Final Aim and Sony Design Consulting Partner to Conduct Joint Research – Tokyo, Japan

2020.11.24

Tokyo, Japan, November 24th, 2020 – Final Aim, Inc. (Bunkyo-ku, Tokyo, CEO Masafumi Asakura, and CDO Yasuhide Yokoi) and Sony Design Consulting Inc. (Minato-ku, Tokyo, CEO Yutaka Hasegawa) today announced they are partnering to conduct joint research on creative and design support for startups.

In recent years, there has been strong growth in startups worldwide, including US and Japan. More venture capitals, corporate venture capitals, and institutional investors are offering financial supplies to startups, and startup promotional supports are now widely available by accelerators, incubators, media, co-working space owners, and governmental offices.

Furthermore, in addition to the software industry, startups are expanding to various domains such as the hardware industry including IoT, robotics, autonomous mobilities, and aerospace, to the intellectual property industry in contents and entertainment sectors. It is critical for startups today to develop and manage with a comprehensive approach.

While a comprehensive approach is accelerating its need, there remains a gap in startup business management and its design development caused by missing consolidated understanding or knowledge in every phase from theory to practice.

Having this as a challenge we share, Final Aim and Sony Design Consulting have formed joint research to explore creative and design development methodology and practices that ensure rapid growth of startups business and equity financing.

This partnership aims to get rid of various gaps in startup development and design, promote aggressive investment to design, and contribute to a resilient and sustainable ecosystem for startups.

Major Research Agenda
1. Explore and clarify the impact and effectiveness of design development in startups.
2. Propose effective design approaches and practices for startup growth.
3. Establish industrial standard of contracts and fees optimal to design in startups.

Publication of the Joint Research Activity
The team will launch an exclusive website for this joint research with regular publication of progress and result. Organizing events are in our scope to encourgae open discussion in presentation and workshops. Details will be announced upon progress.

Sony Design Consulting

About Sony Design Consulting
Company Name: Sony Design Consulting Inc.
Location: Minato-ku, Tokyo, Japan
Director: Representative Chief Executive Officer, Yutaka Hasegawa
Business Description: Design consulting / Design management / Design service / Other related services
Website: https://www.sonydesignconsulting.com/

About Final Aim
Company Name: Final Aim, Inc.
Location: Bunkyo-ku, Tokyo, Japan
Founders: Masafumi Asakura, Chief Executive Officer / Yasuhide Yokoi, Chief Design Officer
Business Description: Zero-to-one support with design and technology
Website: https://final-aim.com
Contact: contact@final-aim.com

Final Aim Collaborated with Tier IV by Design to Support Realize Driverless Taxi Service – Tokyo, Japan

2020.11.12

Tokyo, Japan, November 12th, 2020 – Final Aim, Inc. (Bunkyo-ku, Tokyo, CEO Masafumi Asakura, and CDO Yasuhide Yokoi), is proud to announce that the company has collaborated with the top leading tech startups in autonomous driving, Tier IV, Inc. by design to support the realization of driverless taxi service.

Specifically, Final Aim supported the hardware design of the AI PXX, a roof package with LIDAR sensors and image cameras for long-range sensing, intended for the use case of medium-to-high speed autonomous driving.

From November 5th to 8th, Tier IV will install the package to the vehicle JPN TAXI and organize a driverless taxi service trial in the Nishi-Shinjuku area. The trial program is also run together with Mobility Technologies Co., Ltd., Sompo Japan Insurance Inc., KDDI Corporation, AISAN TECHNOLOGY Co., Ltd., and Shinjuku Subcenter Area Environmental Improvement Commission.


AI PXX

Driverless taxi service trial in the Nishi-Shinjuku area

Final Aim’s mission is to support a zero-to-one step with technology for new business category creation and job opportunity generation following it.
Since the company’s foundation in December 2019, our global challenge has expanded from Japan to Singapore, Indonesia, and Africa in various industries such as autonomous mobilities, robotics, and digital manufacturing, where we enable a zero-to-one for startups, new business development departments in large corporations, venture capitals, and research labs in universities.

