Jenna Fizel is a senior director of emerging technology at IDEO. They are inspired by the unexpected ideas that arise when translating the abstract world of information into the tangible world we can see, touch and taste. At IDEO Jenna helps teams explore design questions through building with tools like AI, XR, and digital fabrication. They believe these tools can sometimes be part of the design solution—but are always useful during the design process when used as new ways of seeing. In addition to leading IDEO’s emerging technology practice, they run an 80-person internal learning group that makes technical skills more accessible to the IDEO community, regardless of discipline or position. Prior to IDEO, they were a junior partner at an interactive design agency where they worked for museums, libraries, and corporations designing and building mixed physical/digital spatial experiences. They also co-founded a fashion technology startup and served as the CTO of a technology-focused intimate apparel company. Jenna sees software as a mode of thinking that solves problems by making systems and then seeing where they fall apart, an approach formed by their academic background in computational geometry at MIT. Their ambition is to one day own enough digital fabrication tools to craft all their furniture at home. Up next: a CNC.cn
