Takahiko Kusakabe
Dr. Eng
Takahiko Kusakabe is President and Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of Social Designers Base, Inc. founded in April 2023. He received a Doctor of Engineering from Takahiko Kusakabe is President and Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of Social Designers Base, Inc. founded in April 2023. He received a Doctor of Engineering from Kobe University in 2010. After working as Assistant Professor for Tokyo Institute of Technology, he started to work for the Center for Spatial Information Science (CSIS) at the University of Tokyo. Then, he was promoted to Associate Professor and became Project Associate Professor for the graduate school of Engineering at the University of Tokyo in April 2022. While engaged in research and development in the transdisciplinary field between information technology and traffic engineering, he has been working as Data Analysis Director for Hankyu Hanshin Holdings, Inc. since April 2021.
Kiko Yamada-Kawai
Dr. Eng
Kiko Yamada-Kawai is Chief Operations Officer (COO) of Social Designers Base, Inc. She earned a Master of Engineering from Kyoto University in 1991 and a Doctor of Engineering from Tokyo Institute of Technology in 2016 in Human-centered Design for infrastructure planning. After working for think tanks including Mitsubishi Research Institute, Inc., she became Associate Professor for the User Experience Research Division, Center for Business Creation at Otaru University of Commerce. Since 2012, she has worked as Project Researcher for the School of Environment and Society at Tokyo Institute of Technology and also as a freelancer, engaging in research and practice of methodology for human centered design in infrastructure development.
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Mariko Higuchi
Office Administrator
Mariko Higuchi joined Social Designers Base, Inc. as Office Administrator with experience in back-office operation at a start-up in April 2023. She received her B.A. from Tokyo University of Foreign Studies. After working as Customer Service Staff for the Department of Electronics at Toppan Inc., she qualified as a translator during her stay in the United States and has worked as a freelance translator in the public relations field for 10 years. In 2019, she started to work as Project Specialist for Kusakabe Laboratory of CSIS at the University of Tokyo, supporting various project operations.