Kazuo Yano

Biography

Well before the wearable devices, smartphones, and Cloud services proliferating society today existed, Kazuo Yano had the vision that the knowledge and understanding of human logistics gained from monitoring human activity could improve everyday life. A pioneer of human-centric technologies, Yano not only designed wearable devices to collect user data but developed algorithms to analyze and determine the meaning of the data, a precursor to what is now known as data analytics and a key enabler of the Internet of Things (IoT). He also demonstrated the importance of applying the insights gained from the data for improving the way technology is used. Many companies now offer commercial devices that can monitor activity and track emotions, which has improved productivity and resource efficiency in numerous industries.

An IEEE Fellow, Yano is a Hitachi Fellow and corporate officer with Hitachi, Ltd., Tokyo, Japan.