【Announcement of Entrepreneurship Course in 3-4Q and early registration】
Workshop for Entrepreneurship Courses to be held on 31/Oct-1/Nov
Design Thinking for Your Creative Practice
–Skills and methodology to help you work like a designer–
Outline
We are pleased to announce the upcoming entrepreneurship workshop, “Design Thinking for Your Creative Practice,” to be held over two days on 31/Oct(Sat) and 1/Nov(Sun), and to inform you that “Advanced Call for Applicants” is now open.
“Design Thinking”—grounded in the concept of “Creative Confidence” and “User-Centric” serves as a foundational concept for fostering entrepreneurship. It cultivates genuine practical capability by allowing individuals to internalize these concepts through hands-on experience rather than mere knowledge; this involves defining one’s own vision and navigating the process of logically persuading others to bring that vision to life. In the age of AI, this capacity is considered a primary source of individual value.
In today’s borderless society, acquiring leadership and entrepreneurial skills is essential for proactively creating new value, and design thinking serves as a highly effective foundation for this purpose. Consequently, not only startups but also numerous companies—both in Japan and abroad—are actively adopting design thinking.
Tutors for the workshop are Thomas Both, David Janka, and Scott Witthoft. They are all professional product designers and educators. They teach design thinking at the Stanford University d.school, the University of Texas at Austin, and at organizations around the world.
We have held this workshop annually since 2014—making us the only university in Japan to have maintained such a program for this long—and nearly 500 students have participated to date.
The language used in the workshop is, of course, English. It offers a fantastic opportunity to challenge yourself in an international environment without leaving Japan. We look forward to receiving your application.
Please note that if the number of applicants exceeds the capacity, a selection process will be held; however, the first 20 applicants who register by the end of August will be treated as “early applicants” and given priority for participation. We therefore recommend submitting your application early via the form below.
*Points of this workshop (14 points) can be applied for the following Entrepreneurship (Leadership, Value Creation) Courses with “point system”:
■200-level:
・ENT.L202 Bachelor’s Fundamental Group Work for Leadership B
・ENT.V206 Bachelor’s Fundamental Group Work for Value Creation D
■500-level:
・ENT.L502/504 Master’s Essential Group Work for Entrepreneurship B/D
・ENT.L505-02 Master’s Fundamental Group Work for Entrepreneurship F
・TAL.S506/510 Recognition of Social Issues Workshop B/D (only for ToTAL students)
・TAL.W502/503 Fundamental Group Work for Leadership I/II (only for ToTAL students)
■600-level:
・ENT.L602/604 Doctoral Essential Group Work for Entrepreneurship B/D
・ENT.L605-02 Doctoral Fundamental Group Work for Entrepreneurship F
*Any of Science Tokyo students (both Bachelor and Graduate students) who are not applying the above course can apply to the workshop. (Credits will not be granted to those students).
*This workshop has been designated as an event for “SPRING” program.
Details
| Date & Time | 【Day 1】 Saturday, October 31, 2026, 9:00-18:00 【Day 2】 Sunday, November 1, 2026, 9:00-18:00 |
| Venue | S4-202/203 Lecture Room, South Building 4, Ookayama Campus【tentative】 |
| Capacity | Around 35 students |
| Notes | ・Any of Science Tokyo students may apply the workshop. ・There will be a selection in case of over-subscription. ・In case of oversubscription, participants will be selected in the following order: Total students, students enrolled in the relevant course, and spot participants for this event and answers to the question of the application form; “Please indicate your English capability, such as ‘Native’, ‘Advanced’, ‘Intermediate’, or ‘Beginner’, and/or score of English assessment tests including TOEFL, TOEIC, IELTS, Cambridge, and/or EIKEN,” and “Your aim(s) or expectations you have for this workshop, or motivation for joining the workshop”. ・Attendants to this workshop need to make commitments to: (1) attending both 2 days, and (2) not be late nor leave early for those days. |
| Language used | *This workshop will be held entirely in English. (Scores over 750 for TOEIC and 80 for TOEFL iBT are preferrable). |
| Fee | Free |
| Application deadline | Friday, October 9, 2026 |
| Application | If you wish to apply, please apply via the early registration form below. Early Registration Form: https://forms.cloud.microsoft/r/w6Aw4QR9Jn |
| Inquiry | Please contact Prof. Keisuke Yamada of Center for Entrepreneurship Education/Academy for Leadership Email: yamada.k.9f82@m.isct.ac.jp, Room: S6-309B, Ookayama Campus |
EARLY REGISTRATION
■Please pre-register using this early registration form (https://forms.cloud.microsoft/r/w6Aw4QR9Jn) or the QR code below.
