Dr Ichiro Iimura
Prefectural University of Kumamoto, Japan
Impacting society, one innovation at a time.
For Dr Iimura, it was a cloud of smoke, a set of LEGO bricks and a ball of Play-Doh that set him on a lifelong path of solving problems with technology. As a young boy, he used the popular toys to create a structure to absorb cigarette smoke. Today, Dr Iimura uses Mac, creative pro apps and Apple developer tools to inspire his students to tackle some of society’s biggest challenges.
He uses Keynote to teach students how to identify problems, build pitches and raise funding — mimicking a real-life startup. Then, they use Apple technology to build solutions such as an augmented reality app on iPad for emergency readiness, books in Pages for sports safety, and new technologies on Apple platforms for education — shaping incredible solutions to improve lives.
iPad Pro. Dr Iimura and his students use iPad, Apple Pencil and Adobe Illustrator to sketch out and storyboard ideas for an accessibility app that helps teachers communicate with non‑verbal students.
MacBook Pro. Xcode and Swift on Mac with HealthKit empower them to build a solution — an iOS app and a watchOS app that work together to capture and record students’ real-time heart rates and physical reactions during activities.
iPhone and Apple Watch. Video footage and heart rate graphs on iPhone and Apple Watch* enable teachers to instantly read a student’s reaction, better understand how they’re feeling and adjust teaching methods.
“My goal is to build career readiness for my students by empowering them with cutting-edge tools and knowledge that help them create solutions to make a difference.”
Chair, Division of Informatics
Prefectural University of Kumamoto
