Kazuo Tanaka, President of GK Design Group, was awarded the degree of Doctor of Letters ‘honoris causa’ from Ajeenkya DY Patil University, India. The university has recognized that Mr. Tanaka has significantly contributed to innovation, design, and societies. The contribution derived from his longtime leading role for the organizations promoting design realms such as Japan Industrial Designers’ Association, Japan Institute of Design Promotion, and the World Design Organization (WDO). Also, the university took Mr. Tanaka’s jury effort in and out of the country as essential recommendation factors of the award such as for Good Design Award, Red Dot Design Award and iF Design Award. The conferment ceremony of the award took place at the university in Pune, India on January 18, 2019.