Kobe University’s vision is to continue embracing the challenge of value creation to address societal problems, both now and in the future.This can be accomplished by drawing on the traditional motto, “Harmonization of Science and Practice,” that has persevered since the foundation of the University. We aim to build a world class education and research base as a research university of excellence that can maximize various powers of collaboration and fusion. To achieve this vision, Kobe University has engaged in numerous efforts to further promote education and research, and to actualize the social implementation of the results of these efforts.
　Since its selection by the Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology (MEXT) for the “2019 Development Project of the Institute for Open Innovation,” Kobe University has been accelerating open innovation activities as one of the measures to advance its vision.

　By harnessing the strengths of one of the largest comprehensive universities in Japan, we established the Graduate School of Science and Technology in 2016, combining the most advanced seeds with natural and social science researchers at Tohoku University. We have since produced many innovations by bridging the gap between science and technology and groundbreaking ideas. The results of these efforts are evidenced by the nine ventures that were founded in the past five years. Moreover, we raised a total of one billion yen, which accounted for 23% of the university's total amount of contracted and joint research funding in 2019. We believe that open innovation initiatives will create a platform for standardizing this successful model and propagating it throughout the university.

　As a platform for cross-departmental fusion, the Open Innovation Promotion Organization will develop a system that enables the management of large-scale joint research, focusing on competitive fields. It will support joint research by organizing researchers across different fields and departments.To this end, we will contribute to the establishment of problem-solving innovations by producing opportunities for joint creation by assigning experts who can detect and solve problems from an organizational perspective. These specialists will have a deep understanding of university research, and the ability to collaborate with various parties for joint creation.

　With your support and cooperation, we will promote education and research in conjunction with society through open innovation, support the development and social implementation of state-of-the-art technologies, and contribute to the development of society.

April 2021