Hasegawa Seminar, Faculty of Sustainability Studies, Wins "Idea Award" in the 22nd Nikkei STOCK League -12th consecutive year since its first challenge in 2011

Two student teams from Prof. Naoya Hasegawa's seminar at the Faculty of Sustainability Studies won prizes and awards at the 22nd Nikkei STOCK League (sponsored by Nikkei Inc., special support by Nomura Group, and supported by the Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology, Financial Services Agency, and others). The percentage of the university division's winning entries this time is 5.4% (42 teams selected / 781 teams participated). This is the 12th consecutive year that the Hasegawa Seminar has been selected. In addition, one of the teams was selected as one of the best three in the university division and won the "Idea Award.
(Previous award winners: Grand Prize and Minister of Finance Award in 2013, Jury's Special Award in 2014, Fighting Spirit Award in 2015, and Idea Award in 2019)

With the support of Associate Professor Masaatsu Takehara of SCOPE (Sustainability Co-creation Programme), who has extensive experience working for domestic and foreign companies, we were able to complete a high quality report this year. Here are the two teams that received awards and honorable mentions.

Idea Prize" Winner
Theme: SMART MEDICAL - Creative destruction of the required medical field
Members: Leader Yuka Shimizu (3rd year), Masatake Honjo (3rd year), Junsuke Ito (2nd year), Sakiki Otsuka (2nd year)
Reiji Higashi (sophomore)

In light of the collapse of medical care caused by the 5th coronal wave that occurred in the summer of 2021, this report was based on the sense of crisis that Japan's current medical system would not be able to cope with a pandemic, and the importance of accelerating "smart medicine," which uses ICT solutions to reduce the burden on medical professionals and provide optimal medical care. He pointed out the importance of this.
The judges commented, "With regard to medical ICT, the importance of which was reaffirmed by the Corona Disaster, the company has its own awareness of the issues and carefully identified and analyzed the technologies and DX solutions that it believes are necessary. As a result, the thought process that led to the selection of the portfolio is clearly discussed, resulting in a report that is well grounded".
Team leader Ms. Shimizu said, "We chose the theme of 'medical ICT' to focus on the vulnerabilities in the Japanese healthcare field highlighted by the new coronavirus. We believe that we were able to write a paper with a strong message to society by constructing a report on a "topical and original theme," which emerged as a common thread in our research of past winning reports. I am very happy to have won this prize," says Mr. Higashi, "because all the members of the team continued to challenge themselves with high aspirations despite repeated trial and error and setbacks in their research activities, and the careful guidance of their professors and seniors led to their winning of the prize.

Honorable Mention Award
Theme: Survive! Chameleon management - Survival strategy to adapt to changes
Members: Leader Ryoka Iwata (3rd year), Yuuzhan Ishiwatari (3rd year), Yurika Hayashi (3rd year), Nako Minori (2nd year)

This report named "chameleon management" as a management style that responds immediately to changes in the business environment and takes on the challenge of boldly reforming the business structure with an eye on the future, and pointed out that the success or failure of a company's survival depends on proactively changing its business structure in anticipation of changing times while keeping its focus on its purpose (corporate raison d'etre). Mr. Iwata, who served as the leader of the meeting, said, "We are now in the midst of a period of change.
Mr. Iwata, who served as leader of the seminar, said, "We chose the theme of 'business structure reform' because we believe that in today's society, which has reached a turning point, companies need to be agile and adapt to the world's movements. I would like to express my sincere gratitude to the team members who worked hard together during the year, to the seminar students who gave us a helping hand when we needed it, and to the professors who carefully and enthusiastically guided us. I would like to express my sincere gratitude to the team members who worked hard together for a year, the seminar students who reached out to us when we needed help, and the teachers who carefully and enthusiastically guided us.

The Nikkei STOCK League is a report contest for junior high, high school, and university students, in which they "experience, learn, and think about the real economy" by creating portfolios and other activities in line with investment themes that each team independently determines. This year's contest, the 22nd of its kind, attracted 3,254 participants from 140 universities and 781 teams. ( https://manabow.com/sl/index.html )

Professor HASEGAWA Naoya