Observe.
Uncover.
Synthesize.
Ignite Insights.
ideafund is Japan’s first organization dedicated to delivering specialized services rooted in cultural anthropology.
In a marketplace flooded with products and shaped by ever-changing lifestyles, generating the right ideas—what to offer and how to deliver—has never been more critical.
At the same time, mounting social challenges demand that companies redefine their identity, aligning distinctive assets—such as proprietary technologies—with the needs of society at large.
At ideafund, we address these challenges by uncovering deep, actionable insights through immersive, real-world observation.
We then illuminate the compass that guides corporate-culture renewal by closely examining the organization itself.
Every day, we engage with yet-undefined challenges through our distinctive anthropological approach.
idea — the heart of innovation
fund — the force that makes it real
We are ideafund.
idea — the heart of innovation
fund — the force that makes it real
We are ideafund.
For decades, the humanities have been distanced from the economic sphere, often dismissed as “useless” and unworthy of study.
Yet it is precisely the willingness to frame questions where none exist—and to pursue answers amid the complex realities of life—that proves essential in today’s world, where challenges intertwine and constantly evolve.
At ideafund, we bring cultural anthropology into practice within society, acting as “circulators of knowledge” who channel the experiential insights we gain back into academia—fostering a healthy, symbiotic relationship between the humanities and the world at large.
To the world where knowledge meets practice,where reason and the body converge.
profile
Naoko Okawachi
Graduated from the University of Tokyo, where she also earned a Master’s degree. Her areas of specialization are cultural anthropology and Science, Technology, and Society studies (STS). She researched the processes of knowledge creation, patenting, and commercialization within academia.
While pursuing her scholarly work, she co-founded and managed IT startups and conducted anthropological field studies for major U.S. IT companies.
After a stint at a financial institution, she founded ideafund Inc. in 2018 and has served as Founder & CEO since its inception.
Her research and practice focus on applying cultural‐anthropological perspectives to societal challenges and on an anthropological understanding of capitalism.
She has also held roles as Senior Research Fellow at GLOCOM (Global Communications Center), Advisor to the Showa‐Ikeda Memorial Foundation, and Lecturer at Tokyo Metropolitan University’s Open University.
She is the author of Idea Capitalism: A Cultural Anthropologist’s Exploration of the Frontier of Capitalism (Jitsugyo no Nihonsha), among other publications.
company
- Company:
- ideafund Inc.
- Established:
- January 2018
- Founder & CEO:
- Naoko Okawachi
- Address:
- 4F TSUTSUI Shirokanedai, 4-9-23 Shirokanedai, Minato-ku, Tokyo 108-0071, Japan