Tokyo, June 3, 2021 - NEC Corporation (NEC; TSE: 6701) today announced the opening of the "NEC Academy for Future Creation Design," a center for developing human resources that are well-versed in digital transformation (DX). The academy will be dedicated to imparting service design skills and mind sets that leverage “design thinking" and promote the advancement of DX. NEC has already provided training for more than 2,500 employees in design thinking and aims to accept 1,500 participants to the academy over the next three years.

In recent years, with the rapid social implementation and utilization of DX and the digitization of the economy, the shortage of DX human resources has become a major issue worldwide.

NEC developed the “NEC Design Thinking Framework" in collaboration with Business Models Inc. (BMI) as a business design methodology for DX. BMI has a proven global record in the business design field and NEC has already deployed the framework internally. In the newly established academy, students will learn how to use the processes and tools included in the methodology, as well as a mind set for using the tools, and systematically learning the business creation method for DX through first hand practices.

Specifically, NEC's Design Thinking Consultant Team will be offering three courses: the "Practical Training Collaboration Course," where students learn new business development and business reform methods by participating in customer projects and collaborating together, the "Practical Coaching Course," where NEC's Design Thinking Consulting Team promotes projects while giving advice based on training content individually designed for customer's DX-related business issues, and the "Individual Training Course" where students can learn the tools and methods of using NEC's Design Thinking Framework in a short period of time.

About the NEC Academy for Future Creation Design

Course Overview:

Practical Training Collaboration Course

Practical Coaching Course

Individual Training Course

“Our mission is to help clients design and create better business. Our BMI Taiwan team has been a long term strategic partner for NEC to accelerate the DX shift. The transformation journey is never easy, as it requires teams to rethink, reimagine and redesign the future. It requires teams to be agile, to run sprints, meanwhile they need to show grit to get through this transformation marathon," said Diane Shen, Creative Director & Partner, Business Models Inc., Taiwan.

“In order to promote DX, the concept of design is one of the most important factors. We anticipate that human-centered design (*) will help customers around the world to accelerate DX in combination with the knowledge of NEC's experts and their valuable history of design experience," said Toshifumi Yoshizaki, Executive Vice President, NEC Corporation.

By returning the DX human resource development methodologies cultivated in-house to the business community, NEC will improve labor productivity, enhance international competitiveness, and contribute to a human-centered digital society in which digital technology can be used effectively and safely.

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For More Information

URL: https://www.nec.com/en/global/fch/design/nec-academy/index.html

About NEC Corporation
NEC Corporation has established itself as a leader in the integration of IT and network technologies while promoting the brand statement of “Orchestrating a brighter world.” NEC enables businesses and communities to adapt to rapid changes taking place in both society and the market as it provides for the social values of safety, security, fairness and efficiency to promote a more sustainable world where everyone has the chance to reach their full potential. For more information, visit NEC at https://www.nec.com.