The global business contest "NEC Innovation Challenge" (sponsored by NEC), in which BIRD INITIATIVE Co., Ltd. (Headquarters: Meguro-ku, Tokyo, Representative Director: Seiko Kitase, CEO: Satoshi Konno) participates as operational support, is a global business contest for startup companies from around the world. We are looking for innovative product and technology concepts under three themes: "Healthcare & Life Sciences," "Metaverse," and "Carbon Neutral." During the application period from October 14th to December 4th, 2022, 324 applications were received.
Ten startup companies that went through the initial screening, interview screening, and mentoring phases participated in the final event held online on March 10, 2023. As a result of the final screening held after each company's pitch, the winners of the BIRD INITIATIVE Award, NEC Award, NEC X Award, and NOFF Award (NOFF: NEC Orchestrating Future Fund) were determined.
「NEC Innovation challenge」 award winners
■ BIRD INITIATIVE Award
Hands-on support (business, technology, intellectual property, financing, etc.) from experts at the co-creative R&D startup studio
【Award-winning startup】
・Company name (country): Energy (France)
・Theme: Carbon neutral
・Overview: Energy visualization service for the manufacturing industry that can visualize in real-time and suggest energy/CO2 reduction measures.
■ NEC Award
Providing an opportunity to consider collaboration with NEC and a prize of US$20,000 to accelerate collaboration
【Award-winning startup】
・Company name (country): DeepBrain AI (Korea)
・Theme: Metaverse
・Overview: A platform service that automatically generates human avatars by learning video data of real people.
■ NEC X Award
Providing an opportunity to participate in the NEC
【Award-winning startup】
・Company name (country): WeWALK (UK)
・Theme: Healthcare & Life Sciences
・Overview: A smart white cane service that guides the walking route while recognizing obstacles.
■ NOFF Award
Opportunity to discuss investments from NEC Orchestrating Future Fund (NOFF), an ecosystem-based CVC fund
【Award-winning startup】
・Company name (country): Threedy (Germany)
・Theme: Metaverse
・Overview: A platform service that models CAD data in 3D and manages it on the cloud.
BIRD INITIATIVE will take this participation in the "NEC Innovation Challenge" as an opportunity to further promote co-creation with startup companies and accelerate and promote innovation on a global scale.
■ NEC Innovation Challenge site
https://nec.agorize.com/ja/challenges/nec-innovation-challenge/
■ Contact information regarding this matter
BIRD INITIATIVE Co., Ltd. Inquiry Deskhttps://bird-initiative.com/contact/contact-form