On October 12, 2021, FCAJ (Future Center Alliance Japan: Representative director Noboru Konno) will publish the research report of the "place" of innovation in Japan and overseas, “What should be the management of the "place" in the future?” on this website. FCAJ has developed the world's first evaluation model for the ”Place" evaluation model, EMIC (Evaluation Model for Innovation Centers), and will publish a digest version of it by conducting quantitative analysis based on responses from 87 "venues" in Japan and 13 overseas countries.

In addition, this evaluation model EMIC will accumulate data that will lead to solutions for innovations and spread it as a practical model.

◆The place of innovation becomes more and more important with & after COVID-19

　According to this survey, since 2020, the spread of the pandemic has reduced the activity of realistic "places", but it has been confirmed that the importance of "places" for co-creation of innovation, including integration with digital, has increased. 63% in Japan and 83% in overseas of respondents answered that the "place" for innovation would become increasingly important in the wake of the pandemic. (see Table 1). While personal work has expanded from home, collaboration is recognized as essential for innovation.

Table１：Importance of Place (Ba)

N=64（Domestic Places）                           N=23（Overseas Places）

◆The importance of software as well as hardware determines the outcome

　EMIC is a model that was born through benchmarking of European public and private sectors by hypothesizing the elements that make up the "place" of innovation from interviews with seven leading Japanese companies and qualitative surveys by ethnographers. (see Fig. 1). In addition to hardware such as physical spaces and tools, the clarity of the purpose, the mechanism of cooperation and the approach to change, and the management of human resources are also important factors. In this survey, we found that scores related to people and mechanisms were low both in Japan and overseas, and that they correlated with the effects of the field. (see Table 2). We also discovered the difference between the components of a successful and a place that is not.

  Fig.1 : The EMIC Framework

＜What’s EMIC？　Evaluation Model For Innovation Centers＞

　FCAJ conducted a questionnaire survey via the Internet from October 2020 to January 2021 (Japan) and from March to May 2021 (overseas). The main respondents are the person responsible for the operation of the venue or the operating members. Based on those results since the launch of FCAJ, this research was developed as a model that quantifies the effectiveness of the "place" for innovation and can be used by everyone. We have built a quantification model by extracting the factors essential to the functioning of the Innovation Center from both hardware and software and summarizing them into 30 indexes.
We will continue to conduct surveys using this EMIC and continue data analysis that can be effective to society. In addition, in the future, we will ask management, operators, and users related to the "place" of innovation to respond to THE EMIC, and we will try to use it as a visualization tool to discuss differences in perceptions depending on the position and what the place should aim for. Furthermore, we aim to provide solution guides that can help you solve problems related to the construction and operation of innovation "places".

Please contact the FCAJ Secretariat below for detail results and interviews, media reports related to this matter.

※The Future Center Alliance Japan, FCAJ, is an ecosystem, plural sector, in which industry, academia, government and the private sector participate and collaborate for open innovation. It provides "Ba", place, meetings and programs to transcend the boundaries of organizations to connect the economy and society. Since 2016, we have been carrying out activities to address social and future issues and to envision new industries.

https://futurecenteralliance-japan.org/en-top

For more information, please contact Future Center Alliance Japan (FCAJ) Secretariat (Ba Architect Office） fcaj_info@futurecenteralliance-japan.org