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October 2005 -- Tom Kelley is an innovation expert, bestselling author and managing director of Palo Alto, California based design firm IDEO. IDEO has been at the forefront of design for 25 years, and was recently named as one of Business Week’s 20 most innovative companies in the world. The company has collaborated with leading Japanese companies on numerous projects.

Mr. Kelley has authored two books: 2001’s bestselling The Art of Innovation and The 10 Faces of Innovation, which is scheduled for release on October 17, 2005. Publisher Hayakawa Press produced a full-color special Japanese edition of The Art of Innovation, and has already begun work on the translation of The 10 Faces of Innovation.

Mr. Kelley has visited Japan more than 20 times and shared his knowledge and experience with JETRO during a conversation in September 2005.

JETRO: How exactly does IDEO to help companies innovate?

Kelley: What IDEO has done over the last 25 years is take the lessons we’ve learned in creating new products, and then extrapolate, go from the specific to the general, and apply those lessons to products, services, environments, and now to whole corporate cultures. So we’ve discovered what works in the world of innovation, and we’re trying to transfer that experience to our clients.

JETRO: Why would a company need IDEO help them innovate?

Kelley: What’s happened in recent years is that companies around the world have discovered that innovation is the key to the future, the lifeblood of the organization. And a lot of our client companies haven’t really focused on that; they’ve focused on cost reduction or taking variability out of things. So they’re now recognizing that they need organic growth, which is mostly about innovation, and they’re asking, “Who’s spent a lot of time in the space recently?” And IDEO seems to be in that space. Did you see that cover story called “Get Creative” in Business Week, where we were listed among the top 20 most innovative companies in the world?

JETRO: Not that piece specifically.

Kelley: It was really fun for us. Every other company on the list is a household name, like Sony or Starbucks or 3M. So it’s both fun and slightly amusing for us that little IDEO made this list of giant innovative corporations.