[Essence] The forefront of “knowledge” gathers! [Essence Forum 2024 -Social implementation of research knowledge-] will be held on September 24th and 25th.
*Essence*
Press release: September 6, 2024
**
The forefront of “knowledge” gathers! [Essence Forum 2024 -Social implementation of research knowledge-] will be held on September 24th and 25th.
*The creation of startups and the realization of innovation lies in the utilization of researchers’ intellectual capital – Hiroshi Ishii, Deputy Director of MIT Media Lab, is invited to give the keynote speech -*
Essence Forum 2024 will be held on September 24-25 at Yaesu Midtown, Tokyo with 170 speakers and 34 sessions.
Essence Co., Ltd. (Headquarters: Okinawa Prefecture) operates “esse-sense.com,” a media site with one of the largest collections of interviews with researchers in Japan.
OIST Incubation Square Incubator Representative Director: Nishimura For two days from September 24th to 25th, 2024, 22 partner
organizations, 170 speakers, and 1,000 invited participants will hold a multi-purpose conference called “Essence” with 34 sessions and pitch presentations. Forum 2024-Social Implementation of Research Knowledge-” will be held. Here are some tips for creating startups and realizing innovation.
Essence Forum 2024 special site: https://esse-sense.com/forum2024
This forum is operated by invitation only. We have also set up an invitation slot for reporting media. If you are a member of the media and would like to interview us, please contact us at
info@esse-sense.com (Nishimura, Nishikawa) with the topic you are interested in.
◇Essence Forum 2024 Overview
Date and time: September 24th-25th, 2024 (Tuesday/Wednesday) 10:00-19:00 *Community meeting 19:00-20:30
Venue: Tokyo Midtown Yaesu Innovation Field 4F/5F
Participation: Tokyo venue 1,000 people (complete invitation only) / Online venue 500 people (advance registration required)
Sessions held: 34 (planned)
Speakers: 170 people (tentative)
Last year’s results: 525 local participants (339 online participants (total 864)), 21 sessions (90 speakers), NPS score 50.41, hope for next event 9.04
/ 10.00
Scenes from Essence Forum 2023 held last year (partial)
◇Essence Forum 2024 partner organizations
・Co-sponsoring partners: OIST (Okinawa Institute of Science and Technology Graduate University), Ritsumeikan University, UTRA (The University of Tokyo Research)
Administrators), GTIE (Greater Tokyo Innovation)
Ecosystem), Economics Design Co., Ltd., Lab Base Co., Ltd., Desilo General Incorporated Association
・Ecosystem partner: STORIUM (Grand Story Co., Ltd.)
・Cooperation: JST (planned), Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA) (planned), ARCH Toranomon Hills, Tokyo Venture
Capital Hub, Wilson Learning
Worldwide Co., Ltd., Cross-Border Leadership Corporation, Future Creation Initiative through Science and Finance (FDSF), WE Corporation AT, University of Tokyo EMP, Michinoku Academia Startup Co-creation Platform (MASP), Tokai Network for Global
Leading Innovation (Tongali), Platform for All Regions of Kyushu & Okinawa for Startup-ecosystem (PARKS), Hokkaido Startup Future Creation Development by Mutual Support Networks (HSFC)
・Special supporting partners: Mitsui Fudosan Co., Ltd., Suntory Holdings Limited, Suntory Life Science Foundation, PwC Consulting LLC
・Premier Partner: Beyond Next Ventures Co., Ltd.
・Bronze Partner: Hakuhodo Inc.
・Material partner: BASE FOOD Inc.
Five features and highlights of Essence Forum
* 1: A day to thoroughly connect with the university-originated startup ecosystem *
The Essence Forum will feature eight sessions on the university-based startup ecosystem.
As of October 2023, the number of university-launched ventures is 4,288, an increase of 506 from the 3,782 companies confirmed in 2022, and both the number of companies and the number of increases are record highs, making them candidates to be the driving force of the future economy. As a result, attention is increasing.
From the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry’s “FY2020 Venture Situation Survey”
In this forum, we will invite 43 speakers from each base of the national university-launched startup creation ecosystem project promoted by the government, key personnel of the measures, and researchers and startups receiving support from the measures, and will be held in 8 sessions. We will tell you about our efforts and possibilities.
* 2: Social issues of maximizing research knowledge and “research environment” * At the Essence Forum, nine sessions will be held on the social issues of maximizing research knowledge and the research environment. In July 2023, the Science Council of Japan Young People’s Academy published a research report based on a questionnaire survey of 8,000 researchers called “10 Issues to be Addressed with an Eye on Science, Academics, and Society in 2040.”
Universities play an important social function, not only by creating startups but also by producing new intellectual capital as a source of innovation and developing human resources to carry it. On the other hand, there are many contradictions, such as a reduction in basic research funding, a sharp decline in the number of companies entering graduate school, underlying structural difficulties in managing research laboratories, and career transfers that are often seen as an opportunity loss compared to the international community. It has become a major department of social issues where there are various issues.
