Leadership and Innovation

10 October 2012

6:00 – 7:45pm, followed by a drinks reception to 8:45pm

Daiwa Foundation Japan House

Companies today need leaders who know how to recognise opportunities for innovation and how to create cultures that encourage innovation. A failure to innovate could put their own survival at risk. But what is the recipe for successful innovation? This seminar will focus on the leadership, values, culture and organisational structures required for successful innovation. The two speakers, from Japan and Cambridge, will both discuss non-Western approaches to innovation. Mr Hiroyuki Itoh, CEO of Crypton Future Media, creator of the globally popular ‘vocaloid’ Hatsune Miku, will talk about how he built an innovative consumer-generated media business against the backdrop of traditional Japanese business culture. Dr Jaideep Prabhu, co-author of the book Jugaad Innovation (Jossey Bass, 2012), will argue that the West must look to places like India, Brazil and China for a new, frugal and flexible approach to innovation. He will show how, in these emerging markets, Jugaad (a Hindi word meaning an improvised solution using limited resources) is leading to dramatic growth, and how Western companies can adopt Jugaad innovation to succeed in today’s hyper-competitive world. This is the sixth seminar in our 2012 series Leadership: People and Power in the UK and Japan.

Hiroyuki Itoh

Hiroyuki Itoh has been handling software sound source since 1995, and is the developer of Character Vocal Series 01: Hatsune Miku, which was released in 2007.  As CEO of Crypton Future Media, Itoh has established himself as a visionary “meta-creator” – one who creates various products and services to assist the creations of other people. Soon after creating a new category of Vocaloid entertainers with the introduction of Hatsune Miku, he launchedPIAPRO, the Vocaloid info, music and artwork-sharing site. Most recently in 2011, he started the music aggregation service ROUTER.FM, which has started to transmit more than 1,600 independent labels to the world.

Dr Jaideep Prabhu

Dr Jaideep Prabhu is Jawaharlal Nehru Professor of Indian Business and Enterprise and Director of the Centre for India & Global Business at Judge Business School, University of Cambridge. His research interests are in marketing, innovation, strategy and international business. His current research is mainly on how multinationals are using emerging markets like India as a lab to do affordable and sustainable innovation for global application. Prabhu has taught and consulted with executives from ABN Amro, Bertelsmann AG, BP, BT, EDS, IBM, ING Bank, Nokia, Philips, Roche, Shell, Vodafone and Xerox among other international companies. He has appeared on BBC News24 and Bloomberg BusinessWeek, and his work has been profiled inBusinessWeek, BBC World Service, The Economic Times, The Economist, The Financial Times, Le Monde, MIT Sloan Management Review, The New York Times, The Sunday Times and The Times. His book, Jugaad Innovation, will be available to purchase at the event at the special price of £18.99 (20% off the cover price).

Midwife and Manga Heroine: Oine Siebold, Nagasaki and the Birth of Modern Japan

Midwife and Manga Heroine: Oine Siebold, Nagasaki and the Birth of Modern Japan
Ulrich Heinze, Sasakawa Lecturer in Japanese Visual Media

Sainsbury Institute and Centre for Japanese Studies, University of East Anglia

20 June 2011, London

School of Oriental and African Studies, University of London
Khalili Lecture Theatre, Thornhaugh Street, Russell Square, London WC1H 0XG

This lecture unravels the historical meaning of the city of Nagasaki for the cultural exchange between Japan and the West in the first half of the nineteenth century. To pursue this inquiry, Heinze will refer to three key source materials: David Mitchell’s new novel The 1000 Autumns of Jacob de Zoet, depicting the Phaeton-incident of 1808; Hendrik Doeff’s (1764-1837) Recollections of Japan, which is now available in English; and Masaki Maki’s manga Oine Siebold, on the career of the first female physician and obstetrician in Japan.
Dr Ulrich Heinze is Sasakawa Lecturer in Contemporary Japanese Visual Media. His position is jointly shared with the Sainsbury Institute for the Study of Japanese Arts and Cultures and the Centre for Japanese Studies at the University of East Anglia in Norwich. A sociologist, he received his Ph.D. at Free University Berlin and was an EU-Postdoctorate Research Fellow at the University of Tokyo where he also later held the position of Associate Professor. In 2004, he was awarded the venia legendi (habilitatio) in Sociology from the University of Freiburg. Specialising in Japanese media studies, intercultural communication and visual arts, Heinze’s research interests include Japanese popular culture, manga, television and film. His third book entitled Media Theory Update: Technical Acceleration and Communicative Action is forthcoming in 2012. Heinze has also worked as a journalist and broadcasting editor for North German Radio (NDR) in Hamburg.

Admission Free but Booking recommended. To book your place, please contact the Japan Society office on tel: 020 7828 6330 or email events@japansociety.org.uk.