Kentaro Watanabe

Group LEADER
Socio-digital service system Research group
Research institute on Human and societal Augmentation (RIHSA)
National Institute of Advanced Industrial Science and Technology (AIST)
Professor (Cooperative Graduate School Program)
the Institute of Systems and Information Engineering
University of Tsukuba

Research fields

  • Service design and innovation
  • Service engineering
  • Servitization of manufacturing, Product-Service Systems (PSS)
  • Service digitalization, frontline service technology
  • Engineering design

Education

  • Tokyo Metropolitan University:
    • Doctor of Engineering, System Design (2012)
  • The University of Tokyo:
    • Master of Engineering (M.Eng.), Precision Engineering (2005)
    • Bachelor of Engineering (B.Eng.), System Innovation (2003)

Past career

  • Visiting researcher at VTT Technical Research Centre of Finland Ltd (2016.6-2017.6)
  • Software Engineer, Sales Engineer in Fujifilm corp. (2008 – 2012)
  • Embedded Software Engineer in DENSO corp. (2005 – 2008)

Recent projects

  • 2023-2027: Large-scale field testing of avatar robots to solve the lack of human resources for airport operation
    • Fund: Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR), Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism
  • 2023-2027: Research and Development of Interverse Technology to Augment Communication
    • Fund: Council for Science, Technology and Innovation, “Cross-ministerial Strategic Innovation Promotion Program (SIP), Development of foundational technologies and rules for expansion of the virtual economy,” NEDO
  • 2022-2025: Design of Augmented Work Systems
    • Fund: Grant-in-Aid for Scientific Research (B), JSPS (Principal Investigator)
  • 2021-2024: Research and Development of In-field Evaluation Guidance for Overseas Development of Robotic Care Equipment
    • Fund: Project for Promoting Robotic Care Equipment Development, AMED
    • Project website
  • 2021-2022: Vision design of the post-Corona workstyle with augmented telework
    • Fund: Japan Prize Heisei Memorial Research Grant Program, the Japan Prize Foundation (Principal Investigator)
  • 2020- : Platform project to develop, evaluate and disseminate care robotics
    • Fund: Ministry of Health, Labor and Welfare
    • Head, Kashiwa Living Lab (since 2023)
  • 2019-2022: Socially-Consicous Service System Design in the Era of Digital Transformation (SoSDeX)
    • Fund: Grant-in-Aid for Scientific Research (B), JSPS (Principal Investigator)
  • 2019-2022: Impact of Care and Technology Integration to Trust in Welfare: Toward Care Science
    • Fund: Grant-in-Aid for Scientific Research (B), JSPS
  • 2016-2019: Construction of a model to support practical knowledge of caring (ShareCare)
    • Fund: Grant-in-Aid for Scientific Research (B), JSPS
  • 2015-2018: Meaningful Technology for Seniors -Models of Digital and Human Networks (METESE)
    • Fund: SICORP, JSPS (Principal Investigator from Japan)
    • Collaborator: VTT Technical Research Center of Finland Ltd (Finland)
  • 2015-2018: Development of Work Knowledge Circulation Method for Service Fields
    • Fund: Grant-in-Aid for Young Scientists (B), JSPS (Principal Investigator)
  • 2015-2018: The System for Sharing the Memory Between Elderly and Care Staffs in Order to Build a Desirable Human Relationship
    • Fund: Grant-in-Aid for Scientific Research (A), JSPS
  • 2015-2018: Social welfare services for the elderly by utilizing local lifestyle behavior data platform
    • Fund: Grant-in-Aid for Scientific Research (C), JSPS
  • 2013-2015: Development of a Technology Selection Method of Process Observation and Modeling for Labor-Intensive Services
    • Fund: Grant-in-Aid for Young Scientists (B), JSPS (Principal Investigator)

Standardization activity

  • ISO/TC 159/WG 3 Expert (2025-)
  • ISO/TC 324/WG 2 Convener (2020-)
  • ISO/TC 324 (Sharing economy) Expert (2019-)
  • ISO/TC 159 (Ergonomics) /SC 1/WG 5 Expert (2014-)

Other activities

  • The ASAP Advisory Board (2025-) Website
  • Scientific Advisory Board, ETAIROS (Ethical AI for the Governance of the Society) project (2020-2022) Project website
  • Member, Service Design Study Group, Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry (2019-2020)
  • Board member, Society for Serviceology (2018-2023)

Favorites

  • Playing the piano (mostly classical)
  • Japanese calligraphy (pencil, seventh dan level certified by Nippon Budokan)