Prof. Hiroshi Ishii received the IDSA Special Achievement Award 2026 on August 19, 2026, in Pasadena
My heartfelt thanks t to the Industrial Designers Society of America (IDSA) for this beautifully designed, tangible trophy commemorating the IDSA Special Achievement Award, which I was honored to receive at the IDSA 2026 Symposium in Pasadena on August 19, 2026.
A banner image of me with the IDSA trophy, created by Hye Jun Youn with the assistance of AI.
Original portrait photography: Junichi Otsuki.
IDSA symposium graphic (left): adapted from the IDSA website. https://www.idsa.org/
🟦 Award Accepting Remarks by Hiroshi Ishii
"Thank you, IDSA, and the Awards Jury, for this profound honor.
Technologies last a year. Human needs evolve across decades. Vision outlives us all.
For more than three decades, I have pursued Vision-Driven Design — from Tangible Bits, to Radical Atoms, to TeleAbsence — alongside my extraordinary students and colleagues in the Tangible Media Group, MIT Media Lab, ACM SIGCHI, and Design World.
I remain grateful to my mentor and guru, the late Bill Moggridge, who shaped my path.
To every designer here: let us keep being
🔵 artistic and analytic,
🔵 poetic and pragmatic, and
🔵 romantic and realistic
— designing timeless visions that shed light on descendants we may never meet.
Thank you!"
🟥 IDSA Special Achievement Award
https://www.idsa.org/awards-recognitions/idsaawards/idsa-special-achievement-award/
"The IDSA Special Achievement Award may recognize individuals, organizations, or specific projects notable for their creativity, innovation, passion, or achievement in advancing the industrial design profession. Recipients of this distinction, through their recent work, have garnered special attention that spans industry lines and made significant contributions to their area of expertise."
"Individuals may be nominated by a peer or may be identified by IDSA’s Board of Directors or IDSA’s Awards Committee as a candidate for this distinction. All candidates who qualify are rigorously evaluated by IDSA’s Awards Committee and subsequently approved by IDSA’s Board of Directors before being bestowed with this great honor."
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🟧 Introduction by Prof. Leila Ensaniat, the IDSA Awards Committee Chair
"Our next Special Achievement Award goes to Hiroshi Ishii.
Professor Hiroshi Ishii is a pioneering figure whose work has profoundly shaped the fields of human–computer interaction and interaction design. As founder of the Tangible Media Group at the MIT Media Lab, he has led decades of groundbreaking research that bridges the digital and physical worlds.
Globally recognized as the originator of Tangible User Interfaces, Ishii introduced his vision of “Tangible Bits” at CHI 1997. This work established an entirely new interaction paradigm—one in which people can perceive and manipulate digital information through physical forms. His landmark projects, including ClearBoard and inFORM, have become foundational references, transforming how we think about interaction beyond the screen.
With his visionary concept of “Radical Atoms,” Ishii advanced the field even further, imagining a future in which physical materials themselves become dynamic, computational, and reconfigurable. This vision has inspired new directions in material-based design, bridging design, engineering, and materials science while expanding the possibilities of what designers can create.
More recently, his work on “TeleAbsence” has extended his lifelong exploration of presence, materiality, and human connection—not only across physical distance, but also across time.
Beyond his research, Ishii has made lasting contributions to the global design community through ACM CHI, TEI, and UIST, and by mentoring generations of designers and researchers. His extraordinary impact was recognized with the ACM SIGCHI Lifetime Research Award in 2019."