Okayama University has been involved in the UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) on a university-wide basis, and such activities are closely connected with activities in various areas in Okayama Prefecture. In the Mizushima area in Kurashiki City, the Mizushima Stay-type Environmental Learning Consortium was launched by residents, companies, administrative organs, and universities in the basin of the Takahashi River in the Mizushima area on March 29, 2018, with the kick-off symposium being held on the same day. The consortium aims to develop human resources that can play a major role in sustainable regional development, as part of the implementation of the SDGs based on the Kurashiki Declaration adopted at the G7 Kurashiki Education Ministers’ Meeting held in May 2016.

In the symposium, President Hirofumi Makino delivered a lecture and raised the importance of a regional circulation-type social issue resolution cycle, in which regional issues are connected directly with global innovation. He also expressed high expectations for the consortium.

A relay talk by representatives of various circles was also held, in which Kurashiki City Mayor Kaori Ito and Professor Satoshi Mimura of the University of Okayama Academic and General Okayama University Regional Research Association (AGORA) expressed their high expectations and hopes for the consortium on the stage.