Digital Garage Launches Digital Architecture Lab Led by Chief Architect Joi Ito

– Digital Garage, Inc. (DG) announces the establishment of the Digital Architecture Lab (DA Lab), a new research organization for the web3 era led by Chief Architect Joi Ito

Today, the world is being challenged by cross-sectoral problems, climate change, financial recession, privacy concerns, inequality, and, particularly in Japan, a failure of digital transformation. The traditional frameworks for understanding and coordinating global change are inadequate, as these outdated structures can’t engage with the full scope of these issues. Our society is deeply interconnected and adaptive to changing contexts. We need a radical architectural shift. The DA Lab aims to be a catalyst for new ways of proactively addressing the world’s complex, rapidly shifting conditions.

Guided by the values of inclusiveness, decentralization, sustainability, and diversity for all people in a globally minded society, the DA Lab proposes a new architecture with a new digital sensibility. We aim to:
1. Develop a digital architecture that will inspire a new era of human advancement
2. Embrace more sustainable and circular modes of technology development to improve well-being
3. Promote inclusive, diverse, and decentralized community participation

■Projects
The aspirations of the DA Lab are realized through broader societal impact across and between business, academia, and government. We foster societal impact through startups, working with large companies, media creation, research, community engagements, supporting government reforms, and connecting with DG business units to realize a generative–and generous–movement in which all can participate. Our current projects to pursue this vision include:

・Probabilistic computing
DG has been supporting research and learning in probabilistic computing^*1, a new approach to machine learning and AI that has emerged from research in Brain and Cognitive Science at MIT. Through the use of probabilistic computing models, “synthetic data” can be generated to fulfil the demand to share and analyze data while protecting privacy. With the probabilistic computing team, we will deploy applications that increase our collective intelligence and well-being.

・web3 and architecture
To develop an architecture that embodies web3 principles, the lab collaborates with various institutions across society. The lab will teach and empower corporate executives and staff to understand and learn web3 technologies ideas through hands-on workshops. We will develop technology and systems together with our partners to foster digital transformation in their organizations and ecosystems. One such project is establishing DAOs (Decentralized Autonomous Organizations) and tokens to forge a decentralized model that uses blockchain technology to increase transparency and participation from stakeholders.

・Media and community
The DA Lab values the engagement and involvement of people and will oversee a series of activities to promote and amplify such values. We will launch the “Crypto Cafe & Bar” at DG’s building in Ebisu, which will be a base for the web3 community to network and interact. We will also share our knowledge of emerging technologies and their societal impact through social media and educational activities, including co-hosting “THE NEW CONTEXT CONFERENCE.” Additionally, by collaborating with the DG “onlab web3” program, which supports next-generation businesses that utilize blockchain technology, we will incubate and nurture global startups for the web3 era.

・Design philosophy

Pentagram partner Giorgia Lupi and our team have developed a new aesthetic that embodies the values of the DA Lab, giving shape to the Lab’s distinct community.
The DA Lab logo consists of 25 “soft pixels” that represent decentralization and collective action. While the design of the “soft pixel” may seem random, it suggests a structured and organized action to create impact. The curves of the “soft pixels” express feelings of warmth, friendliness, and humanism. Through color, they work together to create a directional gradient but maintain their individuality through a unique hue. Together, they connote a singular architecture while simultaneously maintaining their individuality through distinct movement. These “soft pixels” will be used for a branding project initiated by the DA Lab.
We are also designing an algorithm-based “soft pixels” generator with Pentagram that will allow individuals to create their own “soft pixels” that embody the DA Lab values.

The DA Lab’s media channels are:
・Digital Architecture Lab website
・Joi Ito’s Podcast（Updated every Monday）
・Joichi Ito YouTube channel

■DA Lab advisors
・Kokuryo, Jiro （Professor, Keio University Faculty of Policy Management, Chair of the Japanese Government Digital Agency Web 3.0 Research Board)
・Jun Murai （Distinguished Professor, Keio University / Special Advisor to the Cabinet）
・Sputniko! （Artist / Associate Professor, Tokyo University of the Arts Department of Design）

■Comments on the establishment of the DA Lab
●Advisors
Kokuryo, Jiro
Excited to be a member of the project to transform society with the use of emerging technologies such as web3. Hope to build a society in which everyone can take the initiative in shaping it.

Jun Murai
After historical experiences such as COVID-19 and serious international conflicts, it is time to act on the premise of the global digital space provided by the Internet and begin new research for our future.
The research must focus on new digital systems and digital data architecture, working on any areas of society to be impacted.
I look forward to being involved as an advisor in the research activities of the Digital Architecture Lab, and sharing our vision for the future.

Sputniko!
web3 will cause significant changes in the next economy, property values and contracts, and even the future of the arts. We hope that Digital Architecture Lab will majorly participate in this social transformation.

●Digital Garage Co-founders
Joichi Ito
We are in a uniquely precarious moment in history with a combination of crises–climate, geopolitical, economic and technical–all happening at the same time. In this crisis, there is an opportunity to transform many of our institutions and our mindset, including our goals and sensibilities. Japan and web3 have the opportunity to play an important role in setting the tone and the sensibility of this next chapter in human history. With our heads in the clouds and our feet on the ground we will set our goals high but work decisively and practically on real-world projects to lead our industry and society through the fog of our current situation to a brighter world. We hope you will join us on this journey.

Kaoru Hayashi
In 2016, DG was one of the first companies to establish an open innovation R&D organization, DG Lab, and has conducted a variety of R&D and social implementations focusing on five main areas including blockchain. With the birth of new technologies, DG is launching the Digital Architecture Lab. At the center of this new organization will be Joi, who returned to Japan last year after 14 years abroad to launch new projects in business, academia, and government. Through social experimentation of technology that is not a half step but one step forward, we will contribute to society by implementation of technology in a new structure for Japan’s first industry-government-academia.

■Recruitment for DA Lab
If you are interested in working for the DA Lab, please see below for more information.
https://recruit.garage.co.jp/fintech/

*1: Probabilistic computing is a secure and scalable program with a human brain-like thinking model. It enables data analysis and computation while protecting privacy.