Tohoku University
Tohoku University, as a leading institution, sets a vision of cultivating entrepreneurs who create (1) new industries originated from regional characteristics and from global market-in strategy, and (2) vitalize local communities.
We will incorporate advanced education methods developed by foreign institutions such as PBL (Project-Based Learning or Problem based learning) into our previous and ongoing ones, and improve them to fit communities’ and companies’ compelling needs.
We will also provide hands-on entrepreneurship education from the early stage of startups(including searching for research “seeds”) to value creation (business model) for social implementation through Tohoku University Business Incubation Program (BIP).
Organization of EDGE-NEXT programs (Tohoku University)
Main programs
TP1
Entrepreneur Introductory Course: Basic Seminar Class
TP1 is a career design and mindset program that offers lectures on social issues in the Tohoku district. The feature is that we have customized existing educational program for graduate students and business persons to undergraduate 1st and 2nd grade students’ interests and developed essence with external knowledge resource as basic seminar lecture for undergraduate students.
TP2
Entrepreneur Challenge Course: Developmental Seminar Class
TP2 is a workshop which helps students experience starting a venture business by allowing them to practice virtual market and online transactions. The feature is that we have customized the design education method for graduate students and business persons in the Field Design Centerto the undergraduate 1st and 2nd graders’ level and adopted it for them to learn and practice the skills for starting a business.
TP3
Tohoku University Educational Program for Global Resources in Medical Device Innovation
One year PBL program for Tohoku University graduate students. Several groups consisted of 4 to 5 students visit Tohoku University Hospital to find unmet clinical needs and to create the idea of medical device to solve the problem. Finally, they present the medical device and its business model in an international internship in the Netherlands and Taiwan.
TP4
Japan Biodesign Tohoku
Japan Biodesign Tohoku is a medical device entrepreneur fellowship program launched in Japan by Tohoku, Tokyo, and Osaka Universities under the supervision of Stanford Biodesign.
The aim of this program is to find unmet clinical needs through clinical immersion by a team of fellows who have diverse background including medicine, engineering and business. Top selected needs through their intensive screening and brainstorming will then be met by feasible concepts which will be tested by prototyping. Final business planning may lead to launching startups. In the EARTH on EDGE context, this education program will be open to the membership institutions from Hokkaido, Otaru, Miyagi, Kyoto and Kobe, and business supporting programs are expected to facilitate launching startups.
TP5
FDC / PBL design studio program
A workshop of design thinking tackling a project of practical and wicked problems in companies and communities. It is a program of project driven design education on multidisciplinary collaboration by mixed teams composed of researchers in various fields of expertise, students / graduate students of various grades, product developers, local creators, etc.
TP6
BIP like i-Corps/NSF internship for business verification program
Target,:
Graduate students at Leading Program
Objective.
To study the qualification process by visiting potential laboratories and developing “seeds”
to applying Business Incubation Program (BIP) for startup companies.
NOTE:
Student can study and have the experience of business development activity with “seeds” generation and business startup process.
Style:
On the Job Training by Professor at office of business and innovation