HU COI-NEXT tackles with low birth-rate issues with SNU collaborators

As one of the designated platforms for the Programme on Open Innovation Platforms for Industry-academia Co-creation (COI-NEXT) that is budgeted by the Japanese Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology (MEXT) and Japan Science and Technology Agency (JST), the Hokkaido University COI-NEXT Hub to Co-create a Life Design for Mind and Body has worked to connect overseas and domestic stakeholders in and around Hokkaido. On 5-6 March 2024, under the umbrella of this programme, Specially-appointed Professor Masanori Yoshino, Director of the Social and Regional Emergence Department (S-RED) and COI-NEXT Hub, Mr Hiroki Takase, S-RED Research Associate, and Senior Academic Specialist (International) Taena Uemura from the Office for the Promotion of International Collaborations visited Seoul National University (SNU). Hokkaido University (HU) has organized its annual joint symposium with SNU on a reciprocal basis since 1998 and considered SNU as one of the key international partners as the University of Melbourne and University of Massachusetts Amherst. Reflecting that the 26th HU-SNU Joint Symposium was jointly arranged with the Forum on the Future for Children in November 2023, this visit was organized to seek for possible steps of collaborations in the future.

SNU News’ student editors and profs

The two-day visit included meetings with a leading professor of Demography, Professor Youngtae Cho from the SNU Graduate School of Public Health, and faculty members and student editors of the SNU News. Talks covered latest situations in Korea and expectation that financial support would not be enough yet rather drastic approaches to reform industry and jointly cultivate human resources beyond borders and support brain circulation are expected.

The visit was concluded with a meeting with the former and current Vice President for International Affairs: Professor Jae W. Lee from the College of Engineering and Professor Theresa Seung Ah Cho from the Graduate School of Business. The next Forum on the Future for Children will be held in Hokkaido on 15-16 February 2025.

From left: VP Lee, Prof Yoshino, Prof Cho, Ms Uemura

(Text and photos provided by S-RED and the Office for the Promotion of International Collaborations)