On September 22nd (Wednesday), we held a kick-off seminar "Sustainability and Hokkaido University" online to commemorate the establishment of Institute for the Advancement of Sustainability.

At the seminar, after the opening address by President Kiyohiro Hokane, we received a guest address from Michiko Ikeda, Director of SDGs from the Japan Business Federation, followed by Atsushi Yokota, Executive Director and Vice President (in charge of international affairs and SDGs). He gave a lecture titled "History of Hokkaido University's development and SDGs."

In this lecture, we introduced Hokkaido University's history to date, the university's role and collaboration with the local community and industry, and Hokkaido University's future efforts to solve global issues. Based on the fact that our university has been aiming to contribute to a sustainable society since the era when the term "SDGs" did not exist, we have established a vast research forest based on the philosophy of "Frontier Spirit" and "Practical Learning" that have been in place since the school's opening. There was an explanation with specific examples, such as the environmental measurements used and on-site training using a training vessel. The university expressed its determination to continue proactively tackling global issues.

Next, Makoto Demura, Advisor to the President, gave an explanation of Institute for the Advancement of Sustainability and the future prospects of the organization.

Next, Vice Governor Mototo Uramoto gave a lecture from Hokkaido, which concluded a comprehensive partnership agreement with our university on Wednesday, April 7th (pre-recorded for official business purposes). In this lecture, he explained the pillars of this comprehensive partnership agreement, such as "promotion of human resources development," "promotion of SDGs," "promotion of economy and industry," and realization of "Society 5.0." They exchanged information and opinions on the issues involved in promoting this, and stated that they would work collaboratively.

Finally, as a closing address, Kazunori Iwabuchi, Advisor to the President, stated the university's future prospects for SDGs, and the seminar ended.

This seminar was attended by more than 200 people from inside and outside the university. We would like to thank everyone who participated.