Moiwa Winter Camp

The programme runs on a clear and deliberate rhythm: ski training every morning on a four-hour lift pass, then a full afternoon of entrepreneurship and virtual reality work, and an evening given over to Japanese culture before showers and bedtime. Campers stay in small fixed teams rather than choosing electives, and each team is guided by English-speaking mentors from top international universities, so the peer-to-peer learning is as much a part of the design as the taught sessions. The entrepreneurship thread builds day by day, from an introduction to entrepreneurship through tackling real-world problems, sustainable business models and what investors look for, to pitching and storytelling, and is tested in three mini-hackathons including the Pizza Innovation Hackathon and a challenge to develop a local business. Running in parallel, the VR strand takes each team from brainstorming and storytelling to interactive prototypes, culminating in the Futuristic Hokkaido 2050 project and final pitch rehearsals. What makes the week distinctive is that everything the campers see off the mountain, an Ainu village, an eco-village, the businesses around Moiwa Resort, comes back as raw material for their own project, with the best work carried forward to an international stage at the Osaka Expo.