Invitation to an event on May 20-Japan Society, New York

[Fumiko]

Dear EMPers,

I would like to extend an invitation to the EMPers in New York area to
our event that is taking place on May 20 here at Japan Society.
Anyone who is interested, please RSVP to Andrew Stuerzel
(astu...@japansociety.org). We will add your names to the guest
list.

Below is the description of the event.

"Innovation & the Art of Future Building"
http://www.japansociety.org/event_detail?eid=c531855


Tuesday, May 20, 6:30-8 pm - Japan Society, New York (333 East 47th
Street, New York, NY)

Innovation, improvisation and collaboration are critical ingredients
for recovery. New approaches to problem-solving in Japan and the
United States are helping people envision a better future, whether
it's a community coping with natural disaster or an individual
rebounding from homelessness. These symposia explore the art of
recovery from a range of different perspectives, keying off of
conversations with members of the U.S.-Japan Innovators Network,
including Rosanne Haggerty, founder of the supportive housing non-
profit Common Ground Community, Kohei Nishiyama, CEO of design-to-
order company elephant design, Marty Ashby, Executive Producer of MCG
Jazz, and Jay Weigel, Executive/Atistic Director for the Contemporary
Arts Center in New Orleans.

Followed by a reception.
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What Kohei Nishiyama does, one of the speakers, is quite interesting.
He is an inventor of the DTO (design-to-order) system, which reduces
the risk of new product development by allowing manufacturers to wait
until the number of orders fora product reaches the break-even point.
He uses the Internet to do this and is bascially democratizing the
design process. Here is Elephant Design’s website: http://www.cuusoo.com/
(sorry the website is in Japanese.) (And here is an article in English
about them: http://www.pingmag.jp/2007/01/25/elephant-design-build-your-imaginary-appliances-online/

Let me know if you have any questions.
You can reach me at fmiy...@japansociety.org

Thank you,

Fumiko