Kobe University, Kyoto University, and Osaka University Joint Symposium held

On Thursday, September 28, the Kyoto University, Osaka University, and Kobe University Joint Symposium (sponsored by Nikkei Shimbun Inc. and the Japan Center for Economic Research) was held in Kita-ku, Osaka, to which some 400 individuals from the fields of industry and academia were in attendance. This symposium was the second of the "Kansai Economist Meetings" that began last year. Presidents from the 3 universities and representatives from the industrial realm had an active discussion about endeavors and challenges in industry-academy collaboration, on the subject of "Innovation from Kansai and Human Resources."

At the start of the symposium, SAKAMOTO Hironobu, representative from Nikkei Shimbun Inc., spoke about the significance of the symposium and his hopes for the revitalization of the Kansai area through industry-academia collaboration. Following this, TAKASAKI Hideo, President of Nitto Denko Corporation, spoke about the company, its endeavors in human resource development, and the important of collaboration with universities.

Later Kobe University President TAKEDA Hiroshi, Kyoto University President YAMAGIWA Juichi, and Osaka University President NISHIO Shojiro spoke about endeavors and features of industry-university collaboration at their universities.

At the panel discussion, participants exchanged opinions on how they will undertake human resource development and innovation in industry-university collaboration. President Takasaki said, "I want to begin with mutual understanding between companies and universities to increase opportunities for exchange in various settings." President Takeda added, "I want to improve join research and human resource exchange together with corporations in the field of data science, a field in which the 3 universities have already worked in collaboration with each other." President Yamagiwa spoke about endeavors at Kyoto University, saying, "In 2018, we're going to establish "Kyodai Original," a subsidiary which utilizes research results, and in the future, we'll establish Kyodai Holdings, which oversees group companies at Kyoto University, to promote the fluidity of funds and people and create a new model of industry-university collaboration." President Nishio emphasized efforts at OU, saying “We are actively promoting industry-academia co-creation in a comprehensive manner: collaboration between a company as a whole and our university as a whole. Also, we're working hard to become a new role model in human resource development as well by proactively taking advantage of cross appointment and other systems."

Finally, the universities and corporations reaffirmed their commitment to build a new framework of collaboration that utilizes the strengths of each university and corporation in order to create innovation from Kansai.

(From left) President Takasaki, President Takeda, President Yamagiwa, President Nishio