Ichiya Nakamura, President of iU (Information, Management and Innovation University)

Nurturing talent who will innovate and change the world

Ichiya Nakamura, President of iU (Information, Management and Innovation University)

He joined the Ministry of Posts and Telecommunications in 1984 after serving as director of the rock band Shonen Knife. He served as a visiting professor at the MIT Media Lab, director of the Stanford Japan Center Research Institute, and professor at Keio University, before becoming president of iU in April 2020. He has served as an advisor and committee member for the Cabinet Secretariat, Cabinet Office, Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications, Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology, and Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry.

iU hopes that its students will become people who will innovate and change the world, and under the slogan "Everyone is an Entrepreneur," it provides learning through practice. What is needed now to cultivate talent who will be active at the forefront of society? We spoke to President Nakamura, who aims to become the most interesting university in the world, about what iU should be like..

◾️What kind of student life did you have?

Although I attended school every day as a student, I was so absorbed in my band that I neglected my classes. At the time, I wanted to become a musician, but when I saw people who had gone professional, I realized that I could never compete with them, so I changed course and decided to become a producer for artists. I thought that I could be of help to artists if I went to a place that makes all the rules, such as television stations and telecommunications companies, so I went to the Ministry of Posts and Telecommunications and worked in media administration. After that, I left the Ministry of Posts and Telecommunications, with my final job being the reorganization of government ministries, and followed my interests, working as a visiting professor at MIT and as director of the Japan Center at Stanford.

◾️Please tell us why you decided to start a university.

During my time at MIT and Stanford, I realized that Japan's problems lie in its universities. For example, both Microsoft and Facebook were created by students at Harvard University in the United States. Yahoo! and Google were also created by students at Stanford University. Japan has many great things, such as the Walkman, Family Computer, and Hatsune Miku, but nothing has been created by students. So I wondered if we could create a university in Japan that would produce students who would create great things, and so I undertook a project to create a new graduate school at Keio University. After that, I wanted to create a place where new things could be done, so I founded a university. That is iU (Information, Management, and Innovation University).

◾️Please tell us about the characteristics of your university.

A distinctive feature of iU is that "everyone starts their own business." When you start a business, you don't know what to do at first, and it's almost certain that you will fail. However, you can learn a lot from failure. Our goal is for all students to try to start a business while they are enrolled, but in fact, we are not a university with the goal of producing entrepreneurs. Our underlying ideal is that we want students to become people who will innovate and change the world.
I believe there are many ways to change things. Up until now, our university has been one where everyone aims to start their own business, but from now on, we will take it a step further and become a university where various projects are carried out in order to realize our goal of "shaping the world." In five years, I would like to be a school known for its projects, such as "iU is synonymous with esports" or "iU is synonymous with pop culture." And our goal in ten years is to become the most interesting university in the world. While so-called ordinary universities aim to be smart or useful, we want iU to be an interesting university.

◾️Message to students

I think there are many students who don't know what their abilities are or how to utilize them. However, I think they will gradually understand this as they continue to communicate in the world. Society will change dramatically from now on. I hope you will become someone who can enjoy these changes.

Student Newspaper April 2025 Issue, Josai International University, First Year, Yurie Watanabe

Yurie Watanabe, first-year student at Josai International University / Sakura Saeki, third-year student at Hosei University