June 2024
Asami Takagi
Board of Director, SIMI

Social Impact Day 2024, held over three days from May 15 to 17, was a great success, with a total of 23 sessions and 2 special events, and 1007 people registered. We would like to express our sincere gratitude to all those who participated.

Many changes have taken place in the impact economy between the last Social Impact Day and this year’s Social Impact Day. It is particularly significant that the number of stakeholders involved has increased and is becoming an ever-growing trend. A good example is the Impact Consortium, which was established last November and involves a wide range of stakeholders, including investors, financial institutions, corporations, and local governments. In addition, the great excitement generated by Impact Shift, which was organized mainly by people in their 20s and 30s, was a reminder of the breadth of not only business sectors and industries, but also generations.

In the middle of this major trend, Social Impact Day 2024 was held while making new attempts: First, it was a hybrid event, incorporating in-person sessions on the first day. The second was to strengthen collaboration in planning and operation: in addition to being organized jointly by SIMI and SIIF, the event was held in collaboration with the Impact Forum, which also served as the first general meeting of the Impact Consortium, and the SusHi Tech Tokyo 2024.  As a result, we believe that the week was both educational and lively as “Impact Week”.

Japan’s trends are attracting attention from other countries as well, and at Social Impact Day 2024, guest speakers from overseas actually came to Japan to speak in person at three keynote speeches and a sponsored session. Also, many participants came from overseas. Through their participation in Social Impact Day and various communications before and after the event, the overseas speakers and participants expressed their expectations for the initiatives in Japan and felt the need to strengthen cooperation. As the organizer of the event, we also felt a strong sense of cooperation across national borders.

Now, about a month has passed since the Social Impact Day, and it is easy to feel as if the “festival is over,” but that is not the case. As environmental and social issues continue to accumulate on a global level, SIMI will continue to work closely with those who are either continuing to create impact or are starting new initiatives. We hope that Social Impact Day contributed in some ways to new discoveries and connections for all of you.