Since its founding in 2015, Tier IV has developed autonomous driving technology with the vision of achieving “Intelligent Vehicles for Everyone” − to establish the sustainable ecosystem for autonomous driving to which everyone can contribute in terms of development, and to solve societal issues such as traffic accidents and transportation inefficiency.
To develop all of these elements efficiently and dynamically, Tier IV has promoted the establishment of an ecosystem around Autoware*, the world’s first open-source software for autonomous driving. Autoware is supported by the largest autonomous driving open source community and has found widespread and international adoption as it is used by more than 100 companies and runs in more than 20 different countries.
Also, Tier IV has succeeded in multiple large fundraising since its foundation. Recently, the company has announced additional funding from SOMPO Holdings, Inc., one of Japan’s biggest insurance companies, taking its total funding to USD $166 million.
(* Autoware is a registered trademark of the Autoware Foundation)

As a side note, Yasuhide Yokoi, an industrial designer and a Chief Design Officer of Final Aim, has been supporting Tier IV industrial design since its early stage. He has collaborated with Shinpei Kato, the founder and CTO of Tier IV, Inc., and delivered various designs such as Milee, autonomous EV for short-range driving, and Logiee, autonomous micro-mobility for logistics.

For the new AI PXX, the design concept and principles inherit the core value of Tier IV that has evolved over the years of new ventures. Similar to other designs developed, AI PXX’s aesthetics such as form, colors, and textures convey the value of simplicity, friendly, and delightful.
Especially for AI PXX, it is important to keep the design simple since the package will be loaded to different vehicles from different car companies. Because each car has its design styling, the package needs to be harmonious without conflict of aesthetics.

With the new AI PXX, the company’s advanced technology, and strong industry knowhow, Tier IV aims to accelerate further development of autonomous driving technology, and continue to advance its vision, “Intelligent Vehicles for Everyone.”

– Yasuhide Yokoi, an industrial designer and a CDO of Final Aim, has supported Tier IV industrial design since its early stage –

Milee – autonomous EV for short-range driving

Logiee – autonomous & customizable micro-mobility for logistics

Postee – autonomous EV for postal service

AI Pilot – system unit for low-speed autonomous vehicles

– New AI PXX design inherits the core value of Tier IV that has evolved over the years –






Mounted on JPN TAXI

About Tier IV, Inc.
Tier IV, a deep-tech startup based in Japan, is dedicated to sharing technology for safe intelligent vehicles that will benefit all of society by enabling as many individuals and organizations as possible to overcome the barriers of time and space to collectively bring autonomous vehicles into reality.
Founded in December 2015, Tier IV has led the development of Autoware*, the world’s first open-source software for autonomous driving, and applied Autoware in applications of last-mile driverless mobility and logistics. Tier IV and its global partners continue to evolve Autoware and provide turn-key solutions for commercialization of Autoware-based autonomous vehicles all over the world. Learn more at: https://tier4.jp/en/
(* Autoware is a registered trademark of the Autoware Foundation)

About Final Aim, Inc.
Company Name: Final Aim, Inc.
Location: Bunkyo-ku, Tokyo, Japan
Business Description: Zero-to-one support with design and technology
URL: https://final-aim.com
Founders: Masafumi Asakura, Chief Executive Officer / Yasuhide Yokoi, Chief Design Officer
Main Partners: OTSAW Digital (Singapore), Yasunli (Indonesia), Bionic M (Tokyo), ICMG (Tokyo, Singapore, Silicon Valley), SHORA Ventures (Rwanda), GINZAFARM (Tokyo)
Contact E-mail: m-asakura@final-aim.com

Final Aim CDO Yasuhide Yokoi Has Been Featured in “HAKUHODO OPEN INNOVATION”

2020.11.10

Tokyo, Japan, November 10th, 2020 – Final Aim, Inc. (Bunkyo-ku, Tokyo, CEO Masafumi Asakura, and CDO Yasuhide Yokoi), is proud to announce that the company’s CDO Yasuhide Yokoi has been featured in the program, “HAKUHODO OPEN INNOVATION”.

