Come join the Design Thinking EXPO at the Kyoto Institute of Technology where we celebrate the conclusion of the nine-month global innovation program, ME310/SUGAR, and the ten-year anniversary of Kyoto Institute of Technology joining the network. You will be able to discover the incredible results from a variety of design thinking projects and meet future innovators. This is the local version of the ME310 EXPE and SUGAR EXPO in Silicon Valley in June and will also feature a keynote speech, workshop, and mixers.

【What is ME310/SUGAR?】
ME310/SUGAR is a program where students from universities around the world take on innovation challenges posed by global companies using design thinking methodologies. In nine months, student teams start from a broadly defined brief and develop a refined concept with a functional prototype, not just a series of post-its or ideas. Many of the prototypes from ME310/SUGAR have been further developed by the partner companies and released into the market.
The program originated at Stanford University and has spread around the world to over twenty universities on five continents. The number of students worldwide has increased fivefold over the last ten years, but KIT is the only Japanese university in the network.

【ME310/SUGAR Projects and Partners 2018–2019】
“Shaping the in-car experience of future autonomous mobility concepts ”
BMW with the Technical University of Munich, Germany

“Designing the absolute experience in food delivery”
Goertek with Stanford University, USA

“How might we create an innovative product service system using the SENS-IN bolt?”
Poggipolini with the University of Bologna, Italy

“Designing an Innovative Solution for Organic Farming”
Yanmar with Swinburne University of Technology, Australia

【Program】
Saturday, July 6th 2019
10:00-18:45 | ME310/SUGAR booth exhibition
10:30-12:15 | Mini Design Thinking Workshop (in Japanese)
14:30-15:30 | ME310/SUGAR Company Information Session (in Japanese)
15:30-16:30 | (EXPO 2019 Key Note Speech) Developing new businesses through design thinking academic partnership (in Japanese)
16:40-18:00 | ME310/SUGAR Final Presentations (in English)
18:00-19:00 | Student Information Session for 2019–2020 (in English)
18:00-19:00 | Corporate Mixer
19:00-21:00 | Super SUDS After Party

【Venue】
Kyoto Institute of Technology 60th Anniversary Hall and KYOTO Design Lab (location for each program is listed below)

【Details】
•The event is free and open to everyone.
•No signup is required except for the Mini Design Thinking Workshop (see below).
•You are not required to stay for the whole event and you’re welcome to come and go whenever.
•Each event will be in either Japanese or English. No interpretation will be provided.

【ME310/SUGAR Booths】
The final prototypes from this year’s projects will be exhibited in trade-show style booths.

Venue: 60th Anniversary Building Entrance Hall
Language: English and Japanese

【Mini Design Thinking Workshop】
This workshop was developed by the Stanford University d.school to provide an introductory experience into the world of design thinking. Through hands-on activities, participants will be introduced to the basic elements of design thinking.

This workshop is limited to 20 participants.
Application form was closed. Thanks for your application.

Venue: KYOTO Design Lab, 2nd floor
Language: Japanese

【ME310/SUGAR Company Information Session】
This information session is for companies who are interested in partnering with the Kyoto Institute of Technology for ME310/SUGAR. Details of the program will be presented and discussed by members of the teaching team.

Venue: KYOTO Design Lab,2nd floor
Language: Japanese

【EXPO 2019 Key Note Speech| Developing new businesses through design thinking academic partnership】
Hiro Koyama, Senior Project Manager Connected Business Group President’s OfficeImproving employee mindset through collaborative academic partnerships and developing new businesses through design thinking.

Venue: 60th Anniversary Building, Main Hall
Language: Japanese

【ME310/SUGAR Final Presentations】
The four teams from the 2018-2019 program year will be presenting their final concepts and prototypes on stage. Come check out the creative results of thousands of hours of hard work and international collaboration!

Venue: 60th Anniversary Building, Main Hall
Language: English

【ME310/SUGAR Student information Session】
The thisinformation session is for students interested in joining the 2018–2019 program at the Kyoto Institute of Technology. Details of the program will be presented and discussed by members of the teaching team.

Venue: 60th Anniversary Building, Main Hall
Language: English

【Corporate Mixers】
There will be an opportunity for company members attending the Design Thinking EXPO to connect with others to discuss common interests and initiatives.

Venue: KYOTO Design Lab, 2nd floor

【Super SUDS After Party】
After the student information session, we invite everyone to the Super SUDS after party. This will be a public version of the informal weekly gathering known as SUDS, where members of the ME310/SUGAR community come together to chat over food and drinks. To celebrate the completion of nine-months of hard work, we would like to invite the broader community to come to talk about the projects and design thinking with the students and the teaching team.

Venue: KYOTO Design Lab, Foyer

【ME310/SUGAR 2019-2020 Application】
If you are interested in being part of ME310/SUGAR at the Kyoto Institute of Technology for the 2019–2020 program year as a student, please visit and apply below:

Japanese: https://forms.gle/KiHJGWGPsnD1yDXV8
English: https://forms.gle/u1focc5XDvjr6yt2A

【Contact】
If you are interested in working with ME310/SUGAR as a company, please contact Keita Tatara (tatara(at)kit.ac.jp) in Japanese or Sushi Suzuki (sushi(at)kit.ac.jp) in English.