Area Advisor
Chika SEKINE
President, UDIT Inc.
Expertise/fields of interest
Universal design, gerontology, local revitalization through IT and universal design
Profile
Ms. Sekine is a graduate of the Kyushu University Faculty of Law. In 1993, while working at IBM Japan, Ltd., she proposed to the top executives of the company to establish a support center to promote the use of information technology by senior citizens and people with disabilities. In 1998, she left IBM to establish her own company, UDIT Inc. Since then, she has proposed more accessible ICT devices and websites to many corporations and governments through diverse users evaluation. She has served on councils for the Cabinet Office, the Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications, the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry, the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism, and the Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology. She has been a Visiting Professor at Mimasaka University and an adjunct instructor at Tokyo Woman's Christian University and Niigata University of Health and Welfare. Her recent books include The Power of Universal Design (Japan Productivity Center) and Introduction to Smart Aging (co-authored; NTT Publishing Co., Ltd.).sekine
Message
Seniors have tended to be treated as vulnerable people in Japan. My aim is to design a society that learn from their experience and apply their knowledge to improve community by using information communication technology (ICT). I hope that this focus area fosters constructive solutions for Japan and for the rest of the aging world by supporting projects that enable building mutual trust among residents through close communication and activities rooted in societies.
Science and technology budgets to date have tended to emphasize seeds, with too little emphasis on user perspectives and needs. I want to push this focus area from the perspective of the usefulness of its research to seniors.
