Providing learning opportunities
School-visit program for environmental education: Nissan Waku-Waku Eco School (Japan)
The Nissan Waku-Waku Eco School was launched in Japan in 2008 as an easy-to-understand and fun way to learn about the environment. Since then, it has taken off in many countries.
In Japan, the program promotes understanding of global warming issues, introduces Nissan‘s environmental initiatives, and provides children with experiences involving the latest environmental technologies through test rides in the Nissan LEAF as well as other activities. The programs are conducted by Nissan employees and are mainly designed for elementary school children between the ages of 11 and 12. We also prepared materials with instructional DVDs for teachers and online classes via a web-conferencing system. The cumulative number of participants in the program in Japan has exceeded 138,000 (as of March 31, 2024). In the United Kingdom and China, Nissan also provide environmental education tailored to each situation.
To Nissan Waku-Waku Eco School (Japanese only)
Conveying the magic of monozukuri: Nissan Monozukuri Caravan and Nissan Design Waku-Waku Studio (Japan)
Nissan is undertaking various initiatives to pass on the appeal of monozukuri — Japan’s tradition of craftsmanship and manufacturing — to future generations. In Japan, the magic of monozukuri is shared by Nissan employees through the school-visit programs Nissan Monozukuri Caravan and the Nissan Design Waku-Waku Studio. Some 10,000 children participate in the programs every year.
To Nissan Monozukuri Caravan (Japanese only)
To Nissan Design Waku-Waku Studio (Japanese only)
日産はこれまで従業員ボランティアの提供や資金面にて支援しており、2021年度には＄25,000を「テネシー森林保全プログラム」に寄付しました。日産からの支援は、都市の環境変化への解決策を見出し、健全で持続可能な社会に不可欠な自然や生物多様性を守るというTNCの目標達成に役立てられています。
Plant Tours (Japan)
Our plants strive to become a place that are loved and trusted by the local community, and value engagement with local people. Nissan welcome visitors to join factory tours throughout the year. In July 2020, we started an online plant tour using a video conferencing system to convey the monozukuri experience to children. The online plant tour enables us to show areas that aren’t open to the public during regular plant tours, and to make the experience available for elementary school students living in distant areas.
To Nissan Monozukuri (Japanese only)
Traffic Safety Awareness Campaign: Hello Safety Campaign (Japan)
Since 1987, we have collected donations from employees for the Hello Safety Campaign, which we launched in Japan in 1972 to contribute to the promotion of traffic safety awareness campaigns near our business sites. In addition, donations to help prevent traffic accidents were sent to children in the neighborhoods of Nissan business sites through local traffic safety associations, municipalities and other organizations. In fiscal 2019, we created the Wheel Spinning (Guru-Guru) Exercise with Niigata University to promote and encourage awareness of safe driving among elderly drivers. This exercise is designed to help mainly elderly drivers increase their muscle strength and cognitive abilities by making daily exercise a part of their lives so they can continue to drive safely. Anyone else who tends to be inactive can also expect improved physical functions with this exercise.
In March 2024, we announced the opening of the Nissan Heritage Cars & Safe Drive Studio, an innovative VR metaverse* platform designed to educate visitors on traffic safety while offering a unique opportunity to interact with iconic heritage vehicles. This initiative — developed in collaboration with leading universities and the Traffic Safety Future Creation Lab — underscores Nissan's commitment to enhancing traffic safety education through cutting-edge technology.
* VR (virtual reality) communication technology that uses a three-dimensional virtual space.
A functional field-of-view experience at the virtual Nissan Heritage Cars & Safe Drive Studio
To Hello Safety Campaign (Japanese only)
Supporting the next generation: Nissan Children's Storybook and Picture Book Grand Prix (Japan)
Nissan Children's Storybook and Picture Book Grand Prix is a creative children's storybook and picture book contest for amateur authors. The Grand Prix has led to the creation of many outstanding works since its founding in 1984. The contest is organized by the International Institute for Children's Literature in Osaka and Nissan co-sponsors its social contribution activities.
Every year, 38 Grand Prix winners are selected out of nearly 2,000 entries, including one grand prize winner each in the children's storybook and picture book categories. Nissan also publishes the grand prize-winning entries in each category with the cooperation of publisher BL Publishing Co., Ltd. and donates them to the libraries and child-care facilities near Nissan offices across Japan. We also donate books to Japanese schools and Japanese language schools near our overseas business sites and have donated a total of more than 280,000 books in Japan and abroad. Supporting the children who will lead the next generation is a theme that Nissan has consistently addressed through its social contribution activities.
