Mitsubishi Electric's Serendie co-creation workshops are designed to create a pathway to business validation beyond idea generation and are conducted in two formats: First Sprint and Serendie Sprint.
The SERENDIE co-creation workshops are designed as a starting point for customers and Mitsubishi Electric to continuously validate hypotheses and develop business plans. They consist of two formats: First Sprint, which lasts approximately half a day, and Serendie Sprint, which explores issues in depth and produces a simple prototype. First Sprint is an introduction that provides experience of the process, while Serendie Sprint is a more hands-on program focused on an actual theme. Final decisions are not made during the workshop; instead, the aim is to align on what should be validated next.
The participants and operating structure bring together members with business, creative and technology perspectives, while an external facilitator helps bridge the distance between the parties involved. Both technical feasibility and user value are evaluated, and the process emphasizes identifying the themes the participants genuinely want to pursue rather than selecting proposals by majority vote.
In a housing-related case, a model house operated by Mitsubishi Estate Home was used to translate the discussion into everyday living situations, with the discussion narrowed to the moments when people make choices. The participants compared residents' challenges with the two companies' technologies and customer touchpoints, narrowed the options toward directions offering a balance of appeal and feasibility, and ultimately moved to scrum activities aimed at business planning.
Going forward, the workshops will serve as a starting point for consultations and as a place to find avenues for consideration even when a specific theme has not yet been decided, with an increasing number of cases leading to the development of actual services.