Omicale and Konan University Launch Industry-Academia Project to Design New Meeting Opportunities for People in Their 20s

Omicale Inc., operator of the matching-event platform Omicale and led by Representative Director Masahito Kurumiya, announced that it launched an industry-academia collaboration project in April 2026 with the Business Research Project of Konan University’s Faculty of Management and Innovation (https://www.konan-u.ac.jp/), supervised by Professor Kei Aoki. Students in the faculty will develop business ideas that create opportunities for people in their 20s to meet through 15 lectures, with final presentations scheduled for July 2026. Background and purpose: One factor behind Japan’s declining birthrate is that many unmarried people feel they have no opportunities to meet potential partners, making the creation of such opportunities an urgent social issue. At the same time, marriage and meeting opportunities have often been discussed as isolated moments, with insufficient attention paid to their connection with broader life design. Although the decline in opportunities to meet is a clear social issue, it is also a topic deeply tied to personal privacy and values. The sensitive nature of terms such as marriage hunting and dating can sometimes distance people from serious discussion. Even so, as a leading matching platform provider, Omicale intends to continue facing this issue directly through a fundamental approach. The company sees its role not only as providing places for people to meet, but also as contributing to a shift in social awareness that reframes marriage as part of life design. The project was realized through collaboration with Konan University’s Faculty of Management and Innovation (CUBE), which shares this awareness of the issue. By having next-generation students analyze and design meeting opportunities from business perspectives such as well-being and marketing, the project aims to generate practical insights for both industry and academia. Project overview: The project is hosted by Konan University’s Faculty of Management and Innovation (CUBE) and Omicale. The supervising instructor is Professor Kei Aoki of Konan University. The partner company is Omicale Inc., represented by Masahito Kurumiya. The project runs from April to July 2026, and participants are students from Konan University’s Faculty of Management and Innovation. Project assignment: Students will propose ideas that create meeting opportunities mainly targeting people in their 20s, with the goal of improving the well-being of participants in marriage-related events. Assuming implementation within Hyogo Prefecture, they will design concrete event plans and PR methods, from market research through planning. Steps toward the final presentation include: 1. Market research: exploring issues and opportunities related to meeting among younger generations; 2. Concept development: clarifying the problem to be solved and defining the event concept; 3. Planning and PR proposal: presenting specific event content and PR strategies to realize the concept. Lecture by Omicale Representative Kurumiya on April 14: On Tuesday, April 14, 2026, Omicale Representative Director Masahito Kurumiya gave a lecture at Konan University’s Nishinomiya Campus on the theme of “What Omicale Aims For.” In the lecture, he explained the current state of the marriage-hunting market and the value of the intuitive emotion of “tokimeki,” or excitement, that Omicale provides. He also organized the positioning of matching apps, marriage agencies, and events, and presented students with the perspective of seeing meeting opportunities not as isolated points, but as part of life design. During the Q&A session, students asked a series of sharp questions, such as why women’s participation fees tend to be lower and what fundamentally differentiates apps from events. This led to active discussion. Kurumiya closed the lecture by saying he expects students’ free ideas to bring fresh momentum to the marriage-hunting market. Future plans: The project is scheduled to hold final presentations on Tuesday, July 21, 2026. Through 15 lectures, students will gradually refine their business plans. Omicale will continue actively promoting industry-academia collaboration with universities and providing society with opportunities for younger generations to think and act independently about life design, including marriage. Media coverage of the final presentations at Konan University will be possible on the day of the event. Those interested in coverage are asked to contact the company. Omicale Inc. operates the marriage-hunting information site Omicale. In a society where men and women who wish to marry find it difficult to meet despite wanting to do so, partly due to the decline in the population at marriageable age, the company’s vision is “creating new encounters: turning zero opportunities to meet into ZERO.” Omicale has more than one million members, and claims the No. 1 position in Japan for the number of listed marriage-hunting parties, matching events, and machikon events, as well as participants and reviews, based on the company’s own research. The company also operates Omicale Live, a video-call-based matching app. It is strengthening collaboration with local governments and businesses, and is working to create serious meeting opportunities both offline and online. Company overview: Company name: Omicale Inc.; Representative Director and President: Masahito Kurumiya; Headquarters: 8F Plenge Yoyogi Building, 1-35-1 Yoyogi, Shibuya-ku, Tokyo; Business: operation of marriage-hunting media and development of support services for marriage-hunting business operators; URL: https://omicale.co.jp/. Note: Based on the company’s own research. Event participant numbers refer to participants via event reservation sites from October to December 2024, using other companies’ figures as of February 2025 and IR data from other companies. Event listing numbers refer to offline marriage-hunting parties and machikon listings held during the relevant month, as of April 2025. Review listing numbers refer to the number of reviews posted on the site as of February 2025.