Can universities become the base for startup talent?

What was discussed

The session discussed how to view students' motivation and the role of researchers if universities are to foster an entrepreneurial spirit. It introduced education through the off-campus organization BLUE and endowed courses, and a policy of not forcing students to start businesses while still in school and of making use of experience at large companies as well. The idea of a class that returns to formative childhood experiences, so that students who conform to others' evaluations can find their own desires, was also discussed. The need for a division of roles in which fundraising and commercialization are left to others so that researchers can concentrate on deep research was presented.

About this session

BLUE, an organisation that appeared suddenly within Aoyama Gakuin University. Together with a speaker who has served in the leadership of renowned global strategy consultancies, we hold a special session as an open planning meeting on new university strategy with an eye to the industry creation that companies seek.

Speakers

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  Eric Masanobu Matsunaga

  Aoyama Gakuin University　Professor and Dean, School of Global Studies and Collaboration

  His fields are international management, digital transformation, and people and organisation management. After more than twenty-five years of consulting at Accenture, Nomura Research Institute, Deloitte and PwC, he joined Aoyama Gakuin University in 2019, and has served as Dean of the School of Global Studies and Collaboration since April 2025. In his seminar, students build business concepts aimed at social problems, working with companies to develop new venture plans. On the AGU Future Eagle Project, selected for the JSPS programme for the next generation of researchers, he teaches entrepreneurship to doctoral students. He is also Digital Chief Advisor at Avanade and a visiting professor at the Graduate School of Project Design.

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  Yuya Nishimura

  esse-sense Inc.　Representative Director

  Born in Ikeda, Osaka, in 1981. After a master's in human sciences at Osaka University he worked at a human development venture and at the Japan Productivity Center, and founded the NPO Miratuku in 2011. He supports the building of innovation infrastructure across fields and roles, business creation inside companies, R&D projects, and the search for future visions and currents. In 2021 he founded esse-sense Inc., which runs esse-sense, connecting research knowledge with society.

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  Yuka Tanimoto

  ModeratorForbes JAPAN (Linkties Co., Ltd.)　Executive Officer and Web Editor-in-Chief

  After working at a securities firm, she anchored financial and economic programmes on Bloomberg TV and took an MBA in the United States in 2004. She then worked as a presenter at Nikkei CNBC, where she became the broadcaster's first female commentator, and has been Executive Officer and Web Editor-in-Chief of Forbes JAPAN since June 2020. She has interviewed more than three thousand leading figures worldwide, among them former British prime minister Tony Blair, Apple co-founder Steve Wozniak and Starbucks founder Howard Schultz. She also moderates economic symposia and serves as a judge for government-backed startup competitions. Her books include a guide to listening and a study of the passions of the world's top leaders.