2022.12.20

Sharing the Next Generation’s Dreams with the World at One Young World 2022 Hive in Okayama, Japan

On September 8, Okayama University hosted the “OYW 2022 Hive in Okayama, Japan (Okayama Hive)” event at the Okayama Broadcasting Co., Ltd., Kurun Hall (OHK) as a regional base (Regional Hives) for One Young World (OYW), one of the world’s largest summits bringing together the next generation of young leaders representing 196 countries. Targeting those unable to travel to the OYW 2022 summit in Manchester, England, the following four cities hosted this event: New York for North America, Sao Paulo for South America, Johannesburg for Africa, and Okayama for Asia. As Okayama University is an official partner of OYW and with the approval of the OYW Japan Committee, it was decided that the event would be the Okayama Hive, to be held in Okayama with Okayama University as host.

For the event, Okayama University students Mr. IWATA Ryoma (Faculty of Pharmaceutical Sciences, fourth year) and Ms. DEGUCHI Anna (Faculty of Letters, fourth year) were in charge of planning and operation. With the slogan of “Beyond the Dream -Driven By My Story -,” leaders active in the three areas of Gender Equality, Ethical Leadership and Community were invited to give lectures and run workshops. Approximately 100 participants joined the event, including high school and university students from within and outside the prefecture. In addition, from the cooperating institutions, Head of Education KAGIMOTO Yoshiaki from the Okayama Prefectural Board of Education, President and CEO of OHK NAKASHIZU Keiichiro, and Okayama University President MAKINO Hirofumi attended.

The program from 10:00 to 16:00 included six lectures and four workshops related to community-based corporate activities, student entrepreneurship and diversity, targeting university students from both within and outside the prefecture. Participants could directly exchange views with the lecturers and interact with each other.

High school students from within and outside the prefecture joined the event at 16:00. There was a speech from President MAKINO, as well as a video message from the Governor of Okayama Prefecture IBARAGI Ryuta. Following this, there was a lecture and panel discussion by former OYW participants (ambassadors), and the high school students, university students, and leaders interacted with each other while creating a “dream board” in English for outputting their dreams.

In the latter half of the event, Okayama and Manchester were linked by a live broadcast, and the 100 participants raised their “dream boards” toward the Manchester summit venue, calling the slogan “Beyond the Dream” and powerfully communicating their dreams to the world. In the live relay, the presenters, Ms. DEGUCHI and Ms. NUNO Kokoro (Discovery Program for Global Learners, second year), introduced the Okayama Hive event program to the founders of OYW, Kate Robertson and David Jones, who were at the Manchester summit. Then, the high school student representative Ms. KONISHI Minori (Okayama Joto High School, third year), gave a speech on the topic “Dreams.” Next, the university student representative KITAKAZE Ami (Faculty of Law, fourth year) gave a speech about “Dreams and What I’ve Learned from Okayama Hive.” President MAKINO followed with “A Message to Young People That Will Lead the Next Generation.”

After the live relay, Ms. TANAI Airi (Dental School, fifth year) and Senior Vice President YOKOI Atsufumi, who attended the Manchester summit, gave a surprise appearance online to share the atmosphere of the summit and their impressions with the all participants at the Okayama venue.

After the event, there was a viewing of the end-roll movie filmed and edited by Mr. IWATA and Mr. ISHII Masaya (OYW ambassador) and the participants reflected on the event, which ended on a high note.

With the theme of “from the local to the global community ” Okayama University will continue to actively provide opportunities for students who will lead the next generation to send out their message.

■One Young World (OYW):

After being declared at the 2009 World Economic Forum (known as the Davos Forum; headquarters in Geneva, Switzerland), OYW has become one of the world’s largest summits, bringing together young leaders (18-30 years old) representing 196 countries. It has taken place annually since it was first held in London, the capital city of Great Britain, in 2010. OYW is a project for developing the next generation of young leaders in a global collaboration of industry, government and academia for the purpose of solving challenges on a global scale faced by the world, by having the next generation of young leaders cooperate under world leaders. Its scale and network continue to rapidly expand. The 2023 summit is scheduled to be held in Belfast, North Ireland.