May 6 - 7, 2010
St. Gallen Symposium is a world-class symposium held in St. Gallen, Switzerland, every May, where instructors and students from all over the world gather to discuss global topics. This year, the symposium was held on May 6 & 7, and from Kyoto University, Ryoichi Kusama of the Graduate School of Engineering (second year of master's program) participated.
The St. Gallen Symposium Briefing for Kyoto University graduate students was held last fall at the International Center/Foreign Student Division and the Graduate School of Engineering．
Report by participant: Second year of master's program
Department of Mechanical Engineering and Science, Graduate School of Engineering
Ryoichi Kusama
The St. Gallen Symposium is a valuable opportunity where approximately 600 industry-government-academia leaders and approximately 200 students and young entrepreneurs gather from all over the world to exchange opinions. This symposium, marking it's 40th anniversary this year, is operated by the students of the University of St. Gallen, and in comparison with the World Economic Forum held in Davos, Switzerland in January, is also known as the student-version Davos Conference. This year's theme was "Entrepreneurs―Agents of Change." Entrepreneurs are people who challenge things without fearing the risks in order to create new values and contribute to the society. Energetic discussion took place from various perspectives including CEOs of major corporations, high government officials, university professors and entrepreneurs on environment that fosters entrepreneurship, elements necessary to succeed as an entrepreneur, etc.
There were two points that interested me at the symposium. One is that people from outside of China repeatedly mentioned the famous quote "what matters is not whether the cat is black or white, what matters is whether the cat catches mice" by Deng Xiaoping. Seeing the reality of the world's attention focused on China and India made me realize the lack of presence of Japan, and at the same time, felt the great chance Japan has in Asia right now. Another is a comment made by an African participant during the work session on China-Africa relations, which said, "the subject should be Africa." It made me realize that instead of discussing how problematic it is for China to be exploiting resources from Africa, it is important to focus on the local people of Africa, who will build its future, and discuss not about how to "give" them, but about how to enable them to "create."
Furthermore, the most special part about this symposium is that I got the opportunity to speak with students and young entrepreneurs from all over the world. Speaking with them made me realize that even though Japan lacks presence, it has human resources that can compete on an equal basis with people from other countries. While issues such as low labor mobility, lack of sense of urgency regarding low English abilities, and harmful effects of mass employment of new graduates are being pointed out, I realized that there are many people around me who are aware of the current issues, and are taking action. For Japan to continue to be a country that contributes to the global society, universities, major corporations and entrepreneurs should not merely worry about Japan's future, but instead, think on their own about what should be done in the current situation, and to take action as entrepreneurs.
First, take action yourself. The St. Gallen Symposium was a valuable opportunity for me to renew my resolve.
 At the pre-conference (Mr. Kusama is third from right.) |  Work session |