The Global Open Innovation Business Contest took place in 10 cities across the world in February and March 2017, ending in great success. At the contest, 200 corporations from across the world submitted a total of 400 proposals, and an audience of over 1,000 people participated. The regional winners from the 10 cities across the world were invited to the Grand Finale in Tokyo, and Barcelona-based corporation The Social Coin was selected as the Grand Finale winner. To tell the truth, however, our Profit Center expressed an interest in business collaborations with all of the presenting corporations that had participated in the contest. We look forward to seeing which corporation, including The Social Coin, will be the first to develop an actual business.
This contest was a great adventure, almost like wandering in a deep mist. It was made possible thanks to the wonderful support and advice of so many people, including: advisors who had supported us since the planning phase, startups who had sent us their applications, VCs who had introduced this program to many corporations, external partners who had believed in us and built trusting relationships with us, judges and speakers at each venue, our clients who had participated in the program as part of the initiative to develop new business, our local staff and contest office staff across the world who had supported the program as volunteers, as well as the executive officers of our company. We would like to express our deepest appreciation to all of these people.
As one way to give something back for their support, we would like to make this contest the starting point to create and develop solutions that will alleviate suffering across the world and fill the world with happiness. We really treasure all the people we have met through this contest. We will appreciate your continued support to keep this initiative going and to develop it further. Thank you very much!
”Let’s change the world together.”
- We are open to business ideas, applications related to the challenges posted by NTT DATA group companies across the world.
We held preliminary contests in 10 cities between February and March 2017. - The winners of respective cities were invited to the Grand Finale in Japan on 15th March 2017; The Social Coin was selected as the Grand Finale winner.
- The Grand Finale winner will receive a three-month in-kind contribution worth 30,000 USD to support the development of their proposed new business.
The Grand Finale was held on 15th March at NTT DATA Headquarters in Toyosu, Tokyo; The Social Coin was selected as the Grand Finale winner.
NTT DATA and The Social Coin will now proceed to co-create a new and innovative business. Also, PayKey and Everledger won the special judge award, while Soundpays Inc. won the audience award.
The Social Coin, based in Spain, strives to involve “Interested Bystanders (citizens who are aware of social issues but are not actively doing or saying as much to resolve them)” in activities while using AI and blockchain technology.
They were selected as the Grand Finale winner for their potential to deliver new value to our society as a platform that could promote solutions to social problems.
The Social Coin and NTT DATA will start discussions to turn the idea into an actual business.
Though narrowly missing a victory, two startups with great potential won the special judge award for developing a payment method with the high-level UX and for building a completely new distribution platform for valuable items.
Paykey（Tel Aviv）
Everledger（London)
SoundPays showcased their work with a movie, demonstrating the real image of how we could make payments by capturing sound waves. They received an overwhelming majority of the votes from the contest participants and won the audience award.
| Date and time | March 15, 2017 14:00-20:30 |
|---|---|
| Venue | NTT DATA Headquarter 3-3-3 Toyosu, Koto-ku, Tokyo 135-6033 https://www.nttdata.com/global/en/about/corporate/profile/headquarter/index.html |
| Judges |
|
| Special session | Report of the worldwide pitch days and interview with the winners |
| Agenda |  |
| Entry for the pitch day | Invitation only. |
Archive
*Links and other information on this page are not updated.| Company name / Solution | Solution | |
|---|---|---|
 | Ars Techne Corporation (Tokyo Japan) Innovative digital archiving solution that digitizes paintings in a completely new way, recreating works that are two-dimensional but so real in every brush stroke. | Innovative digital archiving solution that digitizes paintings in a completely new way, recreating works that are two-dimensional but so real in every brush stroke. https://www.arstechne.co.jp/ |
 | ISCAS/Beihang University (Beijing China) Model that evaluates enterprises through establishing the index system on seven aspects and using multiple methods including AHP, DEA, neural network, etc. | Model that evaluates enterprises through establishing the index system on seven aspects and using multiple methods including AHP, DEA, neural network, etc. |
 | Gaudio Lab Inc. (Singapore) Audio Solutions for Virtual Reality (VR). VR audio (i.e., spatial audio, interactive 3D audio) is an audio system where sounds are precisely placed and moved anywhere in a virtual space. | Audio Solutions for Virtual Reality (VR). VR audio (i.e., spatial audio, interactive 3D audio) is an audio system where sounds are precisely placed and moved anywhere in a virtual space. http://www.gaudiolab.com/ |
 | PayKey (Tel Aviv Israel) Social Payment Solution that allows users to send money to friends and family within any social and messaging platform. | Social Payment Solution that allows users to send money to friends and family within any social and messaging platform. https://www.paykey.com/ |
 | The Social Coin (Barcelona Spain) Civic Engagement Platform based on Deep Learning helping to solve citizen's issues through a Blockchain rewards system. | Civic Engagement Platform based on Deep Learning helping to solve citizen's issues through a Blockchain rewards system. https://thesocialcoin.com/ |
 | EMOTION RESEARCH LAB (Madrid Spain) Software that allows analysis of mood and emotion through facial expressions. | Software that allows analysis of mood and emotion through facial expressions. http://www.emotionresearchlab.com/ |
 | Everledger (London UK) A global startup using the best of emerging technology to track and protect diamonds and other valuable items on their lifetime journey. | A global startup using the best of emerging technology to track and protect diamonds and other valuable items on their lifetime journey. https://www.everledger.io/ |
 | LegalBot (São Paulo Brazil) LegalBot supports corporations to operate in regulated markets: regulatory feeder and virtual regulatory compliance officer. | LegalBot supports corporations to operate in regulated markets: regulatory feeder and virtual regulatory compliance officer. http://legalbot.com.br/ |
 | Soundpays Inc. (Toronto Canada) Solution that harnesses sound waves to send information to smartphones, allowing advertisements and payment therefrom. | Solution that harnesses sound waves to send information to smartphones, allowing advertisements and payment therefrom. http://www.soundpays.com/ |
 | ShoCard (San francisco US) Digital identity and authentication platform built on the blockchain data layer. | Digital identity and authentication platform built on the blockchain data layer. https://shocard.com/ |
(Podium order)
- Let’s change the world together
About four years ago, we started the business contest to fully launch collaborative efforts with startups through open innovation. Building upon the great response we had received in the first four contests in Japan, we simultaneously hosted the 5th contest in 10 cities worldwide.