As a first guest, the program invited Yasuhide Yokoi to share Final Aim’s strong insight on open innovation projects such as startup acceleration. He shared unique know-how by story of actual projects, for example autonomous mobility development with a Japanese startup, COVID-19 robotics development with a Singaporean startup, and new business development with an Indonesean enterprise.

The article in Japanese can be read from here:
https://www.hakuhodo.co.jp/magazine/85794/

English Translation of the Article


[Open Innovation Radio vol.1]
Cross-Disciplinary Talk About Open Innovation – The 1st Guest: Yasuhide Yokoi, CDO of Final Aim, Inc.

A new series of “HAKUHODO OPEN INNOVATION” by Hakuhodo Brand Innovation Design, where members talk frankly online like radio programs about open innovation with outside talents across multiple domains.
As a first guest, the program invited Yasuhide Yokoi, CDO (Chief Design Officer) of Final Aim, Inc., who has started a designer career at one of the global leading optical and camera makers and has many experiences in product design development in the MaaS domain.
Shuta Tokuda, strategic planner and product designer of Hakuhodo will discuss with him about open innovation.


Support Zero-to-One

Tokuda
Thank you all for your time today! Today, we have a guest – Yokoi-san from Final Aim. First, a quick introduction. Yokoi-san has graduated from art university and started his career in one of the global leading optical and camera makers. He then joined a startup, Kabuku in 2014 as an early establishing member and experienced a startup exit as an M&A by a listed company in the Tokyo Stock Exchange. He co-founded a new startup Final Aim last December. I first met him at a 3D software conference several years ago. I remember him presenting 3D printed mobility parts and had an inspiring discussion then.

Yokoi
Yes, I remember very well.

Tokuda
We have been keeping in touch since then and even collaborated on an automotive client project last year. He has won many design awards equivalent to the Cannes Lions advertising awards. Looking at your past projects, you seem to be working a lot in the mobility industry.

Yokoi
There wasn’t any intention, but I enjoy the work as I jumped into this design industry with a dream to become a car designer. Not just designing beautiful and cool products or pursuing usability, but I am also interested in the power of design where there is a creation of new scenes and values.

Tokuda
You have been involved not only in major company projects but also in startup and proof of concept projects.

Yokoi
Yes. For example, I have been working with an autonomous mobility startup called Tier IV, which the company is developing open-source software for driverless cars. I have designed autonomous mobilities that can be used for feasibility studies. Back in 2016, I started the collaboration with professor Shinpei Kato of the University of Tokyo, who is also the founder of Tier IV. After a series of interviews and discussions, we came to a story that Tier IV should establish its original design identity in anticipation of increasing competitors.

Tokuda
That led to a round, somewhat cute character like design.

Yokoi
The mobility is under a feasibility test in “Moricoro Park” in Aichi prefecture. It also collaborated with one of the tourist companies to run a MaaS proof of concept in Miyakejima.

Tokuda
Great! Would you also tell us about Final Aim?

Yokoi
The vision is to fully support individuals, teams, and corporations that challenge zero-to-one. It’s been less than a year since the establishment, however, we are now working with startups, new business development departments in large corporations, and startups from universities. They are from all over the world including not only Japan but also Singapore, Indonesia, and the US. Co-founder Masafumi Asakura has founded companies in Singapore and has experience in software development too. By having both design and business capability, I think Final Aim covers a wide range of domains.


Singapore Design Project at an Unbelievable Speed

Tokuda
Do you form teams of partners and supporters for each project?

Yokoi
Yes. After agreeing on a long term alliance with startups and large corporations, we form teams according to each project. I take charge of defining design and hardware criteria and organize staffing, so I am kind of both hands-on designer at the same time a project manager.
As a case project, Final Aim has been supporting a Singaporean startup OTSAW Digital from business to design development. OTSAW specializes in software development, and we support its hardware development and design strategy from many angles such as PR. Actually, the COVID-19 pandemic occurred right after the partnership announcement, so we kicked off an emergency project of a disinfection robot in May. The robots have already been installed in many places like convention centers.

