Let's Talk about .. Design (Thinking) of Business and Tokyo Tech IS Lab

This autumn my advisor, Prof. Junichi Iijima, has chosen a book called "The Design of Business: Why Design Thinking Is the Next Competitive Advantage" by Prof. Roger L. Martin for our lab book reading seminar. For me, it is one of the interesting books because the book described and show many cases related to the story. Especially, the Knowledge Funnel of Prof. Martin explains how we can take a step to discover "innovation".

Last week, my lab mate, Chaeyoung Lim, presented about Design Thinking in this seminar. There is the definition of Design Thinking by Tim Brown (2008), CEO and president of IDEO, as "A discipline that uses the designer's sensibility and method to match people's needs with what is technologically feasible and what a viable business strategy can convert into customer value and market opportunity" mentioned in the book. I have known some works of Tim Brown since 2010 when I took a Design Thinking course of Assoc.Prof. Hiroyuki Umemuro. I also bought a Thai edition of the book "Change by Design: How Design Thinking Transforms Organizations and Inspires Innovation" by Tim Brown at that time.

Tim Brown's concept of Design Thinking have been mentioned and referenced by many researches. From suggestion of Prof. Junichi Iijima and Asst.Prof. Jaehyun Park, I searched more about IDEO. I found many interesting stories created or supported by IDEO people. According to IDEO, innovation is the result of "Feasibility (Technical)", "Viability (Business)", and "Desirability (Human)". Prof. Iijima also said that currently our IS Lab at Tokyo Tech consists of experts in these three areas (i.e., Prof. Iijima in technological area, Assoc.Prof. Dai Senoo in business area, and Asst.Prof. Jaehyun Park in design area). 

I should learn more from them in order to be a person who can establish new innovation.

Ref.

[1] Brown, T. (2008). Design thinking. Harvard Business Review, 86 (6). 

[2] Brown, T. (2009). Change by Design: How Design Thinking Transforms Organizations and Inspires Innovation, NY: Harper Business.

[3] IDEO. About IDEO. Retrieved October 2013 from http://www.ideo.com/about/

[4] Martin, R. L. (2009). The Design of Business: Why Design Thinking Is the Next Competitive Advantage, MA: Harvard Business Press.