To Nissan Children’s Storybook and Picture Book Grand Prix(Japanese only)
Sponsorship of an environmental awareness campaign for World Wide Fund for Nature Japan (WWF Japan) and activities around the world (Japan, China, South America and Canada)
Nissan supported the environmental awareness campaign Earth Hour 2024 organized by WWF Japan by sponsoring the event and turning lights off at operating companies worldwide, as well as calling on employees to switch off lights wherever they are.
Photo contests and other events for employees were hosted in China, Canada, Brazil and Argentina. We also engaged in communication through social media by sharing videos, messages and environmental topics globally.
Since fiscal 2019, Nissan Canada (NCI) has been an official partner of WWF Canada and participates in environmental fundraising events such as the CN Tower Climb (2023). The event supports the WWF’s 10-year plan to Regenerate Canada* and build a future with abundant wildlife where nature and people thrive.
* Regenerate Canada: https://wwf.ca/regeneratecanada/
Support for environmental sustainability education and natural habitat revival (U.S.)
Nissan North America (NNA) supports a range of environmental nonprofits through both employee volunteerism and financial contributions. In fiscal 2023, Nissan donated over $350,000 for environmental initiatives. Eighteen volunteer events took place in Nissan operational communities in Middle Tennessee, Dallas, Texas and Farmington Hills, Michigan, where hundreds of Nissan employees volunteered to plant trees, clean rivers and restore habitats. In addition, over 30,000 students in Middle Tennessee received environmental sustainability education through Nissan Neighbors grantee partner Urban Green Lab.
Driving safety program support for teenagers (U.S.)
Nissan North America (NNA) provided financial support for ThinkFast®* programming in 50 high schools in Middle Tennessee, Central Mississippi and Southeast Michigan in fiscal 2023. Approximately 10,000 students took part in the 2023 ThinkFast experience funded by Nissan. In addition, NNA collaborated with Safe Kids Worldwide®, a nonprofit organization working to reduce unintentional injuries to children through the age of 14, to sponsor Child Passenger Safety Technician certification classes in Central Mississippi. Through donations, employee volunteerism and safety events, an estimated 5,000 families benefitted from Nissan’s child passenger safety initiatives in fiscal 2023.
* ThinkFast®: An interactive awareness game show that educates students about the importance of driving safety.
Developing the next generation of scientists and engineers (U.S.)
In the United States, Nissan North America (NNA) is investing in the workforce of tomorrow through support of STEM initiatives and technical education training programs. We provide financial support to develop STEM programs for students in elementary, middle and high schools and to support university STEM programs.
In fiscal 2023, NNA launched support of Be Pro Be Proud, a mobile career simulator that visits high schools in Tennessee and provides a highly interactive educational experience. In its inaugural year, Be Pro Be Proud visited 70 schools and served nearly 10,000 students.
NNA also provided financial support for 31 robotics programs for students through partnerships with schools and youth-serving nonprofits in Nissan operational communities in Arizona, Michigan, Mississippi, Tennessee and Texas. Employees also provide mentorship and volunteer support for many of these programs.
Safe Traffic Circuit (Brazil)
Nissan do Brazil carried out the Safe Traffic Circuit educational activity at schools in four municipalities in Rio de Janeiro’s South Zone to reinforce the theme of safe traffic and sustainable urban mobility. Thirty-two employees volunteered and 405 children participated.
Open innovation program: Inova-san (Brazil)
Nissan do Brasil Automóveis (NBA) launched the Inova-san program in 2019 aimed at university students in the South Zone of Rio de Janeiro. It is an entrepreneurial education and open innovation program designed to solve real problems and to promote social impact on the local community. In 2023, more than 450 students from 16 universities and technical schools participated in projects under three themes: Urban Mobility and Smart Cities, Industry 4.0, and Circular Economy and Sustainable Future.
Providing educational opportunities to children: Nissan Skills Foundation (U.K.)
The Nissan Skills Foundation was established in 2014 in the U.K. As of March 2024, it has provided about 90,000 students with programs on various themes such as environment and manufacturing to inspire the engineers and manufacturers of the future. The Skills Foundation now also supports three International STEM challenges for school children: VEX IQ Robotics, VEX GO and FIRST LEGO League. For these activities, Nissan supports local teams with equipment, resources and knowledge whilst hosting the regional finals onsite.
The Nissan Skills Foundation introduced Lesson In a Box for younger primary school children in 2022. In 2023, 43 schools and 74 events took part, and 1,694 children received a box of STEM activities related to Nissan and Japanese culture.
