Innovation can override fate
The festival of music and innovation, “INNOVATION WORLD FESTA 2017,” also referred to as “Innofest,” was held at Tsukuba Capio in Tsukuba City, Ibaraki Prefecture this June.
The event was packed with unique programs never seen before, including exhibition booths where visitors can experience cutting-edge technology by innovators such as the AR 3 Brothers and Yoichi Ochiai; various talk events with a famous journalist, Soichiro Tahara and profound innovators such as Takafumi Horie; and live performances by Testuya Komuro and Kyary Pamyu Pamyu.
Such a star-studded cast in a single event is amazing in itself, but the fact that comes with most surprise, is that a millennial, a student from the University of Tsukuba was the mastermind behind this event.
We interviewed the student producer, Mr. Yuta Sawada. (24 years old. Major in social engineering, Graduate School of Systems and Information Engineering, University of Tsukuba)
“I just absolutely love music!” says Mr. Sawada. Since high school, he has been concerned of the difficult circumstances the music industry was facing, which includes the huge decline in CD sales.
Fearing that good music may disappear if the music industry continues to lose power and momentum, Mr. Sawada moved on to studying industrial engineering at the University of Tsukuba. His passion to rejuvenate the music industry was the very reason which motivated him to found Innofest.
How did you come up with the idea of Music × Technology?
In my first year of college, I begged my friend to take me to SXSW. That’s where it all started. At SXSW, new things were being generated from the chaos of music, technology, industry people and non-industry people in one place. I was convinced that events leveraging technology was going to become the future trend. I felt that not only visual imagery and performance, but also business, entertainment and all contents that leverage technology, is going to become the key to innovation.
I came back to Japan and spent my time at college inspired to do something like SXSW in Japan too. In 4th year, I was fortunate enough to meet Mr. Kuniyasu Komukai, a well know producer of J-WAVE as we were trying to invite one of their rock-bands to our college festival. During one of the meetings, I told him about my aspiration to hold an event like SXSW in Japan too. Then he casually said, “Good timing. J-WAVE just started a program called INNOVATION WORLD. How about we hold an event for that program?” I didn’t think twice before I jumped at the opportunity.
From there, it all happened with the wonderful support of many people including J-WAVE, the president and staff of the University of Tsukuba.
What was the toughest thing about bringing this event to life?
Honestly speaking, everything from start to finish was tough. But attracting the audience was especially tough.
I struggled in getting people to understand this new concept of “A festival of music and technology.” If I say, “It’s a collaboration between Kyary Pamyu Pamyu and JAXA,” it sounds amazing but it doesn’t give a clear picture of what this event offers. Also, as the venue was in Tsukuba City, some people will say that they are interested, but find it to be too far to go. The whole team had to do everything we could do for PR, to make sure visitors understood the value of Innofest.
With support from the local residents, an article on Innofest appeared on the local newspaper which is distributed for free (with a whopping circulation of 240,000). Staff from the University of Tsukuba asked Tsukuba Express to place hanging ads of the event in their carriages and J-WAVE also got coverage from Asahi Newspaper.
We all played our part and tried everything we could do to get as many people to the event. It was an event that came together with the integrated efforts of all involved.
Where did you feel most the “Innovation” at this Innofest?
The most satisfying moment was when I saw a tweet on Twitter by a visitor with a hearing disability saying, “I can’t hear music, but I was able to experience it.” This was referred to his experience with “LIVE JACKET,” which was displayed in the exhibition space of the venue.
“LIVE JACKET” is a special jacket installed with 20 speakers to replicate the experience of a live music performance. I never though this will get this kind of reaction. I thought it was amazing. That is truly innovative.
“LIVE JACKET” was developed by media artist, Yoichi Ochiai and his students from his seminar. The student who came up with it probably just wanted a create a new experience of “wearing music,” but as a result, it turned out to be an innovation for those with hearing disabilities.
Also, ALS patient, Mr. Masatane Muto had a DJ/VJ performance using an eye-tracking system as he cannot move his body. The people who saw that performance tweeted, “Fate and disabilities of humanity that couldn’t be overcome in the past, can now be overridden with the power of entertainment and technology.” I thought, “This is what Innofest is all about!”
The power of entertainment and technology overcoming things that humanity could not overcome in the past — even fate. That is the true essence of innovation.
Any meaning in having Innofest in Tsukuba City?
Tsukuba City has been extremely supportive of this event being “The City of Science”. The mayor of Tsukuba City also made a speech at the event. The impact may not be so obvious, but if people find Innofest to be amazing, that will lead to reinforcing Tsukuba City’s brand of being the city of science. Gathering a crowd to Tsukuba City during the event is also a contribution to the local business.
It’s important for Tsukuba City to understand that Innofest is the condensation of their values as the leading city of innovation. Of course, as organizers of this event, we want this to contribute more to Tsukuba City as well. Everyone in Tsukuba City, including us students, will probably need to keep redefining the role of Innofest and what it means to Tsukuba City.
How do you think the relationship between entertainment and technology will change in future?
Entertainment and technology will mutually impact each other.
For example, “Ghost in the Shell Symposium in Innofest 2017,” was a talk event to discuss how much of the technology illustrated in the animation series, “Ghost in the Shell,” exists in the current world. Hearing the contents, it made me think that some researchers will eventually develop new technology in order to replicate what they saw on “Ghost in the Shell.” The creators who see that new technology will be further inspired to develop more new ideas to put into their animation.
Ideas thrown between innovation and entertainment is the very energy to give birth to something new, and is crucial in unlocking a new future. My biggest personal achievement of this Innofest is the realization that entertainment and technology can transcend what we have in the current world.
What are your future aspirations?
I’ve always been thinking about saving the music industry, but now I am starting to wonder how technology can be put together with contents such as music or movies, such as like the “LIVE JACKET,” to make the world a better place. I reconfirmed the importance of approaching innovation with this mindset.
My direction for now is to make this world a more fun place using technology and entertainment. I will love to win an Academy Award or Grammy Award with contents I develop. This is one clear objective I want to achieve.
Mr. Sawada showed a bubbly smile throughout the interview. His intelligence shone through his responses and while being strongly ambitious, he was a very humble person. Such attractive personality may be the very reason which moves others to action.
Born as a millennial, Mr. Sawada grew up with digital technology. In the near future, we may experience entertainment never seen before through innovation from the millennial generation.
