Programs

Four Programs

MISSION-X creates innovation from the regions in three steps: IGNITE → BOOST → LAUNCH. We offer four programs to match your goals and level.

Program 01 · Entry

MISSION -0

An introductory problem-setting workshop that starts with "Why, in the first place?" Before asking AI for answers, we train the ability to ask questions.

GoalEssential problem setting and business ideas

About 120 minHigh school / KOSEN students and upTeam-basedUses generative AI

Why

In three steps, create the next "normal."

Everyone first learns the method with a shared theme, "things we take for granted at school," then applies it to their own theme in the second half.

STEP 1 · ASK

Ask the question

Write down the assumptions no one questions, and trace them back to why they came to exist.

What should it be, in the first place?

STEP 2 · DEFINE

Define the problem

Put into words the root obstacle in the gap between the ideal you drew and reality.

What is the problem to solve for that?

STEP 3 · BUILD

Give it shape

Combine existing means and turn them into a business idea.

What combination?

Innovation means questioning today's "normal," setting the essential problem, and creating the next "normal."

Workshop

In 120 minutes, experience problem setting.

Part I

Basics (60 min)

Why, in the first place?
Picture the ideal
Set the problem from the ideal
Combine to build a solution

Part II

Practice (60 min)

Dialogue and exercises with AoI (40 min)
Worksheet (for whom, what, and how)
Team presentations (3 min / team)
Peer review (4 criteria × 5 pts / 20 pts total)

Four criteria: the problem set / reasons for setting it / business idea / concreteness

Opening Movie

It begins with a story.

MISSION-0 doesn't open with a framework lecture. It opens with a story: an encounter with "AoI," an AI robot sent from the year 2065, from a world governed by an integrated AI — so participants can hold questions as their own.

Partner schools: National Institute of Technology, Hachinohe College / Toyo University Himeji High School
*This program contains fiction based on real organizations, survey results and forecasts.

AI Buddy

Generative AI "AoI" works alongside you.

An AI robot sent from the future of 2065. Her catchphrase: "Why, in the first place?" Instead of giving answers, she asks back, guiding your vague concerns all the way to essential problem setting.

About MISSION-X Contact

Program 02 · Strategy Tool

Strategy Card Battle

A tool for building strategies that use 35 "strategy cards," distilled from 516 strategy cases, to turn a powerful competitor's strengths into weaknesses.

GoalBusiness model and strategy design

7 categories, 35 cards516 strategy casesBoot Camp 180 minPowered by generative AI

Why

Aim to be a Giant Killer.

Fight head-on with resources and the bigger player wins. Combine cards to build a playing field where the rival's strengths become its shackles — a way to trap a powerful competitor, a "Giant," in a dilemma.

How it was built From 516 strategy cases to 35 cards.

STEP 1 · Collect

Collected 516 success cases and built a database of the strategic moves in each.

STEP 2 · Analyze

Identified each case's competitors and analyzed whether they could follow each move.

STEP 3 · Systematize

Classified the effective moves competitors could not follow by category and systematized them.

❶ Customer target

Customer focus

1 Narrow the target

❷ Product / Service

Added value

7 Add a new function

❹ Sales channel

New format

17 Develop a new business format

❻ Own assets

Asset-light

26 Don't own the assets

❼ Partners

New partners

35 Gain new partners

Theoretical foundations: Hideo Yamada, "Reverse Competitive Strategy" / M. E. Porter, "On Competition" / Osterwalder et al., "Business Model Generation." Five years in the making, turned into a tool you can use right away.

Contents

Strategy is made of seven questions.

7 categories × 5 cards each = 35 strategy cards

015 CARDS

To whom?

Customer target

025 CARDS

What?

Product / Service

035 CARDS

For how much?

Pricing

045 CARDS

Where?

Sales channel

055 CARDS

How to communicate?

Promotion

065 CARDS

With what weapon?

Own assets (people, things, technology)

075 CARDS

With whom?

Partners

Customer Value offered Delivery

Workshop

Strategy Boot Camp / build strategy skills in 180 minutes.

Part I

Basics

What is the Giant Killer strategy? (20 min)
GET the 35 strategy cards (40 min)
Strategy case analysis (10 min)
How to build a strategy (20 min)

Part II

Practice

Set the competitor (10 min)
Build the strategy (90 min)
Strategy presentations (30 min)
Wrap-up & graduation (10 min)

Instructor: Ryusuke Hiratsuka (Representative, MISSION-X / intrapreneur)

Results

Participant voices.

4.8 / 5.0 Average rating from anonymous post-session surveys (n=108)

★★★★★

Three hours that made me feel I might actually have potential. I'd vaguely wanted to open my own shop someday, and now I feel I really could — I'm excited!

