Combining R&D and design to create a starting point for dialogue about the future 10 years from now.

Under the "R&D² (Research, Development & Design)" technology development strategy announced by the JVCKENWOOD Group in 2021, JVCKENWOOD Design has recently been engaged in research and technology development that combines the communication, video, and audio technologies cultivated by the group with a design perspective.
At the heart of this initiative is the "Future Creation Institute," whose mission is "to create new value with a view to the future 10 years from now." Designers from JVC Kenwood Design collaborate with researchers and engineers belonging to the institute to conduct research and prototyping that will serve as a starting point for discussions about the future.
Four members from JVC Kenwood Design (Yamamoto and Sonobe) and the Institute for Future Creation (Iwaki and Takahashi) reflected on the projects they have worked on so far and discussed their future prospects.

Imagine "future people" living in the world 10 years from now.

JVCKENWOOD Group's technology development strategy, "R&D²," carries the message, "Connecting people and time to create the future." First, could you tell us what kind of thoughts are behind this statement?

Iwaki　JVC Kenwood has provided "inspiration and peace of mind" to society through the social implementation of three technologies: communication, video, and audio. For example, Kenwood's radio technology used in the police and fire departments can be said to connect time and space by delivering on-site audio to the command center. In R&D², we are using this message to consider how we can update our technology for the future society that will change at an incredible speed with the advent of AI. 

The Institute for Future Creation's mission is "to create new value with a view to the future 10 years from now," but what specific activities does it engage in?

Iwaki　No matter what future we envision, it will remain mere fiction unless we properly assess the state of technology 10 years from now. Therefore, at the Future Creation Institute, we first create a "technology roadmap" that predicts how technology will develop over the next 10 years.

It is extremely difficult to accurately predict how the world will change in the future, but by conducting thorough research, we can make some predictions about how current technologies such as AI, digital twins, and quantum computing will evolve over the next 10 years. On the other hand, technology roadmaps alone cannot predict how technologies will be specifically implemented in society, so we are also creating "future personas" to consider the values ​​and behaviors of "future people" living in the world 10 years from now.

山 本　JVC Kenwood Design has always conducted R&D activities for cutting-edge technologies that prototype future experiences, but in those cases, we set up a persona for a single individual. With future personas, by creating multiple personas, we consider how the values ​​and behaviors of people living in the future 10 years from now will emerge, including the background technological and social changes. In 2025, we created a persona for the "family," one of the smallest units of society, and compiled our imagined vision of the living environment in 2040.

Sonobe　For example, if we imagine VR technology in the lives of elementary school students in the future, they might use it for studying, or they might use it to communicate with grandparents who live far away. In future personas, we group each persona while focusing on relationships, so we can imagine more concretely the scenes in which future technologies will be used. We also made various other predictions, such as how the widespread adoption of autonomous driving will change the way children commute to school or are driven to and from school.

山 本　Focusing on only one person or one technology inevitably leads to a linear way of thinking. However, values ​​and behaviors are built through relationships, and we live in a society where various technologies are intertwined. Therefore, I believe it's important to imagine the future by blending diverse perspectives. By placing the needs and desires of multiple personas, along with the technologies and services that fulfill them, around each persona, we can gain a clearer understanding of their relationships with other people.

Were there any predictions that particularly impressed you?

Sonobe　This future persona envisions a mother whose child-rearing responsibilities have largely ended, depicting her using a cafe to spend time with her children during her leisure time, leveraging her parenting experience. As the choice to have no partner or children becomes more widespread, new spaces may emerge that serve as points of contact for people who want to have opportunities to interact with children.

Although these predictions are not directly related to digital technology, when we can imagine future stories that revolve around these unchanging human desires and needs, the people we depict in our personas seem to come alive, and I felt that this kind of imagination is very important in this activity.

Iwaki　The predictions about the future problem of elderly people walking alone were also interesting. As we become able to utilize our five senses in digital space, we might start walking around the cities of our memories in the digital realm. There is also the idea that we relive past memories when we walk, so perhaps walking in digital space could revive past memories and potentially lead to future well-being.

