How can YOUth shape Society?
WHAT IS #ASEFYLS?
The ASEF Young Leaders Summit (ASEFYLS) is a Youth platform that connects young people across Asia & Europe, applying a 360 degree approach on leadership development and community engagement: 1) self-leadership (you), 2) team leadership (we) and 3) societal leadership (all).
The 6th ASEF Young Leaders Summit (ASEFYLS6) is a youth leadership programme focusing on ‘Leadership in Society 5.0’, with collaborative programme elements taking place both virtually and physically.
The Society 5.0 concept describes a human-centered society that balances economic advancement with the resolution of social problems by a system that highly integrates cyberspace and physical space. ASEFYLS will explore what kind of leadership is needed for Society 5.0 and how young people can prepare with ethical, inclusive and sustainable values.
It aims to give #Youth the opportunity to:
BACKGROUND
WHAT WILL #ASEFYLS6 LOOK LIKE?
The ASEFYLS6 programme took place from July to October 2025 and consisted of 3 phases with the aim to give participants the opportunity to learn, to collaborate and to turn theory into action: (1) the Knowledge Building Phase; (2) the Leadership in Action Phase and (3) the Youth Summit.
The Knowledge Building phase took place between 29 July to 26 August 2025 and brought participants together over 5 weeks, to explore key aspects of Leadership in Society 5.0: a forward-looking, human-centered approach that integrates technological advancement with social progress.
The Knowledge Building phase included a series of expert-led webinars and interactive dialogues, with a community of emerging leaders across Asia and Europe! Attendees broadened their perspectives, and were equipped with the skills to tackle 21st-century challenges through the following webinars that took place in the month of August:
- Session 1 | Tuesday, 5 August 2025 : Society 5.0 – Economy
- Session 2 | Tuesday, 12 August 2025: Society 5.0 – Environment
- Session 3 | Tuesday, 19 August 2025: Society 5.0 – People & Work
Learn more about the Knowledge Building Phase and watch the recordings from the webinar series here.
The ASEFYLS encourages participants to demonstrate their leadership through action: by collaborating together to find best practice solutions for real-life global challenges.
During this phase participants worked in teams to collect case studies from across Asia & Europe on how technology is used to solve societal challenges. The case studies were curated and selected in collaboration with the Movers Programme, an initiative by UNDP’s Youth Empowerment Portfolio in Asia and the Pacific (YEP-AP).
These case studies were presented at the Youth Summit, and will collated into a publication. Learn more about the presentations here.
Keep a look out for the collated publication coming soon!
The Youth Summit brought all the participants together in-person in Osaka, Japan. Hosted by JIGE (Japan Hub for Innovative Global Education) and Kansai University, participants met each other for a programme full of people-to-people dialogue exchanges, networking, and learning in a local context.
The Youth Summit included the following elements:
- Thematic workshops and discussions on Leadership and Society 5.0
- Dialogues with experts from Asia and Europe – providing diverse perspectives on leadership and technological innovation.
- Participation at the World Expo 2025, exploring 20+ pavilions, and with the participants presenting their case studies from the Leadership in Action Phase on the main stage at the World Expo 2025 on 2 October 2025.
- Study Visit, to JICA Kansai Center and The Great Hanshin-Awaji Earthquake Memorial Disaster Reduction and
Human Renovation Institution, both in Kobe, showcasing ways in which technology is used to solve societal challenges - Cultural exchange, both within the local context, and between participants – including interacting with local students during lunch breaks and during the Cultural Evening.
Read about the programme highlights here.
The Navigators are selected alumni from ASEF’s Education Department projects, who join the programme as facilitators. ASEFYLS6 Navigators will co-lead groups of participants in collaborative tasks and peer-to-peer learning. In order to prepare them for this task, we invited them for the “The Navigators Training”. The event brought together 19 Navigators from 19 countries, and was proudly co-organised with and hosted by College of Europe Natolin between 13-18 July 2025 in Warsaw, Poland.
You can read more about the Navigators Training and their profiles here.
WATCH THE HIGHLIGHT VIDEOS FROM PREVIOUS EDITIONS:
WHO CAN JOIN #ASEFYLS6?
ASEFYLS6 is open to students and young professionals from across Asia & Europe from diverse backgrounds.
The Open Call for this edition has closed as of Tuesday, 3 June 2025.
Sign up for our newsletter below to be the first to learn about upcoming opportunities!
