UXalliance Meeting in Dubai – Participation Report

Almost a year has passed since I posted a report on participation at the annual UX Masterclass - held in Zaragoza, Spain. This year's event took place in Dubai, UAE, in late October - for an overview, please refer to my colleague and fellow UX Researcher Sumida's post. In this entry, I would like to introduce the UXalliance meetings that took place after conclusion of the UX Masterclass.

The Alliance meeting is usually held in the two days following the UX Masterclass. Representatives, usually managers and researchers, from UXalliance member companies gather to discuss and share information on a range of topics, including global research collaboration, client development and trends, research methods and output formats, research quality and introductions to member companies. This is an important meeting where, while maintaining a researcher's perspective, business leaders exchange opinions and reach a consensus on the overall direction of the alliance.

Following, I will introduce the UXalliance's global research framework. Under the alliance's project framework, for research of an international nature, the design research company receiving a client request takes the lead role and then commissions investigative work to design alliance companies located in target countries. There are cases where target markets are a single country, and others where multiple countries are involved. The more target countries there are, the more critical it becomes to manage the progress and quality of the research. The research objectives, the setting and recruitment of participants, the content of the interviews, and other elements are shared and aligned across countries to ensure proper localization for each target country. In this context, face-to-face alliance meetings provide an excellent opportunity for mutual understanding and collaboration.

This time, the topics primarily included the introduction of new member companies, sharing insights on customer trends and future value propositions, as well as key considerations for conducting global research. Over the past year, companies from Egypt, South Korea, and the Philippines have joined the UXalliance as new members. In Asia, Japan (our company), India, Indonesia, Singapore, and China were already members, however, with the above-mentioned new participants, the research coverage within Asia continues to expand. While we have traditionally collaborated more frequently with partners in Europe and North America, we have recently noticed an increase in partnerships with Asian companies as well.

Furthermore, in global research, while the main clients have traditionally been companies dominating global markets, there has been a growing number of inquiries and research requests from emerging industries. Such developments led to discussions on how to convey the value of the UXalliance, including presentation content tailoring for target customers. As many meeting participants were executive of their respective companies, I found their high-level perspectives, leadership, ability to structure discussions, and consensus-building extremely inspiring. It was also a space where open and candid opinions were freely exchanged. Hearing examples of best practices related to resource utilization, feasibility, and organizational management was particularly valuable and made this meeting a meaningful opportunity for mutual understanding.

Regarding global research, the handling of personal information, and Europe's GDPR, was raised as a key topic. While confirming consent before research and data management are already standard practices, many companies, particularly in Europe and the US, reported an increasing number of requirements and heightened demands for security. In Japan's research industry, we have long obtained prior consent from individuals before handling personal information in studies. Additionally, we have carefully managed collected personal data and its delivery. Therefore, my personal impression is that, compared to other countries, before the establishment of GDPR, Japan's handling of personal information in global research seemed stricter. However, with the advent of GDPR, awareness of personal data protection has reached, or even surpassed, a comparable level globally.

Meetings at the UXalliance

After the in-depth discussions, social gatherings were held to foster and further strengthen connections. On the first day, we enjoyed party aboard a cruise ship, while on the second, following a dune drive to watch the sunset, we deepened our relationships over dinner. It was a wonderful time to bond with partners from various countries while enjoying Dubai's natural beauty — both marine and desert.

Left: posing for a photo at a cruise party; right: a drive on the sand dunes

Next year marks a milestone as the 20th anniversary of the UXalliance's establishment. This trip has significantly boosted my motivation to contribute even more to global research as a partner company representing Japan. Thank you for reading.