Sonobe　It's possible that sensors will be deployed not only in digital spaces but throughout the entire city, enabling features to monitor elderly people walking alone. I also predicted that there might be job sites recruiting part-time workers for seniors and a rise in sports activities for seniors.

Creating a foundation for thinking about the future

In a future where sensors are implemented throughout cities, some see it as a way to monitor elderly people walking alone, while others worry that it could lead to a surveillance society. How do you view the potential for such negative changes brought about by technology?

Sonobe　In the "future scenarios" we create alongside the future personas, we summarize how society will change due to technological advancements from a more neutral perspective. These scenarios depict a future where surveillance society accelerates and a society where abilities become visible, and as we proceed with the creation, we discuss not only happy stories but also unhappy ones.

山 本　In our future scenarios, we use methods like the KJ method to reorganize the information we've gathered through research that suggests future trends, in order to capture how the future will unfold in areas related to our business. As I mentioned earlier, there are certainly ethical concerns regarding experiences interacting with other people's children and predictions of elderly people walking around virtually alone, but a key feature of our future scenarios is that we don't exclude ideas that we might otherwise dismiss as impossible. We also use our "future prototypes," which we are creating in the same way, as a tool to generate dialogue about the future. 

Iwaki　Thinking about the future solely in our minds can easily lead to misjudgments. Therefore, at Future Prototype, we conduct Proof of Concept (PoC) projects that allow users to experience what life will be like in the future, based on insights gained from future personas.

For example, in our "Personal Hazard Forecast" futuristic prototype, we created a video based on the prediction that if sensors were to be deployed throughout cities, we might enter a world where AI can infer about the near future. We created a video depicting a scene from the future where, for example, if a man on a scooter commits a snatching crime in the neighborhood, sensors that detect dangerous movements could transmit information to people who might be in danger.

This was presented at "DESIGN MIRAI," an annual event held by JVC Kenwood Design, and we received various opinions from those who saw the exhibition video, such as, "Even if you suddenly receive a notification, you won't know how to react immediately," and "If you start receiving a huge number of notifications, it might just make the world seem scary." We believe that by further discussion based on these voices, we can generate ideas that will lead to our next activities.

Company holds internal exhibition "DESIGN MIRAI 2025" | NEWS |

Sonobe　While we are sometimes asked about the purpose and business viability of our activities, we believe that involving various people and generating discussions, starting with our creations, is a crucial process. Our goal is not to create something that will be accepted by many people, but rather to build a foundation for considering what will be valuable to future generations.

Thus, we sometimes conduct many Proof of Concept (PoC) projects in a short period, and other times we take our time to develop them thoroughly. Based on a story we created from social context and future personas—"consulting an autonomous avatar with your problems"—we produced an original manga and an experience booth for our prototype "Jibun Kaigi" (My Own Meeting), and through an internal exhibition, we allowed many people to partially experience what life will be like in the future.

Takahashi　This was published in 2023. At that time, while AI was beginning to become widespread, mental health issues were being recognized as a social problem, especially among younger generations, partly due to the aftermath of the COVID-19 pandemic. We thought that people who tend to struggle with such problems might want encouragement and affirmation from someone who shares similar values. That's when we hypothesized that perhaps a future would arrive where people could consult AI about their problems, and the AI ​​would offer the words of encouragement they needed.

Opinions were quite divided on this prototype; some felt that such a future might be possible, while others said, "I would never consult an AI." However, in reality, the era when everyone consults ChatGPT arrived very quickly. I feel that this prototype, for 2023, was able to imagine the future with a remarkably high level of detail.

To create a future that is not someone else's problem, together

As a member of the research institute, what changes do you think have occurred in the group's business and your own perspective as you continue to work on predicting the future 10 years from now?

Iwaki　Thanks to the research conducted by the Institute for Future Creation, we've been receiving more inquiries from various departments within the group, and we're currently working on several projects together. Members from other business units have told us that it's giving them a chance to shift their perspectives, and we hope to build on this success even further. I believe that building connections across departments will become increasingly important in the future, so I hope to develop the Institute into an organization that fulfills that role and function.

