Collaboration: 99P Labs (Honda) × The Ohio State University
Role: Research Associate (Foresight & Urban Mobility Lead)
Duration: 2023–2024
The Power of Dreams: 2050 was a design research collaboration between Honda Research Institute (HRI)’s 99P Labs and The Ohio State University. The project explored how humans, technology, and nature might coexist in a Hybrid Harmonious Society by the year 2050.
As part of the Joint Cognitive Systems and Design R&D team, I designed and facilitated participatory workshops, conducting futures-oriented co-design research that engaged scientists, engineers, and academics from The Ohio State University and HRI’s EU, Japan and the US offices. The goal was to create a space where imagination could become data, and data could become empathy.
We focused on ethical and sustainable futures for mobility, technology, and social harmony. The insights were synthesized into scenarios and short films that reimagined Honda’s potential role within them.
What might a hybrid harmonious future look like in 2050? How can technology support rather than disrupt human and ecological balance?
Research Questions
- What does societal “harmony” look like when human, ecological and technological systems are integrated?
- How can emerging technologies (AI, mobility, nature-based systems) support human and ecological agency rather than undermine it?
- What roles might organizations develop in a future operating context characterized by system interdependence and rapid change?
Approach
The process combined futures thinking, participatory speculation, and design ethnography:
1. Secondary Research & Glossary Creation
Built an online glossary defining emerging concepts, from collective intelligence to ethical AI, through academic and media research.
2. Collective Dreaming Workshops
Conducted interdisciplinary workshops at 99P Labs (U.S.) and with Honda Research Institute (EU, Japan and the US). Activities included:
AI Involvement Spectrum – Mapping emotional and functional boundaries of AI assistance.
Clustering AIs & Robots – Exploring visual archetypes of intelligent agents.
Levels of Harmonious Society – Structuring visions of human organization and care systems.
Collective Dreaming Toolkit – Generating speculative collages of hybrid societies.
3. Synthesis & Scenario Development
Mapped over 70 future stories using a Social Levels × Geographic Scales matrix, generating six key vision themes that informed the creation of future films.
Key Insights
- Harmony with Nature: Participants consistently sought coexistence rather than control, signaling a shift from industrial efficiency to ecological empathy.
- Ancestral Knowledge as Data: AI was reimagined as a living archive of collective memory and wisdom.
- Socialized Mobility: Future transportation systems envisioned as equitable, AI-managed networks that balance access and ecological limits.
- Guardian Angel AI: A model for value-aligned artificial intelligence that acts as an ethical mirror rather than an enforcer.
- Collective Learning: Education as a continuous, intergenerational dialogue between humans and intelligent systems.
These insights were translated into visual and spatial narratives including collages, speculative cityscapes, and prototypes of hybrid urban experiences.
Outcomes
- Speculative Films
- Public Film: An exploration of hybrid futures presented as a social media feed from 2050.
- Internal Honda Film: A strategic vision articulating Honda’s possible role in the hybrid society.
- Framework for Futures Dialogue
The matrix and toolkits are now being adapted for new foresight programs, including one engaging middle-school students in dreaming their futures.
The project is currently informing an initiative by Honda Research Institute and The Ohio State University’s Center for Innovation Strategies to develop organizational models for sustainable, future-ready innovation ecosystems. The research outcomes were presented to the Global CEO and Japan leadership of HRI, receiving strong recognition as its potential to shape Honda’s long-term strategic direction.