NMUK also launched new academy program in collaboration with a local school and college to raise learners’ aspiration to work in advanced manufacturing and engineering careers by providing opportunity to study a high-quality curriculum integrated with industry experience and skills. In 2023, the first cohort of 13 students began the two-year program.
Education Support for Children and Youth: Nissan Dream Classroom (China)
Nissan (China) Investment (NCIC) has operated the Nissan Dream Classroom educational program since 2013, which helps elementary pupils. The program has gradually expanded its area of operation and the scope of its classes to include such topics as the environment, monozukuri, design, painting, intelligent driving and coding — the basics of automotive culture.
NCIC and its joint venture companies in China began holding these classes in 2015, expanding in scale each year and actively engaging in quality educational programs. Meanwhile, NCIC has expanded Nissan Dream Classroom activities toward society to better contribute to local communities. Through cooperation with Nissan dealerships, the Beijing Auto Museum and local auto shows, the program has been offered in various platforms and benefited over 2,230,000 students by the end of 2023.
Along with its regular courses, since 2020 the Nissan Dream Classroom has also been offering campaigns such as Nissan #DrawDrawDraw, which has created a larger platform for children to showcase their learning achievements and to unleash their potential. Over 25,500 users participated in the event and experienced up close the innovation and excitement brought by the Nissan brand.
The Nissan Dream Classroom program was highly recognized by many parties and won many awards. In 2023, it won two prestigious CSR China Education Awards, which are jointly presented by the government, think-tanks, NGOs and the media. The Nissan Dream Classroom also won two special awards from the China Sustainability Tribune and the China Association of Automobile Manufactures.
Organizational Measures for Road Safety in Bang Sao Thong District, Samut Prakan Province (Thailand)
This project aims to unite industrial organizations and employees to enhance road safety in the Nissan Motor Thailand (NMT) area and prevent accidents. NMT has been a key partner since 2018. The primary goal is to prevent and reduce accidents by gathering and analyzing accident data involving employees. Our observations have highlighted a need for enhanced education on driving laws and regulations, particularly for motorcycle commuters. As a result, we prioritize comprehensive educational efforts in this area. NMT was recognized as one of the top 25 organizations in Thailand and received the 2023 Road Safety Model Organization Award from the Thai government.
Nissan Motor Thailand’s commitment to youth empowerment (Thailand)
In fiscal 2023, NMT in collaboration with the Embassy of Japan in Thailand donated a 2.3-litre diesel engine to the Sirindhorn Children and Youth Training Center. This example of modern automotive technology now serves as a valuable teaching tool for vocational training in automotive mechanics for youth in the juvenile justice system, enabling them to pursue careers in the automotive industry and positively impacting their local communities. NMT has been supporting the Sirindhorn Children and Youth Training Center since 2014.
Nissan Global Foundation (Japan) educational support
The Nissan Global Foundation pursues the vision of realizing a prosperous future society through human resource development by conducting various training programs. The foundation supports science education in elementary and middle schools as well as science research meetings that seek to foster logical and scientific thinking skills among schoolchildren and enhance teachers' skills.
In addition, the foundation has established the Nissan Global Foundation Rikajo Prize for elementary and middle schools in Japan with the aim of inspiring girls to become leaders in the field of science and technology.
Furthermore, from fiscal 2019, it started a program to develop future talent and launched a project to create a class designed for future leaders based on joint research with Waseda University. Sixteen junior high and high school students participated in the Future Leaders Classroom advanced course in August 2023, which followed an introductory course. They participated in conversations with instructors and engaged in workshops on four themes: leadership, technology & innovation, artistic thinking and science fiction thinking.
To Nissan Global Foundation official website (Japanese only)
Yokohama F. Marinos Hometown activity (Japan)
The Yokohama F. Marinos is aiming to make its hometown region more vibrant through the power of sports, providing opportunities for all people in local communities to enjoy them.
In its hometown region (Kanagawa Prefecture’s Yokohama City, Yokosuka City and Yamato City), the team carries out activities such as the Soccer & Dietary Education Caravan, which conveys the joy of physical activity and food education, and classes on traffic safety. In addition, the team established Yokohama F. Marinos Futuro — a soccer team for people with disabilities — and engages in activities supporting areas affected by natural disasters.
Nissan Institute of Japanese Studies, Oxford (U.K.)
Founded at the University of Oxford in 1981, the Nissan Institute of Japanese Studies is a well-known European center for research on modern Japan that contributes to the promotion of mutual understanding between Japan and Europe.