Hiroshi Irie
Manager at the East Japan Railway Company in the Innovation Strategy Division, Digital Business Unit
Hiroshi Irie joined the East Japan Railway Company (JR East) in 1991 and now works in the Head Office's Management Planning Department and various JR East branch offices. In his role, Hiroshi engages in the formulation and implementation of business strategies, including medium- to long-term planning, CSR, and ESG management initiatives. Starting from 2020, he has been with the Technology Innovation Promotion Headquarters, serving as the Secretariat Director of the Mobility Transformation Consortium, driving overall consortium operations. As of April 2023, Hiroshi has held the position of Secretariat Director for the WaaS Co-Creation Consortium.
Hiroshi completed the doctoral program at the Graduate School of International Social Sciences, at Yokohama National University, and hold a Ph.D. in Business Administration. He is the author of the book “Business Strategies and Organizational Transformation of Privatized Companies” published by Kotsu Shimbunsha, and ”Challenges to the Smart City Through the WaaS (Well-being as a Service) Mobility Transformation Consortium” published by LIGARE.
Judge’s selections
Future Stories of People and the Sea Prize
Sea vegetable Circulation
SEA VEGETABLE COMPANY
First of all, the collaboration and partnership with local people is wonderful. The project doesn’t limit itself to research. It brings together fishery and culinary professionals, local working women and people with disabilities in a joint effort to rediscover the riches of the sea, establish a new food culture, and realize a circular economy. It was impressive to hear someone from the fisheries industry describe how the project was making the sea productive again and making people interested in the sea for the first time. Seaweed is commonplace, so creating new value from seaweed and making it the lifeblood of a community is something to be admired. It would be great if this project can extend to local food education and schools as well.
New Lifestyles from Cultural Inheritance Prize
TATAMI ReFAB PROJECT
HONOKA
Tatami mats are a fixture of the Japanese home and something that I as a Japanese person would like to preserve forever. However, tatami could eventually disappear due to falling demand and the disappearance of the craft. It’s difficult to create new demand for tatami, and there haven’t been enough good ideas in this area. This initiative is repurposing tatami for the current era and giving craftspeople a place to use their skills, which is hugely meaningful on both a cultural level and for the environment. What we call “tatami” actually has the potential to take many new forms, so I have high hopes for what this project can achieve next.
Earthwide Restoration Prize
The Mother Reef
Oyster Heaven
The disappearance of 85% of the world’s oyster reefs due to environmental changes has had a tremendous impact on marine ecosystems. It could also be a threat to humanity in the long term. This project is reversing that trend by producing and distributing mother reef bricks, contributing significantly to the restoration of these underwater ecosystems. This will also benefit food supply and demand in the medium to long term and is aligned with the goals of the SDGs. The project has massive potential to scale up globally as the mother reef bricks can be deployed on standard fishing vessels, making this a highly practical and realistic solution.
Everyday Environmentalism Prize
Transparent Solar Windows
VP for Ubiquitous Energy
Solar panels are commonplace around the world, but the type that also allows light to pass through tends to perform poorly in terms of efficiency and cost. This product is trying to solve that. It can be applied to general purpose glass and achieves the same level of performance by converting heat from infrared and ultraviolet light to electricity, giving it enormous potential for widespread use. It’s also relatively inexpensive, although we don’t have exact pricing information yet. As they could potentially offset 10% of global carbon emissions, transparent solar windows are a commercially viable and tremendously impactful product.
Live and Learn with Nature Prize
Project "TSUMUGI"
General Incorporated Association Upcycle
The concept of creating something new without disturbing the natural environment left a deep impression on me. New technologies bring convenience, but they can also have adverse effects such as environmental pollution and labor exploitation. Tsumugi is a paper thread spun from waste paper and thinned wood from forests. I believe that upcycling rather than recycling not only gives new value to things, but also fundamentally alters the consciousness of everyone involved in the process. I would love to see this kind of upcycling process repeated for various other materials as well.