Innovative spirit drives search for revitalizing solutions

What is the “new normal” and what is the desired life and way of living? The novel coronavirus crisis makes many people ask themselves these questions as value systems and lifestyles dramatically change. Businesses must also change. The second installment of this series explores innovations businesses are working on during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Besides selling goods and services, businesses should also help revitalize Japan and solve problems. In addition, these enterprises should show society inspiring narratives and goals as well as new, freer work styles.

The power of innovation is now a requisite for success in business. As Japanese companies have their distinctive way of cherishing customers, the thoughtful use of data will likely become important as well.

QUANTIFYING HAPPINESS

Is it possible to make “happiness” something visible and use it to achieve results in business?

Kazuo Yano, a fellow at Hitachi, Ltd.’s Central Research Laboratory in Kokubunji, Tokyo, devised a method to measure the level of human happiness using the latest digital technology.

He started working on the Happiness Project in 2004. Yano collected an enormous amount of data via sensors on smartphones and other devices in which the physical movements of several thousands of subjects inside and outside the company were assigned the binary values of 0 and 1.

Furthermore, he crafted various questions to inquire whether subjects were happy on a certain day and used artificial intelligence to analyze the correlation between their answers and the massive data collected regarding their movements.

He said he found a particular although complex array of 0s and 1s that emerges when a person feels happy. The results suggested that data obtained from smartphones could convey the level of happiness of a certain group of people and that a workplace with happy employees is more productive.

The idea is that if work styles and work environments are transformed so that such an array of happiness appears, then people and organizations will achieve a higher level of revitalization.

Several companies, including Otsuka Corp., have introduced the dedicated smartphone app along with the system Yano developed and are generating results.

The system can also be used beyond the business sphere.

“A sense of happiness is the foundation of social vitality,” Yano said. “If you make it visible, it can be a tool to discovering a desired way of life.”

MAKING CARS FLY

Tomohiro Fukuzawa, 33, founded Sky Drive Inc. in 2018 and is working on a revolutionary project to put flying taxis into operation by 2023.

The company’s taxis glide with the help of battery-powered propellers and fly on autopilot to various destinations.

Sky Drive, which includes about 50 employees, has already succeeded in a manned test flight and plans to start offering services in the bayside areas of Tokyo and Osaka.

Among the employees is Nobuo Kishi, 61, a former chief engineer of the Mitsubishi SpaceJet by Mitsubishi Heavy Industries, Ltd.

Kishi first met Fukuzawa in 2019. In April 2020, when Japan was in a deep economic slump because of the outbreak of the novel coronavirus, Kishi made up his mind to dive headlong into the ongoing competition to develop flying cars.

Combining the experience and know-how born at large corporations with the bold ideas and vitality of start-ups can foster more innovation. If such chemical reactions of talent increase, opportunities could arise from the pandemic. (Jan. 12)