Kohei Nishiyama is a serial entrepreneur and investor in the IT field and a pioneer in crowdfunding, setting up the world' s first prototype in 1997. He is a co-founder of ELEPHANT DESIGN HOLDINGS ltd., a venture investment company focusing on online platform technologies, and founder of CUUSOO SYSTEM co., ltd, an online open innovation platform that aggregates distributed intellectual resources. Kohei's strong interests in innovation, new technology, design and robotics coupled with "thinking-outside-the-box" attitude have lead him to become an expert in the fields of innovation management, new product development and design management. One of his projects, LEGO CUUSOO, a crowdsourcing/crowdfunding site jointly operated with LEGO SYSTEM SA., had its exit to LEGO and is now operated by its official service, LEGO IDEAS. At present, Kohei is applying his knowledge to emerging technologies by building an open innovation platform in the electricity industry.
Prior to ELEPHANT DESIGN HOLDINGS, he was a consultant at McKinsey & Company where he primarily handled new product development projects. Kohei holds a Ph.D. in Engineering from the University of Tokyo and continues his postdoc research at Copenhagen Business School.
Kohei grew up in South America until 19 and is fluent in Japanese, Spanish, and English.