This page is a collection of the articles from NewsPicks that introduce every aspect of the contests, including: NTT DATA’s passion for advancing open innovation, reports on the contests outside Japan, and the expectations for Japan nursed by the energetic members of the startups at the contests. (The articles are in Japanese.)
- Pitch day reports across the world & interviews with contest participants on innovations across the world
We have asked Logmi to put together articles on the special session of the Grand Finale like the live coverage.
Please enjoy the atmosphere at each contest venue and profiles of the finalists.
(The articles are in Japanese.)
- Dr. Shuji Honjo
- Managing Director
Honjo International
Dr. Honjo provides business consulting to Japanese and U.S. companies, focusing on new business development. He is Advisor to Japanese and U.S. companies such as 500 Startups, Net Service Ventures, and Kozo Keikaku Engineering. He is also Visiting Professor at Tama Graduate School of Business.
He is active in entrepreneurial education and community development, as a mentor with Founder Institute, Shido Next Innovator, Fukuoka Prefecture etc. He led the Japanese Miniter’s project to promote medical ventures in 2016.
He founded and represented the Tokyo office of General Atlantic LLC. He was Assistant to Chairman and Group Strategy Manager of CSK/SEGA Group, a leader in enterprise IT and digital entertainment in Japan. He has extensive consulting experiences with BCG in Tokyo and CSC in California.
Dr. Honjo has Ph.D. in International Studies from Waseda University, MBA from the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania, and BS from the University of Tokyo.
Website: http://www.honjo.biz/en
- Dr. Koji Osawa
- Managing Director & Co-founder
Global Catalyst Partners
Global Catalyst Partners Japan
Dr. Osawa has over thirty years of experience in investment and management of high-tech companies in Japan, the U.S. and Asia. He co-founded Global Catalyst Partners (GCP) in 1999 and Global Catalyst Partners Japan (GCP-J) in 2014.
GCP is a venture capital fund established in Silicon Valley that invests primarily in early stage companies active in the areas of IT sector. GCP has established three funds with a total amount of over $300M. Dr. Osawa also founded GCP-J in 2014 that focuses investment opportunities primarily in Japan.
Prior to GCP, he was at Mitsubishi Corporation, the largest trading firm in the world, for 14 years, starting in 1985. He was Division Manager of Mitsubishi International Corporation (Palo Alto Office) from 1993 through 1999. He was responsible for business development with high-tech companies in Silicon Valley in the areas of semiconductors, communications and software.
Dr. Osawa is on the board of Verient, Fuller, Hospitality ONE, Axismotion, Veeple and Vanguard Industries.
He also works closely with SoundHound.
He serves on the Board of Directors of several NPOs: Global Catalyst Foundation, Digital Divide Data and Keizai Silicon Valley.
Dr. Osawa received a BS in Electronics from Keio University, Japan and Ph.D. in Engineering from Tohoku University, Japan.
- Takeha Namikata
- Managing Director
NTT Docomo Ventures, Inc.
Graduated from the College of Arts and Sciences, the University of Tokyo.
Joined NTT (Nippon Telegraph and Telephone Corporation).
Graduated from McDonough School of Business, Georgetown University.
After working at such departments as International Office, NTT East Corporation, International Office, NTT Corporation, Corporate Sales Promotion Headquarters, NTT East Corporation, and Technology Planning Department, NTT Corporation, she has assumed the current position and is in charge of investment and alliance business.
- Ikuo Hiraishi
- CEO/Co-Founder
SunBridge Global Ventures Inc.
Born in Fukushima Prefecture in Japan.
Upon graduating from university, he started a business in 1991, previously having worked at consulting firms and foreign-owned advertising companies.
He has been involved in Internet related business since the late 1990s and participated in the planning and setup of WebCrew Inc., whose automobile insurance price comparison website became a hit and was later listed on Tokyo Stock Exchange Mothers.
In 2000, he co-founded and became the CEO of Interscope, Inc. (Internet research company), which was sold off to Yahoo! Japan in 2007, and later merged with Macromill in 2010. Also, he co-launched an Internet research society, Internet Research forum of Japan, assuming the position of chairman; a field he has made great contributions to.
In March 2011, he assumed the position of Tokyo Officer of SunBridge’s seed acceleration activities, and in May of the same year, in cooperation with Mr. Takeuchi of VentureNow, he launched "Innovation Weekend", a pitch event and networking platform for early stage startups and angel investors.
In January of 2012, he co-founded SunBridge Global Ventures Inc. and became its president & CEO (current position). In addition, he presently serves as visiting professor at Hosei University Graduate School of Business Administration (MBA), and outside directors of several startups.
Firmly maintaining his foundational vision of “producing 'global challengers' who create 'global innovations' that inspire 'courage and confidence' and give 'hope' to society", he conducts his work with strong professional vigor.
- Tim Romero
- Host
Disrupting Japan
Tim Romero is a Tokyo-based entrepreneur, podcaster and author who has started four companies and led Japan market entry for others since coming to Japan more than 25 years ago.
Tim hosts the Disrupting Japan podcast and is deeply involved in Japan's startup community as an investor, founder and mentor.