This forum will feature a special session inviting former and current representatives of the Science Council of Japan Young Academy, as well as 41 speakers including researchers, practitioners, government officials, business executives, and foundation administrators. We invite you to participate in eight sessions where we will discuss and share the current status of these issues and the path to solving them. * 3: * Session group where you can meet cutting-edge researchers by theme The Essence Forum will feature 10 sessions on cutting-edge themes. The background to new themes being tackled in the world, such as climate change/decarbonization, biodiversity, well-being, space business, blue carbon, next-generation computing (AI, VR, quantum computers), is the accumulation and accumulation of each research field. Conjugation exists.
At this forum, we have set up five session groups and five pitches and presentations that will be held with a diverse mix of researchers and practitioners working on cutting-edge research on these themes for building the next generation. We will share opportunities to learn about cutting-edge research knowledge tackling cutting-edge themes. * 4: * Implementation of liberal arts, arts & sciences, economics humanities and social sciences
At the Essence Forum, five sessions will be held on the implementation of humanities and social sciences, including liberal arts.
At the first Essence Forum in 2023, two of the 21 sessions related to liberal arts were ranked 2nd and 7th in terms of visitor satisfaction (NPS scores of 55.88 and 38.46), showing high attention to liberal arts. is now visible.
This forum will include a session featuring the former director of the Human Renaissance Institute (currently an executive fellow), who works on utilizing the “SINIC theory” advocated by OMRON founder Kazuma Tateishi, and Shiseido’s president, chairman, and honorary chairman. In addition to two sessions with the theme of more practical social implementation of humanities knowledge, including a session inviting Mr. Yoshiharu Fukuhara and Mr. Tetsushi Yamamoto, an independent philosopher who worked on the establishment of cultural capital policy,
In addition to the forefront of corporate implementation of economics and pioneering efforts in science and art, we will learn about the social implementation of humanities and social sciences through concrete practice.
* 5: Special lecture and panel session by Hiroshi Ishii, Deputy Director of MIT Media Lab*
At the Essence Forum, Hiroshi Ishii, Deputy Director of MIT Media Lab, made a special visit to Japan! In addition to the keynote speech, an in-depth panel discussion will be held.
Forty years after its establishment, the MIT Media Lab still reigns as a source of cutting-edge innovation. Efforts to collaborate with private companies, share intellectual capital, and implement innovation in response to society are a treasure trove of practical knowledge from which we still have much to learn.
In this forum, he has been at the MIT Media Lab for 30 years, and is the founder of Tangible Bit, SIGCHI LIFETIME RESEARCH, which became the first Asian in 2019.
We have invited Professor Yutaka Ishii, winner of the AWARD (Lifetime Researcher Award), to talk about the fundamental process of
innovation, which involves launching one’s own new fields, along with a wealth of examples. We will be talking about a lot of things that we would like to learn in 2024, when innovation has become a matter of course for both startups and companies.
◇Comment from the representative (Yuya Nishimura, CEO of Essence) Founded in 2021, Essence has been working to establish a digital platform that realizes access to research knowledge based on the mission of “creating opportunities for all research knowledge to freely mix with society.”
This forum will share the human networks accumulated at Essence, as well as the problem awareness accumulated at the same time, and discuss the social issue of underutilization of research knowledge, which can be seen as one of the reasons why this world is currently stagnant. We set this up as an opportunity to not only point things out, but also to help come up with structural solutions.
Witness the fusion of cutting-edge knowledge and discover hints for creating startups and realizing innovation that will help solve global social issues.
◇Company overview
[Trade name] Essence Co., Ltd.*
[Representative] Representative Director Yuya Nishimura
[Location] 1919-1 Tancha, Onna Village, Kunigami District, Okinawa Prefecture OIST Incubation Square Incubator
[Established] March 2021
[URL] https://esse-sense.com/company
*What is essence?
Essence Co., Ltd. is an impact startup established in 2021 at OIST (Okinawa Institute of Science and Technology Graduate University) in Onna Village, Okinawa, with the aim of connecting research knowledge and society (2nd term regular member of Impact Startup Association) . As a “KnowledgeTech” company, we engage in businesses that utilize the power of technology to solve social issues.
In September 2021, we released the web media “esse-sense”, which distributes original interview articles focusing on researchers in various fields of basic and applied sciences, natural sciences, humanities and sociology, and social sciences. In addition to being operated as one of the largest collections of researcher interviews in Japan, subscribed to by approximately 200,000 readers annually, in September 2023, the Patron Service, a platform that provides continuous funding to individual researchers, will be launched. ” released. In addition, Zebra is attracting attention as a company working in the new field of utilizing intellectual capital, such as being selected as Zebra & Company’s second investment target.