Social Implementation Workshop 2024 “The Harmony between the Invigoration/Normalization of Remote Areas and Digital Technologies”
Information
Date
Tuesday, September 17, 2024 – Saturday, December 21, 2024
Venue
- Sep. 17:
Social Farm Osaki of Social Welfare Corporation CHALLENGED LIFE and Employment Support Office for People with Disabilities USNOBA - Sep. 30:
Nishikawa Innovation Hub TRAS - Dec. 14:
Nanzan University - Dec. 21:
Aichi Gakuin University
Time Schedule
- Tuesday, September 17, 2024
- 11:00 – 12:00
- Social Implementation Workshop “Aiming at Creating a Sustainable Life of the Disabled”
- Tohoku University students of the Faculty of Economics visited Social Farm Osaki (Misato Town, Miyagi Prefecture) to observe the working of handicapped people. They learned how disabled people performed their jobs, how workers with and without disabilities worked together, and how corporations with disabled employees were trying to sustain their business. They also reflected on unsolved tasks for the sustainable life of disabled group and sustainable business of corporations employing them.
- 14:30 – 15:30
- Tohoku University students of the Faculty of Economics visited and the Employment Support Office for People with Disabilities USNOBA (Sendai City, Miyagi Prefecture). They learned about the supporting businesses and systems for the employment of handicapped people and the fact that the government had recently changed pertinent policies on supportation of employment continuation from type A to type B. Students came up with ideas such as using AI technology to reduce the workload and make the jobs easier for disabled people.
- Monday, September 30, 2024
- 13:00 – 15:00
- The Sustainability of Remote Areas—How to Enliven Them
- Tohoku Students of the Faculty of Economics visited Nishikawa Innovation Hub TRAS (Nishikawa Town, Yamagata Prefecture). There the head of Kasegu (meaning earn or make money) Division of Nishikawa town government explained to the students how this hub is contributing to regional innovation and that Nishikawa town is developing its NFT (Non Fungible Token) business to vitalize such a remote and semi–mountainous town. Students also gave their opinions on how to keep out–of–the–way regions invigorated.
- Saturday, December 14, 2024
- 10:00 – 18:00
- The 14th CSR Initiative Interseminar
- On 14 December 2024, a team of senior students of Takaura Seminar, Faculty of Economics, Tohoku University presented the results of their social implementation project at the 14th CSR Initiative Interseminar held at Nanzan University. Under the theme of ‘Diversity, Equity & Inclusion: CSR that makes use of diverse personalities’, the Tohoku University team reported on the results of their case studies of Social Farm Osaki and Asunoba, a support centre for people with disabilities, and made recommendations. In their presentation, the team reflected on the current state of employment support policies for the disabled from the perspective of the government, companies and individual persons with disabilities. In order to break out of the current unsustainable situation, where the government is burdened by the dependency on aid money, companies are not profitable and individuals with disabilities are not able to realize independence, a joint venture to support the employment of disabled people in general was envisaged. The joint venture would act as a bridge between the establishments employing disabled people and large companies and public institutions. By dispatching physically challenged people who are working at the business to large companies in the form of internships to improve their skills, the joint venture aims to help them become mentally and financially independent, improve the sales of the company and reduce the burden on the government.
- Saturday, December 21, 2024
- 12:00 – 17:15
- The 3rd Social Value Creation EXPO
- On the afternoon of 21 December 2024, the final presentation of the 3rd Social Value Creation EXPO was held at the Meijo Park Campus of Aichi Gakuin University, where a team of junior students from the Takaura Seminar, Faculty of Economics, Tohoku University presented the results of their social implementation project.
This event is for business administration seminars across Japan to participate, where students present the results of their efforts to discover, research and create ‘social value–creating collaboration that demonstrates social entrepreneurship’.
The Tohoku University team investigated the efforts of local governments to increase the number of non–residential population by issuing digital Certificate of Residence and creating card games using NFT (Non–Fungible Token) technology, based on the case of Nishikawa–cho, Yamagata Prefecture, under the theme of ‘Regional Development through the Use of NFT’. They made recommendations on the potential for further development of the technology, including ideas for deepening inter–municipal cooperation with NFTs at the core.