Yuriko Sawatani

Member of the Board (Outside Director)

Yuriko Sawatani earned her doctorate from the Graduate School of Arts and Sciences at the University of Tokyo. She has conducted research in IT and services at IBM Research–Tokyo, served as a fellow of the JST Service Science, Solutions and Foundation Integrated Research Program, and been a professor at Waseda University. Since 2018, she has been a Professor at Nagoya University Business School and CEO of Design for All. Her research and professional expertise span entrepreneurship theory (with a particular focus on effectuation), service science, design, and innovation management. She also serves as JST COI-NEXT Co-Creation and Regional Co-Creation Program Officer. At Japan’s Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry (METI), she sits on the Commerce, Distribution and Information Subcommittee of the Industrial Structure Council, the High Value-Added Service Industry Study Group, and its Committee for Formulating IT Investment Evaluation Indicators. Ms. Sawatani also holds a position at Daiko Denshi Tsushin Ltd. Her publications include Handbook of Service Science, Vol. 2 and Global Perspectives on Service Science: Japan. She has served as an Outside Director on the Board of Nikken Sekkei since 2025.