The University of Tokyo has the best track record in Japan in terms of the number of university-originated startups. It has produced more than 500 companies, mainly in the technology field, including PKSHA Technology, whose technical advisor is Professor Yutaka Matsuo, who is famous for AI research, and companies that have been acquired and exited by foreign capital such as Google and Moderna.
While aiming to increase the number of startups supported 10 times over the next 10 years (to 300 companies per year),The company has also begun to seriously focus on training social entrepreneurs.
In 2023, the university announced three functional enhancements as its future startup support policy. These are “global expansion,” “strengthening collaboration with the deep tech community,” and “nurturing social entrepreneurs.”
In the future, we will continue to develop educational programs and internal systems for social entrepreneurship, and develop a system for sustainable social entrepreneurship incubation.
As a concrete move, Soil, a general incorporated foundation that supports non-profit startups, has implemented a program called “SoilxUTokyo” that provides grants, courses, and mentoring. On March 25th, Soil announced six people (teams) from among the participants who will receive a grant of 1 million yen each.
Reasons for focusing on nurturing social entrepreneurs
Professor Aya Suzuki of the Graduate School of Frontier Sciences, the University of Tokyo. She will be in charge of social entrepreneurship promotion and will serve as special assistant to the president. Her specialty is development economics.
“There are about 60 credit-bearing entrepreneurship courses on campus, and recently an increasing number of students are choosing to start a business as a career path after graduation.”
This is what Aya Suzuki, a professor at the University of Tokyo’s Graduate School of Frontier Sciences, who is special assistant to the president in charge of promoting social entrepreneurship, says.
However, the support system within the university has tended to be biased toward engineering departments, and it cannot be said that there is ample support for social entrepreneurship. On the other hand, there are many students on campus who are interested in social issues, and many of them are active on their own.
“This time, President Teruo Fujii had a strong desire to promote the development of social entrepreneurs as a university policy.” (Professor Suzuki)
To strengthen support, we will establish a working group in 2022 and conduct interviews with social entrepreneurs who have graduated. What emerged from this was the problem caused by the difference in objectives between regular startups and social entrepreneurship startups.
“In the case of social entrepreneurship, the purpose is different from that of a normal startup, so it is not possible to use existing ecosystems that provide funding or venture capital.
At that time, there was almost no support or community, and some students took many leaves of absence to continue their activities and managed to graduate.” (Professor Suzuki)
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Degree of seriousness in not viewing leave of absence as negative
Mr. Satoshi Hisada, representative director of Soil. Soil has allocated approximately 100 million yen, including the planned fund, to support non-profit startups. SoilxUTokyo provided a grant of 6 million yen, twice the originally planned amount.
“In some cases, attention is drawn toIt’s okay to take a leave of absence from school, so let’s support social entrepreneurship.That attitude. I think the fact that the University of Tokyo doesn’t view leave of absence as a negative thing shows how serious it is about nurturing social entrepreneurs.”
So says Soil representative director and serial entrepreneur Satoshi Hisada.
Since the purpose of social entrepreneurship is not to make a profit, it is difficult to raise funds. If it is difficult to raise funds, it will not be possible to attract talented people. As a result, individuals often find themselves in the dilemma of having to spend enormous amounts of time working on their own lunches, and are forced to give up on their activities.
Professor Suzuki said, “Students’ first priority is their studies, so it would be quite difficult to clearly state that it is OK to take a leave of absence for the purpose of social entrepreneurship,” but he said that understanding of taking a leave of absence for the purpose of social entrepreneurship is becoming more widespread. points out.
“Currently, the rules of the President’s decision allow for students to take a leave of absence for volunteer work, and some students take a leave of absence for financial reasons.In fact, as far as we know, two of the SoilxUTokyo students is scheduled to take a leave of absence from next year.” (Professor Suzuki)
Applications exceeded expectations, high ratio of women
Soil, which handles SoilxUTokyo’s grant program, was launched by Hisada in January 2023 to create an ecosystem for non-profit startups that are “not profitable but meaningful.” The company’s distinctive feature is that it provides donation-type funding that does not involve acquiring stock, and provides support such as mentoring.
In addition to providing a total of 40 million yen in the first year since its launch, we plan to launch separate funds with other organizations and media, and provide a total of over 50 million yen. We are also expanding our collaboration with universities, implementing grant programs not only with the University of Tokyo but also with Kyoto University.
The person who connected the University of Tokyo and Soil was Professor Shigeo Kagami, who is known as a key figure in the University of Tokyo’s startup ecosystem and serves as deputy director of the University’s Industry-University Collaboration Promotion Headquarters. It all began when Professor Kagami introduced Soil to Professor Suzuki, who was considering starting a social entrepreneurship program.
After that, the two teams quickly progressed, and in November 2023, they announced the opening of SoilxUTokyo. 42 students applied, more than the expected 30.
“When I looked at the applicants, I was surprised to see that the ratio of women was much higher than in previous Entrepreneurship Courses, nearly 40%.Furthermore, they came from a variety of faculties, not just science or engineering. They came from graduate schools and ranged in academic year from first year to second year doctoral course students.” (Professor Suzuki)
At the course held in early December, Euglena’s President Mitsuru Izumo and two other entrepreneurs from the University of Tokyo gave lectures. In addition, a two-day workshop-style program was held, including lectures on how to formulate a plan to solve social issues, fundraising and legal issues that arise after starting a business.
Expand the number of supported students to twice the original plan
Outline of the students selected for funding from SoilxUTokyo students and their projects. The themes are diverse, including climate change, energy, gender, architecture, toilets, and traditional crafts.
After that, Soil and the University of Tokyo selected the plans submitted by the students, and six people advanced to the pitch where they presented their concrete plans. Initially, it was planned to support up to three groups, but in the end it was decided that all six people would receive 1 million yen each, for a total of 6 million yen.
Mr. Hisada says that the selection criteria for the grant was “emphasizing the specificity of the problem-solving.” Even students are not limited to just ideas; concrete projects that can be implemented in society are an important factor in creating an ecosystem.
On the other hand, SoilxUTokyo was well received by students as it was a valuable opportunity to raise as much as 1 million yen. In a student survey conducted after the lecture, many said, “I’m glad to know that there are so many students on campus who are taking on the challenge of social entrepreneurship.”
“When it comes to social entrepreneurship, there are many students who work on their own, unrelated to their faculty or research lab, so it’s difficult for us faculty members and students to see who is doing what. In that sense, students working on social entrepreneurship It was a great benefit to be able to connect the two.” (Professor Suzuki)
Taking this opportunity, the University of Tokyo hopes to build an internal entrepreneurial network within the university.
“In the future, we would like to strengthen vertical and horizontal connections and expand the social entrepreneurship network originating from the University of Tokyo, such as by connecting with entrepreneurs who have graduated, or by supporting students who have taken this course who will take the course the following year.” Professor Suzuki)
On the other hand, Mr. Hisada also expects other possibilities to arise from such networks.
“In order to solve social issues, it is important to develop systems. This is why we established a fund with PoliPoli, a policy co-creation platform, last year. The University of Tokyo has the influence to appeal to systems (reforms). I think there are a relatively large number of students who have strong and basic skills, so I have high hopes for them in that respect as well.” (Mr. Hisada)
Source: BusinessInsider
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