Yu-kai Chou (; born May 9, 1986) is a

Taiwanese-American Taiwanese Americans () are Americans who carry full or partial ancestry from Taiwan. This includes American-born citizens who descend from migrants from Taiwan. As of the 2010 U.S. Census, 49% of Taiwanese Americans lived in the state of Califo ...

entrepreneur, author, speaker, business consultant, and experience designer. He is one of the earliest pioneers in the industry of

gamification Gamification is the strategic attempt to enhance systems, services, organizations, and activities by creating similar experiences to those experienced when playing games in order to motivate and engage users. This is generally accomplished thro ...

. He has been a regular keynote speaker lecturer on

Gamification Gamification is the strategic attempt to enhance systems, services, organizations, and activities by creating similar experiences to those experienced when playing games in order to motivate and engage users. This is generally accomplished thro ...

at organizations like TEDx Lausanne,

Stanford University Stanford University, officially Leland Stanford Junior University, is a private research university in Stanford, California. The campus occupies , among the largest in the United States, and enrolls over 17,000 students. Stanford is consider ...

Harvard University Harvard University is a private Ivy League research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Founded in 1636 as Harvard College and named for its first benefactor, the Puritan clergyman John Harvard, it is the oldest institution of higher le ...

Google Google LLC () is an American multinational technology company focusing on search engine technology, online advertising, cloud computing, computer software, quantum computing, e-commerce, artificial intelligence, and consumer electronics. ...

, Tesla,

Lego Lego ( , ; stylized as LEGO) is a line of plastic construction toys that are manufactured by The Lego Group, a privately held company based in Billund, Denmark. The company's flagship product, Lego, consists of variously colored interlocking ...

Huawei Huawei Technologies Co., Ltd. ( ; ) is a Chinese multinational technology corporation headquartered in Shenzhen, Guangdong, China. It designs, develops, produces and sells telecommunications equipment, consumer electronics and various smar ...

Uber Uber Technologies, Inc. (Uber), based in San Francisco, provides mobility as a service, ride-hailing (allowing users to book a car and driver to transport them in a way similar to a taxi), food delivery (Uber Eats and Postmates), package ...

, Boston Consulting Group, among others. Chou is the creator of the Octalysis Framework and the Co-Founder (with CEO Joris Beerda) of the consultancy The Octalysis Group and the mentorship education platform Octalysis Prime.

Early life and education

Chou was born in

Taipei, Taiwan Taipei (), officially Taipei City, is the capital and a special municipality of the Republic of China (Taiwan). Located in Northern Taiwan, Taipei City is an enclave of the municipality of New Taipei City that sits about southwest of the ...

. Because of his father's work as a diplomat for the Taiwanese government, he grew up in Taiwan, South Africa, and the United States. He received his undergraduate degree Bachelor of Arts in Economics/International Area Studies from the University of California, Los Angeles (commonly known as

UCLA The University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) is a public land-grant research university in Los Angeles, California. UCLA's academic roots were established in 1881 as a teachers college then known as the southern branch of the California St ...

) in 2007.

Career

2003, Chou started his research on gamification and helped pioneer the gamification industry. Chou started his first company, The FD Network, which connected professionals of various industries together to help each other through a gamified system. 2007, Chou co-founded Future Delivery, LLC., a company that focuses on gamified productivity and professional development. Its flagship project FDCareer, was rated on Mashable as one of the “Top 10 Social Networks for Generation-Y” in 2009. 2009, Chou co-founded Viralogy, Inc., a gamified social media rank aiming to become a leaderboard of the top online influencers. It later launched the gamified restaurant and retail loyalty program RewardMe. 2012, Chou stepped down as CEO of Viralogy, Inc., and published his Octalysis gamification framework on his blog to analyze and build strategies around the various systems to increase motivation and engagement. It was widely received, and his work was organically translated into over 16 languages within a year. Chou then started to speak across the globe and teach his Octalysis Framework. 2015 The Octalysis Framework was published in Actionable Gamification: Beyond Points, Badges, and Leaderboard. The book has also been published in Taiwan, South Korea, China. 2016, Chou co-founded The Octalysis Group. The Octalysis Group is a premium design and consulting firm specializing in gamification and behavioral design using the Octalysis Framework. The firm served globally recognized companies like

Porsche Dr. Ing. h.c. F. Porsche AG, usually shortened to Porsche (; see #Pronunciation, below), is a German automobile manufacturer specializing in high-performance sports cars, SUVs and sedans, headquartered in Stuttgart, Baden-Württemberg, Germany ...

, Uber, Volkswagen,

Microsoft Microsoft Corporation is an American multinational technology corporation producing computer software, consumer electronics, personal computers, and related services headquartered at the Microsoft Redmond campus located in Redmond, Washing ...

, AIG Japan, Lego, Huawei, eBay, CapitalOne, Avon, Fidelity Investments, among others 2018, Yu-kai Chou was appointed Chief Experience Officer for Toronto-based Decentral, helping

Ethereum Ethereum is a decentralized, open-source blockchain with smart contract functionality. Ether (Abbreviation: ETH; sign: Ξ) is the native cryptocurrency of the platform. Among cryptocurrencies, ether is second only to bitcoin in market capita ...

Cofounder

Anthony Di Iorio Anthony Di Iorio is a Canadian entrepreneur primarily known as a co-founder of Ethereum and an early investor in Bitcoin. Di Iorio is the founder and CEO of the blockchain company Decentral, and the associated Jaxx wallet. He also served as the fi ...

improve experiences for the cryptocurrency wallet Jaxx Liberty. 2018, Chou also launched Octalysis Prime, a gamified education and mentorship platform to pass on his knowledge in gamification, entrepreneurship, productivity and behavioral science to subscribed members. In 2021, Yu-kai Chou was appointed Head of Digital Commerce and Head of Creative Labs for

HTC HTC Corporation ( zh, t=宏達國際電子股份有限公司, s=宏达国际电子股份有限公司, p=Hóngdá Guójì Diànzǐ Gǔfèn Yǒuxiàn Gōngsī, first=t) or High Tech Computer Corporation, (literally ''Hongda International Electron ...

in Taiwan. He helped improve HTC's digital presence and the launching of VR Headsets such as the VIVE Focus 3 and the VIVE Flow.

Global Influence

In 2022, Chou was honored with the title of a Knight by His Imperial Highness King Yi Seok, the only remaining heir living in Korea to the Joseon dynasty throne which ruled over the country for five centuries. The Imperial Family of Korea is the ruling family of the Joseon and Korean Empire that was founded by King Seong-gye Lee in July 1392. In 2023, Chou was promoted to the title of Duke by His Imperial Highness King Andrew Lee.

Awards and recognitions

Rated #1 among the “Gamification Gurus Power 100” by RISE in 2015 “Gamification Guru of the Year” Award in 2014, 2015 and 2017 by the World Gamification Congress Rated “#1 Industry Project in Gamification” in 2017 by the Gamification Europe Conference “Gamification Guru of the Year” in 2017 by the Gamification Europe Conference.

Personal life

Chou is an avid fan of video games since his childhood in South Africa. He also coached chess for K-12 students. Yu-kai converted to Christianity from Atheism in 2002 and has publicly declared his faith through his work.

References