"Nyanko" / University student in Aomori

★★★★★

My family farms and I thought it would be tough, but with the cards I felt there are big opportunities in agriculture too.

Anonymous / High school student in Aomori

Business AI

Generative AI "Mirabot" works alongside you on strategy.

"I combine 'strategy cards' based on your business idea to build the strongest possible business strategy." — When you're unsure which card to pick, or the connections feel weak, it reads the board and suggests your next move.

Released 2025.04.01

Visit the special site ↗ Contact

Program 04 · Flagship

Regional Challenge Quest

A hands-on program where local young people take on the real challenges of regional companies from a technology and business perspective. The best ideas go on to pilot validation.

GoalSolving regional challenges and validating businesses

Flagship programRegion × Youth × CompaniesFinal presentation

Why

What you take on is no made-up problem.

The stage is a "cyber city" modeled on your own town. There, the AWAKEN (the awakened) — local companies — bring the problems they actually face. No one has the answer yet. Those who set out to solve them are the young EXPLORERS .

AWAKEN 01

A local community power company
"We want to spread renewable energy further. Can we make it visible?"

AWAKEN 02

A local care facility
"We want to make what elderly people wish to do come true. But planning daily programs is hard…"

AWAKEN 03

A local reuse shop
"We want reuse to be the norm. But buying in items takes a lot of work…"

Contents

Five gates, crossed as a team.

Walk the field, ask questions, refine ideas, and shape them with technology. Advancing stage by stage like a game, the adventure runs for about half a year.

01STAGE

Understanding the field

Interview local companies and visit sites to collect insights and things that feel off.

02STAGE

Problem setting

Based on interviews and observation, the team decides the "question" it will seriously take on.

03STAGE

Solution ideas

Develop solution ideas for the problem you set, using generative AI.

04OPTION

Using technology

Use generative AI to shape your idea into an app mockup (prototype).

05FINAL

Final presentation

Present your solution and decide the King of Quest. Pitch in front of companies and municipalities.

Find the problem Build the solution Take it to the world

Schedule

A half-year adventure.

About five months from kickoff to the final presentation, combining on-site sessions with online follow-up.

Part I

Find the problem (Oct – Nov)

Kickoff event (on site) / Share the goals and how we'll proceed
Company interviews & site visits/ Walk the AWAKEN's front lines
Problem-setting workshop/ Decide the question to take on

Part II

Solve it and take it to the world (Dec – Feb)

Problem-solving workshop/ Refine solution ideas with generative AI
Technology workshop/ Build a mockup (optional)
Final presentation (on site) / King of Quest & reflection

For: university, high school, KOSEN and vocational school students / team-based. Free to join (varies by region and session).

Results

Our Quest

Final presentation (Feb 1, 2026, Hachinohe)

AOMORI · Completed

Regional Challenge Quest (Aomori)

Co-run with the National Institute of Technology, Hachinohe College. Five teams took on challenges from three local companies; the top prize at the final presentation went to "Whitest." This is where MISSION-X's first fire was lit.
Teams: Rubik / Whitest / Kanae-tai / Hohoemi Keikaku / Ao-Ene!

HIMEJI · Completed

Zappa Quest (Himeji)

Held April–June 2026 at "Zappa Village," a commercial facility in Himeji. Interviews with shop owners, on-site observation and proposals — all done in real, working settings.

Operating partners: NPO Co-ZAPPA / Social X Research Institute / National Institute of Technology, Hachinohe College

Deliverable: grand-prize team “Whitest”Regional Challenge Quest (Aomori) 2026 — the team presents what they built. Japanese audio.

Next Quest

Now underway in two cities.

The next quests are running in Himeji and Hachinohe.

Now in progress Himeji Quest The future of this town is decided by your idea. Kickoff held Sat, Nov 7, 2026 / Free to join Venue: Himeji, Hyogo · online participation available
Runs through February 2027

From the classroom to the metaverse: students walking through HIMEZIA in NOA. Details →

Now accepting entries HACHI QUEST The future of this town is decided by your idea. For university, high school and KOSEN students in Hachinohe Set in the cyber city HACHI. Kickoff Sat, Nov 21, 2026, 15:00–17:30 at the National Institute of Technology, Hachinohe College.
See the HACHI QUEST page for details.

Trial session (Aug 21, 2026, NIT Hachinohe)

Details →

Metaverse

Real challenges, gathered in town.

Inside NOA are virtual towns for Himeji and Hachinohe. Companies wait in their own buildings as avatars and hand students the real problems they shared in interviews.

HIMEZIA — Himeji