This forum is being organised at the initiative of the Japan Society for the Promotion of Science (JSPS) and will be jointly hosted by the University of Strasbourg and Toyo University, which have developed a fruitful and active research partnership over many years.

It will focus on the dual challenge of ecological and digital transformations in a world where instability and uncertainty have rarely been so great, and where creativity plays a central role.

The current developments are in fact part of a shift in the production paradigm, the premises of which date back to the mid-1980s. It is characterised by the affirmation of a form of competition based on the capacity for continuous innovation and by a double phenomenon: the intellectualisation of production and the diffusion of creative activities in all productive activities. In such a context, organisational and human resources are strategic elements and therefore important sources of change because they open up options for the future.

Research and education in universities, in collaboration with the economic and social sciences, especially the human sciences, as well as the natural sciences, must search for future evolutionary processes in response to the rapid development of AI, energy scarcity, economic changes, and geopolitical and global challenges.

The aim of the Forum is to exchange views on how Japanese and French companies are tackling these transitions by building on entrepreneurship and organisational creativity.

We will specifically address the following issues: the role of innovative ecosystems and the creation of commons; the sustainability of ecological and digital transitions; creativity management, with a focus on human resource management; entrepreneurship, including support for start-ups, training and mentoring, links with universities; Aging and longevity, Human centered policy making and care-led innovation.

To address this global issue, the conference will involve researchers from both universities in some of the relevant areas of economics and management science to address the above issues. We will also include specialists from other universities and institutions, mixing the diversity of cultures and views to better understand the issues.

The panel of speakers will include established researchers as well as young colleagues in order to initiate exchanges and new collaborations between Japanese and French researchers.

The scientific coordination of the conference is ensured by Michèle Forté, University of Strasbourg and Hajime Imamura, Toyo University.

The sumposium is free of access, but registration is mandatory here

Scientific program : Program_draft_2009ver-1