Eri Watanabe

Background

About Eri Watanabe

About: I am a Strategy Consultant, with a background in launching AI-powered products and leading R&D projects across global contexts. Previously, I led “Piglyph,” an AI-powered visual communication product at Ricoh, from inception to market expansion. With 8+ years of experience spanning research, product development, and innovation management, I specialize in identifying latent needs and translating them into agile, user-centered solutions. My career has spanned cross-cultural environments—from science education reform in Ethiopia to advanced sensing R&D to AI product launches. I bring a systems-thinking approach with a strong belief in technology’s role in enabling meaningful social change. Now, I support clients in designing future-oriented strategies and digital transformation initiatives that bridge innovation with impact.#Experience: Project Leader | Ricoh Company, Ltd.(April 2021 – March 2025)-Led the development and market launch of the world’s first AI-based visual communication system,"Piglyph," within one year-Managed both technical and business teams, using agile methodologies to prototype, validate, and deliver the product to market-Spearheaded Piglyph's beta release and ongoing feature enhancements through collaboration with internal and external stakeholders. Researcher | Ricoh Company, Ltd.(July 2018 – March 2021)-Developed cutting-edge optical sensing technologies and contributed to various R&D projects-Created a lens misalignment evaluation simulator, reducing evaluation time from 7 hours to minutes, significantly enhancing production efficiency. Science Supervisor | Japan Overseas Cooperation Volunteers (July 2016 – June 2018)-Volunteered in Ethiopia, introducing active learning in schools to improve science education across 9 districts-Designed and led monthly workshops for teachers, helping them integrate hands-on experiments into resource-limited classrooms-Strengthened communication skills and learned the importance of visual communication to overcome language and cultural barriers.#Skills & Endorsements-Core Skills: Product Management, Team Leadership, Facilitation, Graphic Facilitation -Technical Skills: Data Analysis (Python, GA4, VBA), Quantitative Evaluation (Ergonomics)-Languages: Native-level Japanese, Business-level English, Conversational Amharic #Accomplishments: Project: Launched the AI-powered visual communication system "Piglyph" https://piglyph.com