Tokuda
Wow! I guess you conducted the design and engineering online. That’s an unbelievable speed.

Yokoi
I really felt the astounding difference in speed not just as OTSAW but also as a Singapore country. The project literally started with one sudden phone call, “We are going to make a new COVID-19 disinfection robot. Let’s do it!” We immediately held an online meeting and discussed ideas. To run agile development, the product applied new disinfection LED technology from A*STAR (Singaporean Agency for Science, Technology, and Research), OTSAW’s autonomous software, and white-label base mobility. As we were facing a fast-spreading pandemic, not just designing ideal usability and aesthetics, but also delivering at an overwhelming speed was the most valuable factor in this project.

Tokuda
Final Aim is the only company that joined from Japan. This is astonishing.

Yokoi
Yes, I also learned a lot from this collaboration. Since OTSAW and the Singaporean government was at its highest speed, we utilized 3D tools to communicate with and found common ground in design at the quickest iteration.

Tokuda
Next is also a case project with OTSAW.

Yokoi
This is an autonomous delivery robot that is currently under development. It is scheduled to run in Singapore city soon. There is an issue similar to Japan of the last-mile in Singapore. As a service, the project and product aim to deliver daily goods that were ordered by mobile apps, and carry them from supermarkets to residences.

Tokuda
You mentioned apps. Do you also take part in UI and UX design?

Yokoi
Yes, I take part in the development as a design advisory. Hardware design also covers usability and user experience. The exterior design was thought from those integral thinking including total engineering and layout design.

Tokuda
I think many of us are very interested in your story as there are members from the MaaS domain, the last-mile logistic industry, and the first-mile service development. Is it possible to realize autonomous delivery robots here in Japan?

Yokoi
There are many companies already under development including Tier IV, and you can see experimental services in Haneda Airport and Postal Service. However, relatively speaking, Singapore is much easier to proceed than in Japan. Singaporean government will move very quickly if private sectors give requests such as removing legacy rules. In this project, the OTSAW team requested the government for example where to open up zones for mobility. Of course, there are rules and standards to follow, but the government stance is very flexible and supportive of new challenges. Whereas in Japan, the project team and the government is very careful in complying with existing laws and regulations.

Tokuda
Now I understand why the speed is very different. Very interesting.

Yokoi
Next is a case project that we collaborated with Yasunli, one of the largest plastic manufacturers in Indonesia, to build a new business channel. The company has 40 years of history with more than 5000 employees and runs a large toB business. As a new challenge, the company wanted to enter into the toC business and have its consumer brand. We collaborated hands-on from the very beginning such as business plan, product roadmap, marketing, design strategy to planning, and the final product design. I think we have the advantage of supporting as we can execute the strategy and the plan to the final product design in detail.

Tokuda
You collaborate from the beginning such as design workshops. It is no wonder the total speed is quick as you design products in advance on the condition that they will be produced.

Yokoi
Also, we are supporting BionicM, a powered prosthetic startup from the University of Tokyo, and collaborating with ICMG, a global consulting firm that organizes a co-creation platform for large corporations. Furthermore, we have formed a partnership with the CEO of the Rwanda ICT Chamber to create a startup ecosystem in Rwanda.

Tokuda
That is great. Please keep us updated on the progress of each project.

Yasu
Sure!


