Creativity in Design: Experimenting and Innovating at teamLab Japan

In 2001, Toshiyuki Inoko founded the Japanese digital artist collaborative, teamLab, with an aim to achieve a balance between art, science, technology and creativity by creating original digital designs. This involves the use of extremely sophisticated digital media work which can be presented via computers, high definition monitors, and/or projections, depending on the space available for installation. From a small group of five friends that set up the company in 2001, teamLab has since grown to over 400 employees working on more than one hundred projects at any point in time. teamLab's business model appeared to have successfully harnessed the creativity and expertise of its people to deliver innovative and imaginative products that were becoming increasingly popular in the market. But how could the company ensure that it did not let the excitement and novelty of their products wear off, as it was this uniqueness that provided them with a strong competitive edge? Moreover, with growth and success came a different set of challenges. The team had grown, which meant that collaboration among the team members would have to be managed far more systematically, and processes would need to be implemented to manage the growing business effectively - but this could also potentially impede an intrinsically disorderly creative process. How best could Inoko successfully manage the spectacular growth of his company and the challenges that came with it, while nurturing the creative spark?

• Information systems
• Entrepreneurship
• Product development
• Creativity
• Organizational behavior
• Business communication
• Competitive strategy
• Business models