Leadership that connects the future to industry

What was discussed

The session discussed how executives can go beyond existing frameworks of judgment and advance investment in the future and consensus building. The idea of taking the discomfort and intuition felt on the ground, not only logical consistency, as the starting point of discussion was presented. An example of consensus building that asks how people feel rather than whether they agree with a policy, and values the process of dialogue, was also introduced. A method was discussed for judging long-term investment by setting conditions from future scenarios, on the premise that R&D fails, without relying on the single yardstick of net present value.

About this session

How can the future and industry, seen from the standpoints of anthropology and of the artist, connect and open new possibility? Few corporate leaders can take up this question with us. Here we welcome two company leaders with a deep grounding in the liberal arts and philosophy, and through a panel conversation seek out a form of leadership that connects to industry. [Simultaneous interpretation into Japanese is provided for this session.]

Speakers

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  Christopher Currell

  Althea Project GK　Founder & CEO / Chief Architect

  A musician, composer, synthesist, audio technologist and author. He joined Michael Jackson's creative team as Synclavier programmer, synthesist and sound consultant on Bad, played keyboards and guitar throughout the Bad world tour, and later contributed to Dangerous and HIStory. As president of Audio Cybernetics he developed concepts for advanced virtual environments before virtual reality became an established commercial field, and has worked with NASA, Disney Imagineering, Sega and Nintendo. His long-term investigation of sound and consciousness led to the Currell Effect, whose foundations he sets out in his book The Harmonic Resonance of the Quantum Potential. At Althea Project GK, which he established in Japan in 2026, he is the originator of Absolute Reductionism and its runtime architecture ARIS, and is developing ARIS-EC, a deterministic correction and verification architecture.

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  Sarah Pink

  Monash University　Vice-Chancellor's Distinguished Professor / Director, FUTURES Hub and Emerging Technologies Research Lab

  A researcher and documentary maker working in design anthropology and futures anthropology. She holds a BA and PhD in social anthropology from the University of Kent and an MA in visual anthropology from the University of Manchester. At Monash University she is part of the Design and Human Centred Computing departments and runs the FUTURES Hub and the Emerging Technologies Research Lab. Her interdisciplinary research covers the social, cultural and experiential dimensions of how emerging technologies are designed and used, and human futures in digitalisation and the net-zero transition.

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  Tatsuo Ogawa

  Panasonic Holdings Corporation　Executive Officer, Group CTO, concurrently Head of the GX Division, responsible for pharmaceutical affairs and for Prime Planet Energy & Solutions

  Born in Hyogo in 1964. He graduated in science from Osaka University in 1989 and joined Matsushita Electronic Components, working on device and materials development at its component and corporate research laboratories, and researching advanced packaging technology as a visiting researcher at Georgia Tech. After leading planning and R&D for the device business, technology strategy, production engineering and serving as vice president of the automotive company, he became Group CTO in 2021, with responsibility for technology, production engineering, quality, environment, intellectual property and customer relations.

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  Mutsuo Iwai

  Japan Tobacco Inc.　Corporate Adviser

  He graduated in economics from the University of Tokyo in 1983 and joined the Japan Tobacco and Salt Public Corporation, now Japan Tobacco. Working chiefly in corporate planning and business development, he served as Deputy CEO of JT International, Representative Director and Executive Vice President, and Director and Vice Chairman. He became Chairman of the Board in 2022 and, since stepping down, is a corporate adviser to the company as of 2026. He is also Senior Vice Chair and a representative director of Keizai Doyukai, the Japan Association of Corporate Executives.

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  Yuya Nishimura

  Moderatoresse-sense Inc.　Representative Director

  Born in Ikeda, Osaka, in 1981. After a master's in human sciences at Osaka University he worked at a human development venture and at the Japan Productivity Center, and founded the NPO Miratuku in 2011. He supports the building of innovation infrastructure across fields and roles, business creation inside companies, R&D projects, and the search for future visions and currents. In 2021 he founded esse-sense Inc., which runs esse-sense, connecting research knowledge with society.