Build an Intellectual Property Platform and Accelerate the Open Innovation

Yokoi
To accelerate zero-to-one support, Final Aim is also building a platform with technology essence. For example, supporting intellectual property. In design development, it is always the case of how teams and parties transfer, manage, and register intellectual property such as design patents. However, there is no effective way to manage end-to-end. Currently, it is done by people’s knowledge, but we think it can be efficient and scalable by applying new technologies such as blockchain and smart contracts. And we have filed a patent application for this. We believe that this can accelerate the zero-to-one since it gives design and startups accountability and credibility to investors who are interested in startups.
Also, we have filed a patent application for a platform for valuation of the business and startups, that manages when, who, and how it has been evaluated.
Furthermore, we filed a patent application for the manufacturing platform to solve critical risk that multi-tier manufacturers face, associated with qualifying, validating, and managing manufacturing contract relationships in the field of IP, such as design rights.

Tokuda
Impressive. Actually, the intellectual property management platform was a blind spot. As I am also a product designer, I often find it difficult to deal with intellectual property.

Yokoi
Exactly. Not just startups but large corporations carry out many open innovation projects, and many often stuck at the point of dealing with the final intellectual property, considering multiple parties contributed to the project.

Tokuda
Yes, the intellectual property management problem indeed occurs, since, by its nature, many stakeholders are involved in open innovation projects. I think open innovation will speed up with this new platform idea.

Well, let me ask some questions from my side. What do you do as a first process when you receive a project order and come up with design ideas?

Yokoi
The objective and effectiveness of “Design” varies dramatically depending on teams and projects such as startups and large companies. How you apply design is very different from case to case, so I communicate intensively with stakeholders prior, to establish common ground.

Tokuda
Next, about your product design. All the products we saw today had round looks. Is this your style as a designer?

Yokoi
I have no strong intention, but they eventually became like those styles. Not just mobilities, but creating zero-to-one means installing new concepts to society. Because you are introducing new technologies and formats to daily scenes, it is critical that they blend without any sense of uncomfortable and uneasy. Therefore, a friendly look and feel become the key.

Tokuda
Thank you very much. With a dual approach of hands-on and platform, what is the final goal of Final Aim?

Yokoi
It is needless to say that we will continue to support people who challenge zero-to-one. Furthermore, we believe that after 10 or 20 years, a zero-to-one challenge shall be a natural and daily thing. Final Aim would like to push forward to this kind of world and realize where people and ideas are evaluated and praised regardless of any background such as academic, nationality, and gender. It would be wonderful to achieve the vision with our platform and technology idea.

Tokuda
If Hakuhodo were to collaborate with Final Aim, what possibilities would you see?

Yokoi
Hakuhodo has many large corporations as clients with internal departments for new business development and innovation. Inside those companies, I think many individuals seeking to challenge zero-to-one but don’t know how to act inside large corporations. Power of will, ability and creativity are the keys for this very first step, and I think it would be great if Final Aim could support the action. It would also be a great opportunity if those actions could be combined with capital and assets of large corporations, for example, intellectual property of technology and design patents. Furthermore, by capitalizing on Hakuhodo’s network of not just enterprises but also government offices and public institutions, our zero-to-one support on individuals, companies and ideas will be more powerful.

Tokuda
That sounds great! It would be great if we could collaborate on zero-to-one projects from start to final hands-on execution. Let’s make it happen.
Thank you very much for your story today!



Yasuhide Yokoi
Fina Aim, Inc. | CDO (Chief Design Officer)

After graduating from Tama Art University in 2007, served as an industrial designer at optical & camera maker. He then joined Kabuku Inc. as an early establishing member to develop 3D printing & digital manufacturing platform. After M&A by Tokyo Stock Exchange listed company in 2017, he co-founded Final Aim, Inc. in 2019. Has collaborated with enterprises to startups globally, for example, TOYOTA, Honda, Kokuyo, Olympus, Microsoft, and Autodesk. Received multiple awards such as iF, Red Dot, and GOOD DESIGN AWARD.


Shuta Tokuda
Hakuhodo Inc. Brand Innovation Design | Strategic Planner & Product Designer

Served in product planning and development at a PC accessory maker before joining Hakuhodo Inc. He currently supports new business & service development and innovation to enterprises with a cross-sectoral approach from advertising to manufacturing. Received multiple awards such as GOOD DESIGN AWARD and open innovation related design competitions.