Currently ongoing until October 13, Expo 2025 Osaka, Kansai is being held under the theme of “Designing future society for our lives.” It also serves as a place for universities and corporations to share information on their cutting-edge initiatives. Kobe University is there to showcase its own activities, from the latest results of research at the university to its students’ ingenious endeavors, in a variety of formats. What kinds of messages are contained within these showcases, and how can we make use of them even after the Expo has concluded? We asked Professor KITA Takashi, who serves as executive vice president at Kobe University and director of its Office for Promoting SDGs.
Startups by researchers and students
What kind of information is Kobe University sharing at the Expo?
Kita:
One of the characteristics of our university is our focus on startups, which commercialize cutting-edge technology and ideas. We’ve been sharing information on initiatives of researchers and students alike at the university’s own booth exhibit and at events within the Expo venue.
In addition to its 5-day-long booth exhibit in July, Kobe University will also have a booth set up at the Future Life Village pavilion for a week starting on September 30. This will primarily feature two cutting-edge research projects from researchers as well as two student projects.
One of these research projects features ink based on structural colors that was developed using silicon nanoparticles by Associate Professor SUGIMOTO Hiroshi of the Graduate School of Engineering. This innovative ink is fade-resistant, low cost, lightweight and resource-efficient. The other research project showcased is on photo-on-demand synthesis by Associate Professor TSUDA Akihiko at the Graduate School of Science. Featuring technology to turn waste such as sewage and livestock manure into various chemical products through reactions using light, the results of this research are already being utilized in the startup Photo-on-Demand Chemical.
As for student activities, HIM, a team of student researchers, is engaging in a project to produce hydrogen by using microorganisms found in termite intestines. The other student activity featured, SkinNotes, has been developing T-shirts dyed with green tea leaves to reduce itching for those affected by atopic dermatitis. Both teams have won awards at business plan competitions and elsewhere.
Expo 2025 has been a valuable opportunity to introduce these kinds of projects and research topics to a wide audience. At the booth exhibit in July, I heard many visitors say things like “I didn’t know Kobe University was doing these kinds of things.” We had a number of alums and corporate representatives come by the exhibit as well, which was quite well-received.
Expressing the university’s creative side
What kind of message is Kobe University trying to convey through its exhibits?
Kita:
Universities, at their core, are places for creation. They exist not just for learning, but for creating new technology and ways of thinking. I’d like to express the true essence of the university at our Expo exhibits. Oftentimes, the term “startup” gets conflated with simply starting a business, but regardless of whether or not a company is established, what’s important is that knowledge gained has been utilized to give rise to new ideas. We’ve emphasized that point in our introductions of student endeavors at the Expo, so I hope to be able to share the creation process with visitors to our exhibit.
We’ve been making all kinds of preparations for these introductions to student endeavors from even before Expo 2025 kicked off. In 2023, we established the framework “U ecosys Hyogo SDGs Open Innovation,” which serves as a venue for creation via collaboration among university members, including core members Kobe University, Kwansei Gakuin University, Konan University and Mukogawa Women’s University. We’ve held student business contests and planned lectures and workshops on all kinds of topics all while carefully developing ideas to unveil at the Expo.
At the venue where our booth will be set up in September and October, we’ll hold the “SDGs future business student contest” on October 4, at which a total of nine teams from Kobe University, Kwansei Gakuin University and Konan University will present their business plans. It should serve as a great opportunity for many people to learn about our students’ creative endeavors.
The primary objective of Expo 2025 is to contribute to achieving the SDGs. Established by the U.N., the target year for these goals was set at 2030, just five years after Expo 2025. Thus, Kobe University is also making a conscious effort to contribute to achieving these goals through its endeavors. The university has also placed a particular emphasis on industry-government-academia collaboration leading up to Expo 2025, with its Office for Promoting SDGs, established in February 2020, taking a central role in these efforts.
What are some of Kobe University’s unique initiatives in industry-government-academic collaboration?
