Co-creation Program "InnoLabo Academy" (5 Sessions) Connecting Students with "Social Implementation" to Start

S-Innovation Inc. (Representative Director: Yoshinobu Hoshino) and East Japan Railway Company Niigata Branch (Branch Manager: Hiroko Shirayama, hereinafter "JR East Niigata Branch") will launch the co-creation program "InnoLabo Academy" with companies and students in Niigata Prefecture, starting from June 10th.

We are recruiting students to participate in this program, which aims to incorporate the knowledge and ideas learned by students to solve regional issues faced by companies and apply them to society. Please check the details of the application below.

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Based on the results of the previous (0th) one-off event, the program has been updated and will be implemented as a continuous program consisting of five sessions. The biggest feature is a structure where JR East Niigata Branch provides challenges it wants to solve and assets that can be utilized, acting not as a "venue provider" but as a "stakeholder in the issues," deepening co-creation with local companies and students in stages.

(Reference *Scenes from the 0th session)

Students and companies challenge idea creation together "InnoLabo Academy" first held – MAGAZINE – InnoLaboNIIGATA ~InnoLabo Niigata~

In this program, from the 1st session "Open" to the 5th session "Question," JR East Niigata Branch, local companies, and students will gradually form teams and co-create business proposals based on real issues. In the final session, presentations will be made to judges, leading to demonstration experiments.

1. Program Overview

The "InnoLabo Academy" 5-session continuous program is a model for co-creating new businesses that could not have been born internally, by opening up the challenges faced by JR East Niigata Branch to the outside and combining the knowledge of local companies with the ideas of students.

2. Details of Each Program

The details of each session are as follows:

Session 1 "Open" — All participants share the challenges and assets of JR East Niigata Branch

JR East Niigata Branch will take the lead, with employees giving lightning talks on "Regional revitalization and challenges JR East aims for," sharing their vision with all participants. In the latter half, all participants will conduct an inventory work of JR assets, and finally, JR employees will present 2-3 "challenge themes they want to solve."

Session 2 "Know" — Delve into the strengths and resources of local companies

Local companies will present "their strengths / points where they can collaborate with JR East Niigata Branch / regional issues they want to solve / what they want to think about together in the latter half of the program." Each company will formulate hypotheses for combining their own resources with JR assets and clarify the possibilities of collaboration through dialogue with students and JR employees.

Session 3 "Team Up" — Form teams and set questions

In the first half, participants will review Sessions 1 and 2 and brainstorm ideas, and in the latter half, "teams consisting of themes × local companies × JR employees × students" will be formed. (Team composition will basically be "1 local company + 3-5 students," with JR employees also joining the discussion.) Finally, "question cards" will be created to serve as the starting point for co-creation from Session 4 onwards. (Example: How will our team solve the issue of ○○ using ○○ of JR East Niigata Branch and ○○ of ○○ company?)

Session 4 "Create" — Design new business proposals by team

Business proposals will be designed based on four axes: ① issues to solve, ② assets/resources to use, ③ business mechanism, and ④ why only this team can do it. After unifying the format for the final presentation, intermediate progress will be shared with other teams.

Session 5 "Question" — Presentation & Next Action

Presentations will be made to judges for 10 minutes (7 minutes for presentation + 3 minutes for Q&A). Evaluation criteria are: "① Novelty, ② Sociality, ③ Business viability, ④ JR East Niigata Branch × local company asset fit, ⑤ Will to realize." After the presentation, a next action session will be held where all participants discuss "the next step," leading to awards.

3. Target Participants and Recruitment

Target: Students enrolled in vocational schools, colleges of technology, universities, and graduate schools (no restrictions on grade or major)

Team composition: 1 local company + 3-5 students + JR employees

Participation fee: Free

Participating companies: 3-5 companies from InnoLabo Niigata's regional partner companies will participate

▶︎Click here to apply for student participation

4. Expected Effects of This Program

JR East Niigata Branch and S-Innovation Inc. aim to realize a region where new businesses and innovators continue to emerge from Niigata through this program.

For inquiries about this program, please contact the InnoLabo Academy Secretariat (S-Innovation Inc.).

About S-Innovation Inc.

MISSION: New value for regional assets with new technology.

Representative Director: Yoshinobu Hoshino

Location: Nishihori 501 Bldg. 3F, 790 Nishihori-dori Sanbancho, Chuo-ku, Niigata City

Homepage: https://sinnovation.jp

Business activities:

・Development and operation of regional corporate innovation platform [oO]

・New business development support (including CVC establishment and operation support)

・Regional open innovation