early initiatives from this ecosystem.
Hiroshi also serves as Co-Founder and Executive Fellow at i.school at The University of Tokyo where he teaches students to foster skills and mindsets to realize innovation through design-driven processes and harness ethnographic investigation. Since the Great East Japan Earthquake in 2011, Hiroshi has been working to revitalize Kesennuma, a town severely destroyed, co-working with local fishermen, factory owners and high school students to envision futures and take the initial steps towards it. Hiroshi leads “Citizen-led Innovation” platform in Fukuoka City where citizen participation takes a key role for change.
