Innovation and Value Initiative

More than ever, solutions to the transnational challenges, from climate change, sustainability to refugee crises, are in need of radically new approaches that depart from the present institutional limitations of global governance. Interdisciplinary and cross-sector collaboration, between science/technology and the humanities or public and private sectors, in search of new values and models of how we conduct businesses, produce food or even live, are recognised widely as the way forward, as has been demonstrated in the United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goals (SDG) that usefully combines the achievements of the Millennium Development Goals (public) and Global Compact (private sector).

Moreover, as the world confronts the limits of Western concepts of innovation and the value that these bring, other unique, sustainable and inclusive models of innovation may have important and globally applicable lessons that could guide the future of innovation and value creation initiatives around the world. Even though global connectivity has been greatly enhanced, there are local or regional pockets of ecosystems with demonstrated capacities to survive over centuries, and yet these are hardly recognised or properly integrated into the theoretical underpinnings that inform international practices and policies.

As a way to take part in this global endeavour to renovate the current international system and create new values, the IAFOR Research Centre is proud to announce the Innovation and Value Initiative that will start as a three nodes project in the following areas: Value and International Economy, Value and International Politics and Value and Social Innovation.

Lead Researchers

  • Haruko Satoh – Professor, OSIPP, Osaka University, Japan
  • Philip Sugai – Professor, Doshisha University, Graduate School of Business, Japan
  • Toshiya Hoshino – Ambassador and Deputy Permanent Representative of Japan to the United Nations

About the Innovation and Value Initiative

The purpose of the Innovation and Value Initiative is to explore the drivers, processes and outcomes of innovation and value creation across countries, markets, industries and sectors and identify the drivers that foster the most healthy innovation and value-creating ecosystems across (1) heritage businesses, (2) multinational companies, (3) entrepreneurial startups, (4) educational institutions, (5) governments, (6) NGOs and NPOs. This initiative will also foster mature conversation between leaders across these fields and industries, and will address the questions of “what is innovation?”, “what is value?” “what are innovation ecosystems?” and what we mean by these terms in context.

The initiative will be comprised of the following elements: research, education, dissemination (working papers, workshops and conferences), and initiate collaborative implementation projects with businesses, local, regional or international NPOs and/or international organisations (for example, the humanitarian use of blockchain technology). The three nodes, “Value and International Economy”, “Value and International Politics”, and “Value and Social Innovation” will have each have its independent research component, but the researchers will also work closely to share findings, team teach for classes at OSIPP, integrate their works at implementation level or producing policy recommendations where possible and practicable, and plan new collaborative projects.


Project Nodes and Teams

Value and International Economy

Lead Researcher

Philip Sugai – Professor, Doshisha University, Graduate School of Business, Japan

Associated Researcher(s)

John Beck – President, North Star Leadership Group


Value and International Politics

Lead Researcher

Haruko Satoh – Professor, OSIPP, Osaka University, Japan

Associated Researchers

Toshiya Hoshino – Ambassador and Deputy Permanent Representative of Japan to the United Nations
Peng-Er Lam – Senior Research Fellow, East Asian Institute, National University of Singapore, Singapore


Value and Social Innovation

Lead Researcher

Toshiya Hoshino – Ambassador and Deputy Permanent Representative of Japan to the United Nations


Why the IAFOR Research Centre?

The IAFOR Research Centre (IRC) at Osaka University

As a research centre based in Japan’s Osaka School of International Public Policy (OSIPP) at Osaka University, the oldest public policy school in the country, in collaboration with The International Academic Forum (IAFOR), the project builds on the strengths of OSIPP’s existing research and policy networks and IAFOR’s vast reach and interdisciplinary approach that gather together experts from different fields and sectors. The IAFOR Research Centre (IRC) is committed to the further study and discussion at the intersection of value and values, and this project will have relevance to both students and scholars, as well as practitioners interested or working in issues of regional and global governance.