Thematic Activities
Future Co-creation Programs (FCPs) and Societal Issue Discussions will begin in September with four ICF priority themes: Wellness, Dietary Innovation, Climate Change Measures, and New Types of Communities. If you are interested in any of these themes, please join us!
Note: An FCP is a program to set a theme for societal issues to be resolved and to create societal impact through regular workshop activities.
Note: A Societal Issue Discussion is a forum for ICF members interested in specific societal issues to come together to identify issues and discuss clues to solutions in a short period of time.
ICF Priority Theme 1: Wellness (Prevention of Presymptomatic Disease and the Need for Nursing care)
Participants will come up with businesses that can contribute to the maintenance and improvement of the people’s quality of life with the prevention of frailty and diseases in mind.
| Outline | In recent years, the number of people in need of care and patients with lifestyle-related diseases has been increasing. It is necessary to prevent these conditions and diseases to maintain and improve quality of life and extend healthy life expectancy. In addition, there continues to be drastic decreases in human interaction and movement as well as changes in living conditions due to the covid pandemic. Taking this situation into account, participants will examine business ideas from various perspectives that can contribute to extending healthy life expectancy and improving quality of life. (Example 1) A service that assesses and visualizes the risk of frailty and lifestyle-related diseases based on lifestyle patterns and notifies users of risks that are relevant to the certification of long-term care need (as well as lifestyle-related diseases and mental conditions) (Example 2) A system in which the maintenance and improvement of health are valued (Example 3) Creating an environment that is effective in preventing frailty and lifestyle-related diseases and reducing mental health risks (i.e., one that promotes actions for prevention and risk reduction) without requiring lifestyle changes |
| Schedule | The first round will be held on the morning of Wednesday, September 28 at the Mitsubishi Research Institute. The FCP will be held once a month thereafter (on 26 Oct, 28 Nov, 19 Jan, and 22 Feb). |
| Registration | An email will be sent to members with the registration guidelines this week. |
ICF Priority Theme 2: Dietary Innovation
Participants will consider ways to ensure and promote food and health as well as communication through food.
| Outline | With the pandemic limiting communication during meals, communication through the entire food process (production, procurement, cooking, and eating/drinking) is becoming more important. This gathering aims to create mechanisms for promoting communication through food and for innovation that will lead to community building using local resources, such as Japanese food culture. Participants will discuss the main theme of dietary innovation and the additional themes of personalization of diet and communication through food and the augmentation of eating experiences, before brainstorming business ideas and necessary policies. (Example 1) A system that awards points to individual actions such as buying and cooking healthy meals, producing food for local consumption, and reducing food loss that can lead to community formation (Example 2) Dining table chatbot (e.g. Small robots will be installed on the dining tables to provide food education, including the origin and culture of food.) (Example 3) Ideal supermarket (e.g. One with cooking classes for senior citizens and younger generations) |
| Schedule | The first round will be held in the afternoon on Wednesday, September 28 at the Mitsubishi Research Institute. The FCP will be held once a month thereafter (on 25 Oct, 25 Nov, 18 Jan, and 16 Feb). |
| Registration | An email will be sent to members with the registration guidelines this week. |
ICF Priority Theme 3: Climate Change Measures
Participants will come up with businesses that can change the behavior of people in order to achieve carbon neutrality and brainstorm ideas to promote the spread of new technologies for carbon neutrality.
| Outline | To achieve carbon neutrality (zero greenhouse gas emissions) by 2050, the government has set a target of 46% to reduce emissions by FY 2030. In the short term, it is necessary to change the behavior of consumers and businesses, and in the long term, it is necessary to develop and spread new technologies for carbon neutrality. To this end, participants will come up with ideas about private-sector initiatives to create behavioral changes in people in order and will consider how to implement the ideas during a series of several workshops. In addition, two one-day Societal Issue Discussions will be held where participants will discuss what can be done to spread technologies related to neutrality. |
| Schedule | The first round will be held in the afternoon on Wednesday, September 21 at the Mitsubishi Research Institute. The FCP will be held once a month thereafter (on 21 Oct, 30 Nov, 19 Dec, and 25 Jan). Societal Issue Discussions will also be held separately (in November and February). |
| Registration | An email will be sent to members with the registration guidelines this week. |
ICF Priority Theme 4: New Types of Communities
To resolve the problem of isolation and loneliness, participants will come up with ideas to reform existing communities and to create sustainable intergenerational communities.
| Outline | Sustaining a community requires not only creating an environment but also continuous and evolving content. While learning about the success stories and challenges of various regions, participants will set goals for intergenerational communities, develop hypotheses and concepts, and ideate community content that can be adapted across regions. This gathering will start with an exchange of views with participants of the corresponding Societal Issues Workshop, and an FCP will additionally be held in the future. |
| Schedule | If held, an FCP will start in late October. |
| Registration | When determined, the registration procedure will be communicated. |
Activity Report
BAP 2022 Application Closed (Open from July 1st to August 26th)
On August 26, the ICF’s 8th business acceleration program, BAP 2022, closed applications for business ideas that can resolve societal issues.
BAP 2022 website: https://eiicon.net/about/icf-acceleration2022/
ICF members will be invited to the pitch contest (final review meeting) and DEMODAY (presentation of the results of discussions about the possibility of co-creation businesses). During the review period for co-creation businesses, ICF members who are considering collaborating with startups will also have the opportunity to discuss the possibility of co-creation with the finalists.
In addition, Co-Creation Members will have the opportunity to review applications and be meet with applicants on an individual basis.
[Schedule]
Following a period for review and mentoring, a pitch contest will be held on December 9. Then, there will be a period for reviewing co-creation businesses between applicants and Mitsubishi Research Institute/ICF members. In early March 2023, DEMODAY (results presentations) will be held.
ICF Meetup 2022 (July 25th)
The ICF Meetup 2022 was held in a hybrid form, which is an event for diverse ICF members of all dispositions from various industries to come together to share information and exchange ideas on solutions to societal issues.
The event was a great success with a total of 130 participants at the venue and online.
The report and video of the event are available below (ICF members only, in Japanese):
https://icf.mri.co.jp/activities/activities-8564/
Release of Entrepreneurial Stories of Impactful ICF Members
In order to tackle societal issues through business, entrepreneurs must have excellent interpersonal skills and strong organizational capabilities. What do they think and how are they trying to achieve the world they want? The ICF has published a series of articles that sheds light on the personalities of entrepreneurs who are striving to resolve societal issues The goal of these articles is to share with readers the philosophies of and the issues being tackled by these business founders, which in turn should lead to accelerated social breakthroughs in the future. The list of articles is here. (19 articles have been released.)
New articles in Japanese on ICHI Commons Co., Ltd. and Aidemy Inc. have been released. Please take a look!
Seminar on Resolving Societal Issues through Business in Hanoi (August 25th)
Mitsubishi Research Institute has opened a representative office in Hanoi, Vietnam, with the intent to encourage Japanese companies to contribute to Vietnam’s economic growth and the resolution of societal issues.
At the seminar on August 25, Ayato Susaki, the Chief of Staff of the Secretariat for ICF, spoke on-stage and introduced the activities of ICF and the potential application to Vietnam.
Executive Director, Initiative for Co-creating the Future (ICF)