Reading a sign of social change to realize people’s comfortable life
The IHI Group has delivered various products and services to solve social issues for more than a hundred years with a variety of technology and quality personnel resources. In order to meet rapidly changing social needs, however, we must create new solutions for social issues by having more discussions with our partners than ever.
Road map to create solutions that society and our customers really need
Since 1853 when we started our business of shipbuilding, we have developed socially necessary products in response to the changes in the times by utilizing our wide range of engineering capabilities and technological seeds cultivated through our long history. In addition to the conventional development style based on technological seeds, we have incorporated several methods to create ideas from new perspectives and to materialize the ideas into solution creation and technology development. For example, we utilize design thinking to observe problems from the users’ perspective for exploration of ultimate solution and future insight to broad our own view and area of thinking by reading unclear signs of future change
Of course, preparing various methods is not enough to achieve commercialization.
While improving methods for speedier technology development and solution verification, we have developed our mindset and environment for constantly comparing what our customer wishes for in our product or service and what we provide as our solution and filling the gap. In this way, we conduct our business development toward commercialization efficiently.
IHI’s thinking road map
How IHI thinks about challenges
We recognize the necessity to select a method according to the stage and period of the challenge to approach. For example, we categorize the stage into three stages of solving, defining and introducing challenges and set thinking methods for each.
Selecting the thinking method for each step
An idea goes through the process consisting of several steps until it is released to society as a service. Along the process, we combine new perspectives by flexibly selecting an appropriate method for each step to quickly lead to commercialization, instead of stereotypically using a single method throughout the process. For example, we use artistic thinking in the introduction of ideas and design thinking in the prototyping and verification.
How IHI thinks about thinking
Design thinking
Discovering challenges from the user’s perspective
We precisely understand challenges through interviews and behavior observations to explore solution ideas that provide new value. After thinking of a promising idea, we quickly materialize the idea and collect the user’s opinion for improvement. If the idea misses the point, we change course. Repeating this trial-and-error cycle creates business ideas that bring real value to society.
Click here for information on our design thinking process.
Service design
Aiming at constant realization of valuable user experience
We involve diverse stakeholders to visualize how society should be in the future and to create ideas and concepts by thinking backward from the visualized future society to the present. A first step of business development is made to realize the will of both our customer and us for setting the business orientation and vision based on a future social state or for discovering hidden needs through offering a new concept.
Click here for information on our service design process.
Future insight
Imagining a discontinuous future to catch an insight for creation
In thinking of what society will look like in 10 years from now, we focus on unexpected events away from an extension of the present world. After developing a scenario on social change based on the uncertainty and preparing against the future change, we accumulate a large number of original ideas that can lead to innovation.
Click here for information on our future insight process.
Artistic thinking
Defining new challenges through our own reflection
We have incorporated artists’ way of thinking, where they set up problems by themselves and continue to pose new value and questions to the world. Based on the way of thinking, we set up problems in our intriguing directions and generate ideas from nothing to create solutions to the problems. In this way, we will accomplish our projects or business development.
Road mapping
Visualizing the way of designing business plans and strategies
By utilizing organized frameworks, we plan a thorough strategical road map toward future without any omission. We aim to plan a more accurate strategy by reflecting the planned road map, user interviews and other schemes in design and by making revisions.