UoA Venture Factory 10 Students Join "Imochi-ni Party"

On Saturday, December 20, 2014, students from Aizu IT Nisshinkan Factories for Experiencing Starting Up Ventures 10 (Factory 10) *1 organized an interactive event named "Imochi-ni Party"*2 with the local public in the Minami Aizu region. This event was held at the region's community center, "Open Community Space: Showa Koryu-kan Jizo-ya.*3"

Factory 10 has been active in interaction with local communities. Jizo-ya Community Center kindly let students use its facility for this event, at which they cooked "imochi-ni (a portmanteau of imo [potatoes] and mochi [rice cake] soup" with locally-grown ingredients. It was a good collaborative event.

The event aimed to deepen relationships with the local public and to contribute to the development of the region. Cooking and eating tasty cuisine together, participants enjoyed interacting one another.

Our students developed the idea of "imochi-ni" and started planning the event. Factory 10 is committed to proactively contributing to the development of local regions, while exchanging ideas and increasing such events in size.

*1　Aizu IT Nisshinkan Factories for Experiencing Starting Up Ventures 10 "Creation of Ideas, Local Contribution Project":

The University of Aizu is dedicated to IT education and promotes collaboration with local venture companies and municipality. The course group, "Factories for Experiencing Starting Up Ventures," provides students with themes that meet local needs. In each factory, students are expected to acquire strong knowledge of technology and an entrepreneurial mindset while gaining hands-on experience of product commercialization process, including software development, under the guidance of local company managers and engineers.
Factory 10's activities include:
- Participation in the event "Candle Live @ Aizuwakamatsu"

*2　"Imochi-ni Party": Imoni (thick potato and meat soup)Party is a traditional autumn harvest event in the southern Tohoku region, where people eat thick potato and meat soup cooked in a large pan.

*3　Click here for an article on the event posted on the Jizo-ya's weblog.