• Business Overview
• Program Name
• Inquiries

Business Overview

Now that the unpredictable VUCA era is becoming “THE NEW NORMAL,” society is required to cultivate practical skills and frameworks of thinking, that is, “entrepreneurship,” that enable us to create new values and visions by transcending or combining existing frameworks without fear of failure through collaboration with others, and by viewing social issues as our own problems. The University Consortium Kyoto aims to develop human resources who will lead society through the development of higher education, local communities, and industry, and the development of human resources with entrepreneurship is in line with this.

The Entrepreneurship Project focuses on fostering basic entrepreneurship and contributes to the expansion of the base of entrepreneurship education in the Kyoto region. In addition, as a “core platform for inter-university collaboration and regional development,” we will promote a variety of inter-project collaboration based on the “entrepreneurship project” in order to deepen cooperation between local communities, industry, governments, and member universities.

Program Name

SPARK　　*SPARK=Startup Program for Accelerating Regional Knowledge

In this program, students will learn about entrepreneurship while traveling outside of Kyoto and experiencing multicultural coexistence. Through experiences and exchanges in distant regions, students will make full use of their own imagination and creativity to ignite the entrepreneurship mindset.

The English word Spark has meanings such as “spark”, “flash”, “electric spark”, “sparkle (gemstone, metal, etc.)”, “sparkle (brilliance, etc.)”, “liveliness”, etc. In addition to improving the entrepreneurship of participating students, collaboration with people and institutions in the area where the program is implemented will be active, and exchanges will develop. It is a program name with the meaning of.

Through participation in the program, students will increase their motivation, spirit of challenge, ability to take on action, and flexibility to take on real-world challenges in the unpredictable VUCA era.

Implementation details in FY2024

SPARK in Okinawa

[Notice of Extension of Additional Application Period]
The application period will be extended until noon on Friday, February 28. If you are considering applying, please take this opportunity to apply!

Organizer: University Consortium Kyoto
Operated by: HelloWorld, Inc.

SPARK 2024 will be held in Okinawa.
*Since this is the first time the program has been implemented, part of the participation fee will be subsidized by the University Consortium Kyoto.

Program Schedule

Monday, March 24, 2025 ~ Thursday, March 27, 2025
* Pre-study and post-study review will be conducted separately (participation required)

Dispatch Destination

Okinawa Prefecture (Lagoon Koza [Okinawa City], University of the Ryukyus [Nakagami District], etc.)

Participation Fee

80,000 yen 50,000 yen (special price) * Including participation fee subsidy by the University Consortium Kyoto　　
Includes program fee, accommodation fee, and air ticket fee (excluding local transportation expenses and pocket money)

Application Deadline

Friday, February 21, 2025 and Friday, February 28, 2025 at noon　

Recruitment Capacity

20
* Minimum number of participants: 10 (If the minimum number of participants is not reached, the participation fee may fluctuate or the event may not be held)

How to apply

For details, see “SPARK in Okinawa application website“

Overall Program Schedule

1. Pre-study (scheduled for 3/18 10:00-12:00) *Online

• Overall Orientation of the Program
• Presentation of pre-assignments for the workshop to be held on the second day (3/25)

2. Local activities (3/24~3/27, 3 nights and 4 days)

• Exposure to entrepreneurship (workshops, exchanges and exchanges of opinions with start-up companies and entrepreneurial students in Okinawa Prefecture, etc.)
• Experience multicultural coexistence (experience different cultures through interaction with host families of various nationalities)
• Learn about Okinawan culture (tour of Shuri Castle in the process of reconstruction, Eisa experience)

3. Post-mortem review (scheduled for the end of March ~ beginning of April)

• Sharing of learnings gained through participation in this program

SPARK in Okinawa information flyer (created by the Foundation)
SPARK in Okinawa information flyer (created by HelloWorld)
[Application Period Extension] SPARK in Okinawa Information Flyer (Created by HelloWorld)

Inquiries

University Consortium Kyoto Entrepreneurship Project
〒600-8216 Shimogyo-ku, Kyoto-shi, Nishitoin-dori, Shiokoji Campus Plaza Kyoto 1st floor
MAIL: entrepreneurship-compass ■ consortium.or.jp (Please change ■ to @ and send)
* Inquiry reception hours: Tuesday ~ Saturday 9:00 ~ 17:00 (excluding year-end and New Year holidays)