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Keynote Speakers
Dr Kristin Braa
Vice President (Internationalization)
Telenor Research and InnovationTopic: “Addressing User Experience of Mobile Services in Asian Countries”
Brief Biography:
Dr. Kristin Braa is currently the Vice President (Internationalization) for Telenor Research & Innovation. She was previously the Managing Director of Telenor Research & Innovation Centre Asia Pacific (TRICAP), Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. Telenor has mobile operations in some of the world's fastest growing markets as well as in the most advanced markets, and holds altogether ownership interests in mobile operations in 13 countries, constituting a total subscriber base of 105 million as per the third quarter of 2006. In Asia, Telenor has ownership interests in DiGi (Malaysia), DTAC (Thailand), GrameenPhone (Bangladesh) and Telenor Pakistan. Earlier in 2006, Telenor opened its first Research and Innovation facility outside Norway that is, located within the Multimedia Super Corridor in Cyberjaya, Malaysia. The aim of the centre is to explore how Telenor can provide unique customer experience and approach to the market. By experimenting together with the Asian Telenor companies, new concepts are created and core values are driven to all Telenor affiliates.
Prior to joining Telenor in November 2000, Kristin was a Professor at the Department of Informatics in University of Oslo, and is still holding the Professorship as a part time position. Her areas of expertise are mobile consumer behaviour and mobile service development.
Takahiro Iijima
Team Leader of Human Interaction Design
Director and Manager
Panasonic Design Company
(Matsushita Electric Industrial Co., Ltd.)
Topic: "Addressing Human Interaction Design as the Core Value for Electronic Products"
Abstract of Keynote Speech:
Panasonic has officially introduced 6 factors of Universal design and we firmly set them into the center of our design and development activities. Through our activities, we have developed and originated methods of studying and analyzing human factors to manage and to apply Universal Design elements into our products. We see that human factors is not only limited to the physical and human bodily factors, but also includes emotional and psychological elements. For example, as those augmented through “KANSEI”. We are also aggressively pioneering new aspects of human factors and providing new core value as interaction design, including interface design and the application proposals of our future electronic products.
Brief Biography:
Takahiro Iijima is currently the Team Leader of Human Interaction Design at Panasonic Design Company based in Tokyo, Japan. He is in charge of the direction and management for all electronic products ranging from mobile phones, such as Panasonic GD87 to Plasma TVs, including the recent “VIERA” series released by Panasonic. Mr. Iijima has extensive experience in designing Panasonic’s AVC products and his design works won several distinguished IF Design Awards and also Good Design Awards in Japan.
As a Director and Manager, he is responsible for ensuring high level of design quality and to implement Universal Design principles for all aspects of AVC product development processes. Mr Iijima has a background in industrial design from Tama Art University and has been involved in various kinds of creative activities ranging from industrial design, lighting, sound, motion graphics, through to advertising design.
Jim Nieters
Director of User Experience
Yahoo! Inc.
Topic: "UX as a strategic differentiator in Telecommunication and Consumer Products"
Abstract of Keynote Speech:
In the highly competitive consumer telecommunications market, what traits and core competencies do successful companies embody that helps them sustain their competitive advantage? The fact is that the all successful companies constantly innovate, whether with new products that provide new value and delight for their users, services that users find invaluable, or by finding ways to bring more advanced technologies to market faster. The focus of innovation, though, in complex telecommunications companies (such as Cisco Systems) can
differ significantly from the focus of innovation in consumer and advertising companies (such as Yahoo!). Nonetheless, in both complex telecommunications companies, and in consumer-focused companies, User Experience methods lie at the core of such successful innovation.
In this discussion, we will look at case studies for these two very different companies - Cisco Systems, and Yahoo! We will investigate the very different ways they integrate User Experience Design and Research, in both cases to produce best-in-class product solutions
for the Telecommunications and Consumer markets. In doing so, we will also highlight the practices that we, as User Experience leaders and practitioners, can introduce to stimulate innovation. We will also investigate constraints to such innovation, especially in large companies, and how to circumvent them. By delivering products and services that change market dynamics, we make the practice of User Experience Design and Research indispensable, and we increase the valuation of our companies.
Brief Biography:
Jim Nieters is currently a Director of User Experience at Yahoo! Inc. He leads a team that provides indispensable experiences for the small business audience, as well as in the Marketing Products Division. Jim has been a usability and user experience design practitioner for more than 15 years. He's been a leader and management consultant for eight of those years, and has been through three years of intensive leadership development training programs that are delivered to the highest-potential leaders. He built and managed the Cisco User Experience Design Group, which tracks over $200 million in revenue increases each year from their work. Jim specializes in UX organizational leadership, process enhancement, and organizational transformation. He most enjoys driving big ideas that significantly increase revenue.
