Innovation Human Resource Development

The Keio University Office of Innovation and Entrepreneurship promotes the development of "innovation supporters" who support R&D-based startups by addressing the uncertainties and long-term challenges associated with the social implementation of research results. As part of an initiative selected for the Japan Society for the Promotion of Science (JSPS) "Program for Forming Regional Innovation Ecosystems (J-PEAKS)," we have launched a co-creative human resource development program to deepen understanding through learning, dialogue, and practice. We aim to build a support system that creates next-generation impact with professional expertise and a long-term perspective.

The Keio University InnoSalon is an open dialogue series where stakeholders interested in R&D-based startups gather to share questions and perspectives through dialogue. We emphasize addressing essential questions, such as what kind of impact the social implementation of research results can create and what kind of long-term involvement is necessary to realize that value.

In each session, through discussions by speakers from diverse backgrounds—including investors, entrepreneurs, and researchers—we organize the assumptions and points of contention surrounding the social implementation of research results and form a common language. While touching on perspectives such as impact management and system x design thinking, it provides a foundation for participants to consider their own form of involvement and serves as an entry point to more practical learning.

The Keio University InnoLab is a training program for learning and practice using R&D-based startups as subjects, primarily targeting those responsible for funding who are involved in decision-making for the social implementation of research results. In contrast to the InnoSalon, which shares perspectives through open dialogue, the InnoLab emphasizes structurally understanding the process by which research results bring impact to society while facing specific cases and the actual field.

The Keio University InnoLab is positioned as a place to produce "innovation supporters" who not only "understand" the value of research results but also think through how to involve themselves and at what stage to make decisions in order to connect those results to social implementation.