Ensuring 'Leave No One Behind' is More Than Just a Slogan.

This consortium supports April Dream, a project to share dreams on April 1st. This press release is the dream of the "Kyoto University Communication Design and DE&I Consortium."

"Leave no one behind"—this phrase is widely known as the principle of the SDGs. It is also a universal value that has been repeatedly expressed in religions, philosophies, and laws.

Nevertheless, in reality, it is often treated as a mere platitude, accompanied by voices saying, "It's just an ideal," or "It's difficult to achieve."

The Kyoto University Communication Design and DE&I Consortium aims to prevent this phrase from ending as a platitude and to root it in society through on-the-ground practice. Universities, companies, NPOs, and individuals gather beyond their positions, bringing their respective on-site initiatives and addressing issues through the lens of "communication design." Through the accumulation of such trial and error, we gradually approach the ideal—we continue this "serious challenge" to do so.

Here, we create a place where knowledge is not provided in one direction, but where diverse people engage with each other to foster "collective intelligence." New relationships and possibilities are born from dialogue where people from various backgrounds, including companies, local governments, citizens, and even children, interact.

Towards a society that creates "ways to try" instead of "reasons why it can't be done."
We await the participation of companies and organizations that endorse this challenge and will walk with us.

The Future We Envision

We aim for a society where people with various differences, such as race, gender, religion, sexual orientation, socioeconomic background, and ethnicity, accept each other's differences as a premise and coexist.

In current society, issues are often discussed under classifications such as "the parties involved" and "the parties not involved." While support and measures for people in specific positions are important in the transitional period, there are many situations where issues are perceived as "not related to me," resulting in division.

However, we aim to overcome such divisions by category and create a society where we interact as "individuals" while respecting each person's background and experience. A society where individuals are not separated by clear boundaries but are related like a gradation. In it, various issues are not seen as belonging to someone specific, but as relating to each of us who make up society.

Each "individual" becomes central, and society is formed by the connection of each individual—we aim to realize such a "society as a collection of individuals."

Activities to Realize the Ideal

Our consortium is engaged in three main initiatives to realize our ideal.

Developing DE&I Human Resources

We are focusing on developing human resources who will change society from the ground up, using "communication design" as our approach.

When faced with difficulties or injustice, a person who does not turn a blind eye but takes action and practices DE&I in their respective fields—we define such a person as an "active bystander." The consortium provides a place for learning and practice to increase the number of such human resources in society.

Furthermore, to expand these practices, we are also working on developing human resources with two roles.

We aim for a society where DE&I practices spread as these human resources act autonomously throughout the country.

Currently, we offer the "Kansai University Social Communication Leader Training Course" for leader development and the "Kyoto University Social Communication Designer Training Course" for designer development, with plans to expand to two locations, Tokyo and Kansai, in fiscal 2026. In the future, we plan to expand nationwide and promote network formation.

Collective Intelligence Generation

To promote DE&I, it is essential to continuously address the ever-changing issues on the ground. However, there is a limit to what one company or organization can do on its own.

We believe that by bringing together people from various industries and sectors to share their "distributed knowledge," such as successes, failures, and concerns from their respective practices, new value is created and "collective intelligence" is fostered.

Our consortium provides a place for dialogue where people from diverse backgrounds, from large corporations to small and medium-sized enterprises, small business owners, NPOs, and individuals, can interact. In such a place, knowledge exchange and co-creation that transcend positions and fields are born.

For example, we hold a symposium at Kyoto University every June and develop crossover-type dialogue platforms in various locations such as Tokyo and Fukuoka. As diverse people meet and talk, practical knowledge rooted in the field is shared, and new "collective intelligence" continues to be born.

An example of such a dialogue platform is the poster presentation at the following symposium.

Research and Individual Consultation Support

The promotion of DE&I is not something that can be completed with a single measure; it requires continuous efforts according to the situation of each organization.

For our special members, our consortium supports the promotion of DE&I by accompanying each organization's practice, utilizing the university's unique academic knowledge.

Specifically, we grasp the current situation through hearings and surveys, and integrally carry out everything from policy planning and implementation to effectiveness verification. We do not stop at conducting training, but flexibly design initiatives according to the needs of each organization, such as planning internal events and creating dialogue platforms involving diverse external human resources.

Through this process, we will explore the state of DE&I in the context of each organization while accumulating practice rooted in the field. And the distributed knowledge born from these individual cases will be returned to society as academic knowledge.

We are not "providers" of completed results, but as "partners" who move forward through trial and error together, we will continue to face serious practice.

Future Activities

Consecutive Human Resource Development Courses in Tokyo

The Kyoto University Communication Design and DE&I Consortium will hold consecutive sessions of the aforementioned human resource development courses in Tokyo starting in May 2026.

This program offers consecutive courses: the Kansai University Social Communication Leader Training Course (SCL) to develop leaders responsible for "place-making," and the Kyoto University Social Communication Designer Training Course (SCD) to develop designers responsible for "system-building."
A certificate of completion is awarded for each course, and the Kyoto University Social Communication Designer Training Course (SCD) is implemented as a certificate program.

By alternating between theory and practice, approaching communication from both art and science perspectives, and learning with participants from diverse backgrounds, we aim to acquire skills that can be practiced in the field.

The program is scheduled to run from May to October 2026, primarily at a venue near Tokyo Station and in various other fields.

In addition, the Kansai session is scheduled for the fall of fiscal 2026, with details to be released around June 2026.

Symposium at Kyoto University in June

The Kyoto University Communication Design and DE&I Consortium is scheduled to hold the "Kyoto University Communication Design and DE&I Consortium Symposium 2026 (tentative)" on Friday, June 19, 2026, at the International Exchange Hall of the Kyoto University Clock Tower Centennial Hall.

This symposium is positioned as part of the aforementioned "Collective Intelligence Generation" initiative, and will be a place where participants from diverse backgrounds gather and share practical knowledge through dialogue.

Details are currently being prepared, but if you would like to be notified when information is released, please register from the "Event Notification Email Registration" at the end of this text.

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The challenge to ensure that the phrase "Leave no one behind" does not end as a mere platitude is still ongoing.

That is why the existence of each and every person involved in this initiative will shape the society of the future.

We look forward to the participation and contact of those who will join us on this journey.

If you would like to receive information about our consortium's activities, including the courses and events mentioned above, please register using the form below.

Also, for inquiries regarding participation as a company/organization or for media coverage, please contact us at the address below.

Kyoto University Communication Design and DE&I Consortium

(c/o Art, Communication Design and Organizational Management Endowed Chair, Graduate School of Management, Kyoto University)

art_cd@mail2.adm.kyoto-u.ac.jp