Harnessing Co-creation to Transform Education(2)

*Insights shared in this dialogue are personal and do not represent those of any organization.
*Affiliations and positions are current at the time of this writing (August 2025).
*The interview was conducted at MIRAI LAB PALETTE (MLP).

 

*Continued from Interview Part 1

Mutually resonating views on young people

“I was fascinated by the Future Co-creation Initiative,” enthuses Shunsuke Mori, the IUEO’s representative director, reflecting on the Initiative’s history of co-creation with Yokogawa.

“My first encounter with the Initiative was during an online event in 2021. The focus was on the United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and sustainability. At the time, I was researching information on the SDGs that could be used to develop secondary school materials.

“My first reaction was amazement that a company was pursuing something so remarkable. Corporations are invariably short-sighted, but Yokogawa was different. It activates scenario planning, working backward to assess the present from a visionary look into the future. That blew me away.”

Mori reached out immediately. “After the event, I went to the Yokogawa website and used their inquiry form to ask whether there was a way to collaborate with them.”

Nobuko Ouchi, one of the Yokogawa Future Co-creation Initiative’s Scenario Ambassadors, recalls what happened next.

“Mori’s passion resonated with us. Our goals dovetailed, which deeply intrigued us. Our mutual search for ways to reach and support teenagers fired our eagerness to collaborate.”

Nobuyuki Tamaki, Project Leader for the Future Co-creation Initiative, affirms that he and Mori were “on the same wavelength.”

“The youths entrusted with the future should be the ones envisioning it and bringing it to life.　We shared the desire to provide a space where that could happen, so it felt natural to collaborate. Mori is skilled at designing questions and learning environments for young people. This is key, as I think you must nurture people before trying to create a better society for the future.”

Collaborating to reinvent education

Mori explains the three-pronged nature of collaborative efforts drawing on joint areas of expertise.

“Our first joint effort was to develop English-language materials called ‘Thinking Critically about SDGs.’ These introduce Future Co-creation Initiative activities as a case study for SDG 17: Partnerships for the Goals. I interviewed Tamaki and the Scenario Ambassadors and wrote articles targeting secondary school students, relating the importance of business partnership.”

Our second collaboration was the Student/Corporate Co-creation Forum: Learning How to Create the Future. The event afforded secondary/university students and businesspersons a platform for considering the future of education. Over the course of two years, starting in 2023, Scenario Ambassadors conducted workshops underscoring the importance of backcasting.

Our third shared creation is the ongoing Future Wings Project. This effort generates teaching materials for inquiry-oriented high school classes while highlighting the Yokogawa Future Co-creation Initiative. Worksheets supervised by Initiative members aid students in considering their own career paths. The materials are available free of charge to high schools upon request.

The materials and events gave many students exposure to Future Co-creation Initiative activities and perspectives, but what value did Mori intend to provide through those efforts?

“Japanese education tends to be closed and characterized by narrow perspectives. It is not an environment in which students can learn the strengths required to live happily. We hope to fill the gap with our own materials and educational programs. In that sense, envisioning myriad futures through scenario planning affords a chance to contemplate the nature of ‘being.’ Experiencing future-oriented thinking and investigating ideas should broaden students’ perspectives.”

What awaits beyond inquiry?

Scenario planning is about sharing our global outlook: discussing diverse views on life, work, and death and ultimately understanding each other’s values. During this process, communicating with those from different backgrounds is key, but discussion involving people of different generations and attributes is never easy. So what is the key to launching successful co-creative dialogue?

“I’d say psychological comfort is the top priority. Young Japanese tend to be reserved toward their elders. And the older generation, in turn, is uncertain of how to relate to young people. So the first task is to demolish that wall. We do that by employing an icebreaker, having participants move around and fully activate all five senses to generate an atmosphere in which participants can communicate easily.”

Tamaki adds, “Transcending generational and background differences and communicating freely leads to enhanced creativity.

“Companies must pursue productivity and efficiency for profitability. Yet that alone can cause employees to lose heart as well as creativity. Organizations need breathing room for individuals to regain their creativity and put it to work. The Future Co-creation Initiative may play a role in this. As companies or individuals with influence, we should not determine what young people do; we should support them as they create their own paths. In other words, I’d like to create a community which can support those who are being true to themselves.”

In a world without clear answers, we seek our “best self”—our “being”—through inquiry. Choosing work which allows us to be true to ourselves and cultivate our individuality helps us contribute to the organization and, by extension, to society. This interview with Shunsuke Mori highlighted that, in a world without clear answers, these efforts will surely enable students to foster the skills to thrive, now and in the future, leading to a richer life.

Personal happiness also leads to value creation for companies. It stands to reason that when happy individuals co-create, they are poised to help realize a better society. Yokogawa hopes that its collaboration with the IUEO will support the students leading our planet into the future.

From left to right: Nobuyuki Tamaki (Yokogawa), Shunsuke Mori (International Edutainment Association), Nobuko Ouchi (Yokogawa), Chinatsu Takahata (Yokogawa)