Applied Creativity Engine
THE PRACTICE

From a finding to a practice.

Through our experiments, we developed a Self-Learning Cycle:

Curious → Remix → Empathize → Storycraft

Curious means exploring beyond the obvious and asking better questions. Remix means connecting ideas, technologies, industries, business models, and experiences that do not normally sit together. Empathize means moving beyond our assumptions to understand real people and what genuinely matters to them. Storycraft means turning a vague possibility into something others can understand, experience, discuss, and move forward.

This cycle eventually became the foundation of the ACE workshop.

Participants enter a guided simulation, choose a real and well-known brand, and take on the role of its owner. Then they face a simple question:

What should this brand create next?

To answer it, they explore opportunities, conduct research, connect ideas across different fields, understand potential users, make product decisions, and develop an MVP concept that can actually be seen and discussed.

AI is involved throughout the experience, but it is not the main character. The human provides the intention and direction. AI helps bring the possibility to life.

THE BELIEF

What surprised us most.

We expected participants to create interesting ideas. What surprised us was how often they surprised themselves.

We saw students begin to think like founders. We saw experienced executives rediscover their curiosity. We saw people who had never considered themselves creative develop ideas that felt original, thoughtful, and real.

Across different ages and professions, participants repeatedly produced work that exceeded what they thought they were capable of creating.

That experience led us to a deeper belief. Creativity may not be a gift reserved for a creative few. It may be more like an engine that already exists in most people, but has gone underused for too long.

The Self-Learning Cycle is a way to start that engine again. Each time we move through it, we practice seeing more possibilities, making stronger connections, understanding people more deeply, and turning an uncertain idea into something real.

That is why we call it the Applied Creativity Engine, or ACE.

ACE is a learning framework that grew out of three years of real-world experimentation with more than 500 participants across Taiwan and Japan. It is our attempt to understand what happens to human value when intelligence becomes widely accessible, and which human capacities we should begin strengthening now.

We believe Applied Creativity may become one of the most important human capabilities in the age of AI. Not because it helps us compete against AI, but because it helps us decide what AI should be used for, what deserves to be created, and why it should matter to people.

Our journey began with a question. ACE is the answer we have discovered so far.

The next step is to experience it for yourself.