AboutWhat is ICF?

Initiative for Co-creating the Future　
～Innovating the Platinum Society～

The Initiative for Co-creating the Future uses open innovation to co-create solutions, implement them in the real world, and produce collective impact toward resolving societal issues

Throughout the 20th century, humanity has enjoyed prosperity and longevity thanks to the benefits of industrialization and economic growth. However, in the 21st century, many countries have experienced a shift from economic growth to market saturation as well as the onset of societal issues such as global warming, decreasing birthrate, and aging population.

Other countries are faced with the challenge of achieving growth and prosperity while simultaneously tackling widespread poverty and unrestrained population growth.
The COVID-19 Pandemic has swept the world, shaking the foundations of social and economic systems.

However, such societal and economical shock was imminent nonetheless as a consequence of the excessive economic growth and globalization. Humanity has been overwhelmed with the challenge of sustaining the global environment while improving quality of life. These challenges can be overcome through innovation and the combining of breakthroughs from technology to business models.

The Initiative for Co-creating the Future (ICF) has been established to tackle the world’s most pressing challenges through open innovation. The ICF has launched through a merger of the Platinum Society Research Association and the Innovation Network for Co-Creating the Future (INCF). The Platinum Society Research Association has for the past ten years advocated Japan’s role as a leading country in resolving societal issues. The Innovation Network for Co-Creating the Future (INCF) has for the past four years endeavored to resolve societal issues through innovative technologies and new businesses.

Founding philosophy

• Purpose To co-create solutions, implement them in the real world, and produce collective impact toward resolving societal issues through open innovation.
• Vision The creation of an ecosystem centered on a network through which all stakeholders work in unison toward a common goal.
• Mission To contribute to the revitalization of regional communities and industry, especially through the incubation and success of start-ups, by encouraging members to pool their knowledge, technology, information, and resources for mutual improvement.

Greeting

The year 2023 marks the third anniversary of the Initiative for Co-Creating the Future (ICF).
ICF is featured with the diversity of its members' participation, which allows for a multifaceted analysis of societal issues and simultaneously bringing out many solutions.
We are gradually, yet surely, seeing ICF’s philosophy becoming widespread as we discuss with our members the structure and root causes of our societal issues while exploring avenues towards their resolution.
However, when it comes to developing concrete solutions for societal issues and generating social impact through business implementation, we are still on the way to fully realizing our goals. Throughout the world, resolutions of societal issues usually take two steps forward and one step back. In some cases, the number of emerging problems might even surpass the number of resolved ones.
Fortunately, technological innovation is progressing rapidly, and the range of problems that can be resolved is also steadily expanding. ICF aims to resolve societal issues through promoting business and innovation, and we believe it is indispensable to incorporate innovative technologies and involvement of many of the most important stakeholders, including start-up companies. We will continue to improve our activities based on the experience and knowledge we have cultivated together with every partner. Let us look forward to it!

Yuji Mizuta
Chief of Staff, Secretariat for ICF (Initiative for Co-creating the Future), Mitsubishi Research Institute, Inc.

October 2023

Activities

The ICF’s activities center around the identification of societal issues, the crafting of solutions, and the real-world implementation of such change. Our activities cover a wide-range of fields: wellness, water and food, energy and environment, mobility, disaster prevention and infrastructure, and education and human resource development.