FUTURE LENS: A collaborative social and environmental design program.
The second round of applications will begin on July 6, 2026.
Support for visualizing social issues and systematizing the business value of social entrepreneurs.
Information sessions will be held at the "PYNT" locations in Tokyo, Osaka, and Kyushu.

Nikken Sekkei Ltd. (Head office: Chiyoda-ku, Tokyo; President and CEO: Atsushi Omatsu; hereinafter "Nikken Sekkei"), together with Zebras and Company, Ltd. (Head office: Minato-ku, Tokyo; Representatives: Yohei Azagami and Yoshitaka Tabuchi; hereinafter "Z&C"), will begin accepting applications for the second phase of its collaborative social and environmental design program, "FUTURE LENS." The application period is scheduled from July 2026 to early September 2026.

This program was designed to broaden the "future perspective (FUTURE LENS)" of social entrepreneurs with ties to their communities by systematizing the value of their businesses and making visible the social issues they are beginning to focus on. A key feature of this program is that, in addition to providing funding for demonstration research, Nikken Sekkei's PYNT team and Z&C will provide ongoing support.

Nikken Sekkei addresses the challenges faced by local social entrepreneurs, such as "not being able to quantify the value of their business," "wanting to structure the issues to move their business forward," and "not knowing how to expand their services into the community," by leveraging its perspective on social and environmental design (the ability to connect expertise and people, coordinate stakeholders, and implement concrete steps in the community) and its technologies such as visualization, quantification, and systematization.

We intend to leverage Nikken Sekkei's experience and expertise cultivated over more than 125 years, along with Z&C's business development capabilities that translate social issues into business opportunities and its ability to support project implementation, to promote initiatives that contribute to solving social problems.

*Support will generally only be provided for activities related to this program.
*In addition to Nikken Group employees, employees from external PYNT co-creation partner companies (external personnel of Nikken Sekkei) may also participate.
*Further details can be found on the official website. FUTURE LENS
*For inquiries, please contact the FUTURE LENS Secretariat: e-mail: futurelens@nikken.jp

Aiming to evolve into a social and environmental design platform, Nikken Sekkei opened "PYNT Tokyo" in April 2023 and "PYNT Takebashi" in November 2025 as co-creation spaces that promote open innovation, involving not only internal partners but also external co-creation partners such as companies, universities, government agencies, and NPOs, in order to solve increasingly complex social issues.

Therefore, in addition to strengthening matching with partners who share the same concerns and developing tools and increasing the resolution of projects, we have launched the "FUTURE LENS" program as a way to "support social implementation starting from the initiatives of social entrepreneurs with connections to local communities."

Nikken Sekkei has been involved in urban planning and community development projects, such as the redevelopment of the area around Shibuya Station and the development of the Umeda 2nd District, and has worked to visualize and quantify issues in order to build consensus with many stakeholders. In this program, we will use these strengths, along with the PYNT platform and network, to visualize the business challenges that local social entrepreneurs are tackling and to systematize the value of their businesses, thereby strongly promoting the social implementation of solutions to these challenges.

Leveraging Nikken Sekkei's expertise and collaborating with local social entrepreneurs, we aim to create a system that addresses a wider range of social issues. Furthermore, by applying the knowledge and experience gained through this program, such as skills to enhance our understanding of latent needs in daily life, to the cities of the future, we will pioneer social environmental design and realize the creation of new value in future cities.

The selection schedule is planned as follows:

Information sessions for this program will be held both at PYNT's regional offices and online.
For registration and further details, please visit the Peatix link below. Feel free to join us!

[Osaka] July 29th (Wed) 12:00-13:30 @ PYNT Osaka (In-person/Online)
Location: Nikken Sekkei Osaka Office (Ginzen Bingomachi Building, 3-6-5 Kawaramachi, Chuo-ku, Osaka City)

[Tokyo] August 4th (Tue) 18:30-20:00 @ PYNT Takebashi (In-person/Online)
Location: Nikken Sekkei Tokyo Takebashi Office (Palace Side Building 5F, 1-1-1 Hitotsubashi, Chiyoda-ku, Tokyo)

[Kyushu] August 20th (Thu) 12:00-13:30 @ PYNT Kyushu (In-person/Online)
Location: Nikken Sekkei Kyushu Office, 5th Floor (1-12-14 Tenjin, Chuo-ku, Fukuoka City)

[Application Consultation Session] August 31st (Mon) 12:30-13:30 (Online)
*In the final episode, we plan to answer questions and provide advice that you have submitted.

Monday, July 6, 2026 - Friday, September 11, 2026, noon
*We will send information regarding the briefing session, deadlines, etc. to those who have pre-registered.
*After pre-registering, please send your application documents via email to complete your application.

Scheduled for the end of September 2026

Early October to early November 2026
For companies that have passed the initial document screening, we will conduct individual discussions and on-site visits to deepen mutual understanding.

Mid-November 2026
The event will be held at Nikken Sekkei's "PYNT" and online.

Early December 2026
After the selected companies are decided, we will notify you of the results by email.

With the theme of "Different scale, different future," we are a company that invests in and provides management support to create a "kind, healthy, and enjoyable society" where everyone can take on the challenge of solving social issues and managing businesses sustainably and healthily. Through investment and management support, collaboration with government and financial institutions, and research and information dissemination on "Zebra Companies," we are systematizing Zebra-style management and aiming for a world where the concept of "Zebra Companies" is implemented in all companies, expanding the possibilities of new business models.

株式会社日建設計広報室Tel.03-5226-3030 e-mail：webmaster@nikken.jp