On 25 February, the J-MCP SDGs & Business Web 3.0 program wrapped up with a virtual congress in the metaverse (Virbela). Four student teams presented their start-up companies, business plans and prototypes for their products, which they had been working on during the past four weeks. They were challenged to devise innovative web 3.0-related products to help achieve particular sustainable development goals (SDGs). This years products included: Drones for infrastructure planning (SDG 9.1), an e-learning smart watch to improve access to education (SDG 4), an all-in-one VR headset to facilitate sustainable shopping in the metaverse (SDG 12), and an AI- and Metaverse-based education platform to learn about various  LGBTQ+ topics ( SDG 10)
 

About the SDGs & Business Web 3.0 program

This four-week intensive course is largely taking place in the Metaverse (Virbela) and brings together 21 students from Japan and overseas to validate business models and frame solutions to some of the most pressing challenges of our time under the UN's Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).Over the course of the program, the students will go through an interactive, collaborative, and step-by-step process to build and validate start-up ideas based on content from world-renowned start-up accelerators and guest speakers.
 

Guest speakers and mentors

This years program welcomed a range of guest speakers and mentors including  leading academics, social start-up founders, journalists, and macro-economists.
 

Guest lectures and workshops included:

- Entrepreneurship workshop by Benson Ong (associate professor at Nanyang Polytechnic, Singapore)
- Lecture on Corporate Social Responsibility by Sunida Piriyapada (assistant professor at Panyapiwat Institute of Management, Thailand)-
- Lecture on Japan's New Business  Ecosystem by Momoka Ueda (project lead at Japan External Trade Organisation)
- Seminar on Business application of Machine learning technology by Yoshimitsu Imazu
- Lecture on circular economy by Mari Matsuzaki (Shibuya Startup Support)