As the president of Polyphony Digital, Gran Turismo series producer Kazunori Yamauchi was selected as one of the "100 Most Creative People in Business for 2009 (28th)" in America's famous business magazine, "Fast Company".

The special article in the June issue of this magazine selects people in every position possible, from mainstream business, medical, defense department, think tanks, etc., "showcasing the teams and individuals who are inventing the future and reinventing business".

The reason for Mr. Yamauchi's selection, has been described as:

The 42-year-old Japanese game designer, Kazunori Yamauchi, is on the fast track: "He has created eight Gran Turismo games, attracted a cult following among PlayStation users, and helped Nissan design the technology for its GT-R sports car, which appears in Gran Turismo 5 Prologue."
The car which he helped to develop, has gone on to be selected as Motor Trend magazine's 2009 Car of the Year.

Kazunori Yamauchi's games are beautifully designed. Real life cars are reproduced under license from car manufacturers, and can be driven through beautiful scenery from around the world. The level of detail is absolutely stunning.

Jonathan Ive, SVP of Industrial Design at Apple, was selected for the top spot on this list. Melinda Gates of the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, ranks No. 2. Third is CEO Shai Agassi of Better Place, who are working to spread the use of electric cars. There are other big names from many different fields, such as designer Stella McCartney (13th), artist Damian Hirst (22nd), Studio Gibli's Hayao Miyazaki (31st), Twitter CEO Evan Williams (34th), musician and producer Pharrell Williams (36th), and Architect Norman Foster (38th) just to mention a few, and you can really see the wide angle of approach in the process of selection.

About Fast Company
Fast Company is a monthly publication targeting high class business people. It chronicles how changing companies create and compete, highlights new business practices, and showcases the teams and individuals who are inventing the future and reinventing business. Fast Company's circulation is over 744,000.

The 100 Most Creative People in Business TOP 50

1. Jonathan Ive
Senior Vice President of Industrial Design- Apple

2. Melinda Gates
Co-chair, Trustee- Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation

3. Shai Agassi
Chief Executive Officer- Better Place

4. Reed Hastings
Chief Executive Officer- Netflix

5. Rich Ross
President- Disney Channels Worldwide

6. Sandy Bodecker
Vice President of Global Design- Nike

7. Tero Ojanpera
Executive Vice President- Nokia

8. Michele Ganeless
President- Comedy Central

9. Jon Rubenstein
Executive Chairman- Palm

10. James Schamus
Chief Executive Officer- Focus Features

11. Prith Banerjee
Director- HP Labs

12. John Garing
Chief Information Officer- Defense Information Systems Agency

13. Stella McCartney
Fashion Designer

14. J.J Abrams
Founder- Bad Robot Productions

15. Thom Mayne
Design Director- Morphosis

16. Dave Morin
Senior Platform Manager- Facebook

17. Stephen Chau
Product Manager, Google Maps and Google Earth- Google

18. Susan Athey
Chief Economist- Microsoft

19. Trish Adams
Senior Vice President of Merchandising- Target

20. Dawn Danby
Sustainable Design Program Manager- Autodesk

21. Tyler Perry
Owner- Tyler Perry Studios

22. Damien Hirst
Artist

23. Ed Leonard
Chief Technology Officer- DreamWorks Animation

24. Jil Sander
Designer, Creative Director- Uniqlo

25. Dietrich Mateschitz
Chief Executive Officer-Red Bull

26. Sheila Bair
Chairman-FDIC

27. Brenda L. Dietrich
Vice President, Business Analytics and Mathematical Sciences- IBM

28. Kazunori Yamauchi
President- Polyphony Digital

29. Alexandra Patsavas
Owner- Chop Shop Music Supervision

30. George Whitesides
Inventor, cofounder- Nano-Terra

31. Hayao Miyazaki
Cofounder- Studio Ghibli

32. Lee Clow
Global director of media arts- TBWA/Worldwide

33. Padmasree Warrior
Chief technology officer- Cisco

34. Evan Williams
Chief executive officer- Twitter

35. Peter Sence
Founding chairman- Society for Organizational Learning

36. Pharrell Williams
Musician, producer, cofounder- Billionaire Boys Club

37. Shai Reshef
Founder- University of the People

38. Norman Foster
Principal- Foster + Partners

39. Greg Hahn
Executive Creative Director- BBDO

40. Neil Gaiman
Author, Screenwriter

41. Maurice Sendak
Writer, illustrator, producer

42. Marc Jacobs
Fashion designer- LVMH

43. Neri Oxman
Presidential Fellow- MIT Media Lab

44. Jean- Georges Vongerichten
Chef

45. Genevieve Bell
Director of User Experience- Intel Digital Home Group

46. Jim Jannard
Chief executive officer- Red Digital Cinema

47. A.R. Rahman
Composer

48. Jimmy Iovine
Chairman- Interscope Geffen A&M Records

49. Tyra Banks
Founder- Bankable Enterprises

50. Lisa Ellis
Partner- Fireman Capital

Fast Company magazine official site