(Please note that you must still officially enroll in the course through the Kyomu Web System during the course registration period next semester.)
Students who register early through this form will be given priority during official course enrollment.
Early Registration Form (QR code)
＜Reference＞ Facilitators
From left: David Janka, Thomas Both, Scott Witthoft
■Thomas Both:
Thomas is a designer and design educator whose passion is helping people understand the practice of human-centered design—and their ability as designers—to innovate how they learn, think, and solve problems. He is director of the Designing for Social Systems program at the Hasso Plattner Institute of Design (d.school) at Stanford University. In this program, he teaches professionals how to apply design thinking to complex social challenges and facilitates workshops for social impact leaders to develop a more human and strategic practice.
■David Janka:
Design consultant and creative strategist; former Fellow and current lecturer at the Stanford University d.school. David has a medical degree from Stanford and works to integrate design thinking principles into medical education, healthcare delivery, and medical device design.
■Scott Witthoft:
Professional space and product designer; former Associate Professor of Practice at University of Texas at Austin; former Fellow and lecturer at the Stanford University d.school. Scott is author of the book “Make Space,” a tool for designing collaborative spaces. He has a professional background in structural engineering.
＜Reference＞ Comments of students who joined the workshop last year
■The way you think can affect you! Joining this workshop might help you discover your own way of thinking and help you with the mindset of thinking in a logical way (as the title~ help you to design your thinking especially creative thinking!)（D1）
■A great opportunity to challenge your creativity and learn new methods that can be applicable for your research and career.（D2）
■It was a great opportunity to talk with other students with different background. Also, If someone is struggling with their research, It is a good chance to rethink and see their research in a different perspective.（M1）
■I learned several new concepts, including Why–How Laddering and Prototyping, which help reduce external distractions and encourage more logical thinking. In fact, I bought a whiteboard for my room soon after the workshop, and it has been extremely helpful for both my daily life and my work. If you want to improve the way you think or are interested in becoming an entrepreneur, I strongly recommend registering for this workshop and giving it a try.(B1)
■Join this class to notice small details in your life and new opportunities for improvements to science. This workshop will change your mindset to thinking about your personal and professional life. (B1)
■If you want to escape from your research life, try this workshop. Although it’s 2 days on the weekend, it’s really fun to do collaborate with new friends, learn something mind-opening from amazing native English speaker instructors. (M2)
＜Reference＞ Aims and characteristics of this workshop
■All Science Tokyo students are expected to develop and execute new value for society when they become “professionals” in any fields. At ToTAL, we believe that the core of “leadership” is the motivation and skills to develop such new value for society proactively.
■The concept of “Creative Confidence”, meaning that creativity is for everybody and anyone can generate new ideas, and “User Centric”, which is making new values to be accepted in society, are the fundamentals of Design Thinking. Establishing such concepts in your mind, developing logic and taking actions will lead to such new values.
■Although it is often understood that Design Thinking is a kind of method to generate “innovations” by following 5 steps; empathize, define, ideate, prototype and test, the core of Design Thinking is the 2 concept above.
■This workshop aims to establish such 2 concepts in your brain and body. d.school tutors designed the agenda especially for Science Tokyo to satisfy such aim, which is deferent from usual design thinking workshop of merely learning the 5 steps.
■During this 2-day workshop, students should try to understand and experience the mind-set of Creative Confidence and the skill set of User Centric; exploring mechanism of needs and jump belong logic, through d.school way of speedy, friendly and diversified learning environment.
Flyer
Click on the image or HERE to view the PDF.
Inquiries
Prof. Keisuke Yamada
Center for Entrepreneurship Education/Academy for Leadership
Email address: yamada.k.be@m.titech.ac.jp
Office: S6-309B, TEL: 03-5734-2323