Also, since I was in charge of new business development until now, I didn't think about the future that much, but through this activity I've had the opportunity to experience the future, which I had only grasped as a concept, and I feel like my ideas are expanding more and more. We tend to think of the future as something that doesn't concern us, and we tend to feel that the future society will be created by the development of technology, but in reality the future will emerge as humans and society gradually change. At the Institute for Future Creation, we are not imagining a distant future in which people who have not yet been born will live, but rather looking ahead to the next 10 years, which is when we will still be alive, so I think we are able to feel the future of life in a tangible way.

Takahashi　By combining daily research and future insights with future personas that are easy to relate to on a personal level, I feel like the resolution of my vision for the future has increased even further. Lately, I feel like my perspective has changed not only in my work but also in my daily life. I was involved in theater when I was a student, and the other day I went to see "Super Kabuki," a performance featuring Hatsune Miku and Kabuki actors such as Nakamura Shido. I've been sharing the insights and technical information I gained there within the research institute, and I feel like the line between work and hobbies is blurring.

Sonobe　We're seeing an increasing number of people using the Future Creation Institute's framework in workshops for other projects. I believe that even if a project isn't directly related to the future, the institute's research can be used to develop new proposals, so I think that if we can collaborate effectively in those kinds of situations, the scope of the institute's activities will broaden even further.

Furthermore, following our participation in CEATEC in 2025, we have also started collaborative activities with other companies, and we are advancing joint projects that allow both companies to leverage the knowledge they have cultivated through regular workshops.

Iwaki　What I've noticed while working on these projects is that more and more companies want to create new value not only within their own company, but also through co-creation with other companies. When we exhibit on topics related to the future, we often get approached by various companies, and when we were talking about this at the exhibition, some companies even asked, "That sounds interesting, could we join the discussion?" Starting in 2025, we have also been revitalizing industry-academia collaboration, working not only with companies but also with educational institutions such as universities, and we intend to put even more effort into this in the future.

In recent years, many companies have been working on future foresight. How does the Future Creation Institute plan to differentiate itself going forward?

Iwaki　JVC Kenwood's DNA has long been rooted in creating human interfaces, so I believe that by working to further expand this field for the future, we can ultimately create a unique identity as a research institute. In the future, fields such as AI and next-generation computing will likely be driven primarily by Big Tech, but in the physical space, we, as a hardware manufacturer, should be able to highlight our unique characteristics. Aiming to deliver "inspiration and peace of mind," which is the group's mission, I would like to explore through the activities of the research institute what kind of future we can envision by combining communication, video, and audio technologies.

Finally, please tell us what you would like to work on in the future as members of the Institute for Future Creation.

山 本　We've started collaborating with various departments, so we'd like to work on co-creation with members of groups we haven't interacted with before. To that end, we want to continue our outreach activities to let more people see the research institute's activities, including future prototypes.

Sonobe　We sometimes hear from people in other departments within the company that while they sympathize with our future foresight activities, they lack the time and resources to undertake them. Because we are able to engage in these verification activities, we want to share the knowledge we gain both inside and outside the company and expand opportunities for its use. In the future, we would like to create opportunities for communication with people outside the company by presenting future prototypes to a wider audience, and we would also like to work on activities to build connections with other departments within the group.

Takahashi　Through my work at the research institute, I'm gaining experiences that I wouldn't normally get within the researcher and engineer community alone, and I feel that with each passing day, I'm developing a more open perspective and unconventional thinking skills.

The "Self-Development Meeting" I mentioned earlier, which was predicted to take place 10 years into the future, has arrived much sooner than expected. However, some people are finding it unnatural that AI is becoming too accommodating, and have stopped consulting with it. In the future, I would like to become a researcher who can gain even deeper insights and make future predictions in areas like that.

Iwaki　Engaging in projects that involve various people both inside and outside the company, and working together to shape the future, will also contribute to the revitalization of the entire JVCKENWOOD Group. Therefore, I would like to create a path to becoming a company where lively discussions about the future can take place.

Currently, hypothesis testing is at the heart of the Future Creation Institute's activities, but based on the insights gained from this process, we are also working on creating intellectual property that will lay the groundwork for future businesses. Aiming to obtain patents is well-suited to our activities of considering what kinds of technologies will be used in future life, and we have already achieved a considerable number of patents. We intend to continue promoting this as one of the core activities of the institute, and we hope to contribute to business success.