Kita:
Some 150 corporations, organizations and municipalities participate in the Kobe University SDGs Partners. Under this framework, the university and its partners have planned forums and collaborative projects related to SDGs. Various corporate partners have even contributed to Kobe University’s Expo exhibits.
At the exhibit held in July, world-renowned figure maker Kaiyodo from Kadoma City, Osaka, also assisted in introducing the ink developed by Sugimoto. Minicars coated with this new ink were on display, capturing the interest of visitors of all ages, even children.
At the university’s exhibit in September and October, the results of a lecture series held through a collaboration between Kansai Electric Power Company (KEPCO) and Kobe University will be compiled from the students’ perspective and put on display. Held in 2024 and 2025, this series consisted of a total of five lectures, in which participating students made proposals on the future of energy while visiting power plants and engaging in group discussions. This exhibit will provide an introduction to the lecture series, including the discussion process. In addition, we’re also planning to team up with Scaleout Inc. from Tokyo for an exhibit featuring business plans proposed by Japanese students for resolving problems facing developing nations.
In the five years since the launch of the Office for Promoting SDGs, we’ve been building networks and connections with corporations and organizations in the Kansai area and working together with universities in Kansai to hold various events ahead of the Expo. This kind of groundwork has led to exhibits and presentations at Expo 2025, allowing students to gain valuable experience that they couldn’t otherwise acquire in their classes.
Universities – thinktanks for the future of our communities
How will you make use of the results of what you’ve shared at the Expo after its conclusion?
Kita:
Japan excels in hardware and technology development. But if you take a look at startups in the USA, you’ll find that what’s in demand right now is the creation of new value. Take smartphones for example. You’re not going to sell just an extremely advanced phone, but if you can use that phone to also do things like listen to music, take photos and shop, then everyone will use them. Rather than simply competing in technology development, what’s important now is connecting that technology with new value.
The Japanese government is now emphasizing the importance of “convergence knowledge.” Convergence knowledge goes beyond knowledge in one’s field of expertise by encompassing a variety of knowledge that can be used to create new value. The endeavors by researchers and students that Kobe University is showcasing at Expo 2025 require precisely this kind of convergence knowledge. The students have thought outside of the box provided by the university to give birth to their own ideas, and I think that conveying these ideas carries huge significance.
Moving forward, we’d like to be even more mindful of the convergence knowledge of the entire university to put more energy into new educational programs and human resource development efforts that go beyond traditional academic fields.
How do you feel about the significance of Expo 2025 as a whole?
Kita:
It’s really made me feel the importance of experiences. When you visit the Expo, there are so many cultures to interact with and so much information to take in, which has really made me feel the significance of experiencing them firsthand. And it’s not enough to just look at these things; the beauty of the Expo is that it has so many activities to participate in. While opinions are divided on whether the Expo should have been held at all, I think those opinions are also important in the sense that differences of opinion are themselves a form of diversity.
Last year in the Office for Promoting SDGs, we launched the Sustainable City Research Group, which discusses the ideal future city through industry-government-academic collaboration. Over 30 corporations and organizations, including observer Kobe City, participate in this consortium, which was based on a network formulated through Expo-related efforts. The group aims to achieve a carbon-neutral society by developing specific projects under its three main focuses: blue carbon stored in the ocean and derived from carbon dioxide absorbed by the ocean ecosystem, green carbon from rural areas and white carbon from cities.
Universities are organizations that take on the role of thinktank within the region they are located, and I think it’s extremely important for them to contribute to sustainable community development through activities like this research group. I feel that this Expo has served as an opportunity to renew our awareness of the significance of the existence of universities within their respective regions. Continuing to make use of the efforts and experience gained at the Expo for the future of the community will further deepen the significance of the Expo itself.
Resume
After serving as research associate and assistant professor at Kobe University’s Faculty of Engineering, in 2007, became professor at Kobe University’s Graduate School of Engineering. In 2020, became Kobe University executive assistant/adviser to the president and in 2021, became vice president. Current positions include head of the Kobe University Office for Promoting SDGs (2020~), board member of Kobe University Innovation Inc. (2021~) and Kobe University executive vice president (2025~).
