ICMG (Chiyoda-ku Tokyo; hereinafter ICMG; Hitoshi Funahashi, President and CEO) officially launched the “Aichi Smart Sustainable City Co-Creation Challenge,” a global program with the aim of realizing a smart sustainable city, in collaboration with Aichi Prefecture, on September 14, 2021 (Tuesday). The program is now accepting applications/startups in and out of Japan.

【Project Background】

Aichi Prefecture is known for its name “ ‘Philo (愛 love)’ and ‘Sophia(知 wisdom)'” and has been exploring, creating, and disseminating new “knowledge” to the world, and has continued to produce leaders with new “knowledge” both historically and in the present day.The Aichi Smart Sustainable City Co-Creation Challenge, which also continues from last year, aims to make Aichi prefecture not only Japan’s representative “manufacturing city” but also the world’s representative “smart, sustainable, and innovative city” and “the place that leads the way to a sustainable future for its citizens and the world by solving social and regional issues through co-creation with its citizens. 

ICMG co-managed this program by combining its extensive experience in co-innovation programs in Japan and overseas with the industry-government-academia-private innovation ecosystem in Asia.

 【 About the Aichi Smart Sustainable City Co-Creation Challenge】

This project aims to realize a “Smart Sustainable City ” in Aichi Prefecture through co-creation between companies and organizations in Aichi Prefecture and startups in Japan and overseas. This year, we have invited Toyota Industries Corporation, Handa City, and NGK Spark Plug Co., Ltd. as new challenge owners, and we will work on solving issues related to the themes set with each company.

【Challenge Themes & Challenge Owners】　

• Challenge 1
  Theme : Industrial Development in Aichi Prefecture through Digital Transformation
  – Solving Social Issues through the Use of Autonomous Mobile Robot “AiR”-
  Owner : Toyota Industries Corporation (Kariya-City)
• Challenge 2
  Theme : Co-creation of a Sustainable Municipal Policy Model by diverse players for a declining population
  – Co-creation of a Sustainable Municipal Management Model in a society with a declining population –
  Owner : Handa City
• Challenge 3
  Theme : Creating a community where everyone can thrive throughout their lives with high levels of well-being.
  – Optimizing the detection of and the support for young caregivers through IT to improve the well-being of Aichi Prefecture’s residents –
  Owner : NGK Spark Plug Co., Ltd. (Nagoya-City)

【Program Schedule】

1. Startup Recruitment (September – October, 2021)
2. Selection of startups (November, 2021)
3. Co-creation Session (November, 2021 -March, 2022)
4. Demo Day (March, 2022)

【Applicants】

(1) Japanese and overseas startups in and outside of Aichi Prefecture that can;

• Work together with the Challenge Owner to solve the problem and;
• Have an idea or technology that contributes to solving one of the challenges.

(2) Community Partners that;

• Have a network with startups in or outside of the prefecture or in Southeast Asia and/or;
  
• Empathize with the objectives of this program and work together with the challenge owners to realize the challenges. 

【Application】

(1) Application period

　　　September 14, 2021 (Tuesday) – October 15, 2021 (Friday)

(2) How to apply

　　　Please apply with the application form on the web page below, indicating the name of your company
and the theme in which you wish to participate. 

　　　https://aichissccc.com/en/index.html

【Participation Fee】

　　　Free (Each participant will be responsible for the actual costs of travel and other expenses necessary to carry out their project.)

【Selection of Participants and Notification of Results】

(1) Selection Process

• For startups from Japan and overseas, the Challenge Owners and others will score the submitted documents, and the Aichi prefecture government will make decisions based on the results.
  Community partners will be selected by the prefecture after confirming that they meet the requirements.

(2) Selection Results

• Each applicant will be notified of the results by email by mid-November.

【Aichi Smart Sustainable City Co-Creation Challenge】

Project name: Aichi Smart Sustainable City Co-Creation Challenge with Singapore Innovation Ecosystem

Organizer : Aichi Prefecture

Operator : ICMG Co.,Ltd

Cooperator : National University of Singapore (NUS) / NUS Enterprise

Challenge Owners: Toyota Industries Corporation, Handa City, and NGK Spark Plug Co., Ltd.

Community Partner:

(1)Local Partners

Sugi Pharmacy / Bank of Mitsubishi UFJ, Ltd. / NOBUNAGA Capital Village / MTG Ventures / Nagoya Innovator’s Garage / NAGONO CAMPUS / Midland Incubators / Sustainable Story / Tongali Project

(2) Global Partners

Sustainable Living Lab（SL2）/ e27 / Action Community for Entrepreneurship（ACE）/ One&Co / UNDP Global Centre for Technology, Innovation and Sustainable Development（UNDP GCTISD)

※Please refer to the project website for more information on this project.
https://aichissccc.com/en/index.html

 

ICMG Co., Ltd.

ICMG is an innovation co-creator with a mission to “create innovations that are intrinsically meaningful to the world. ICMG has formed a global innovation ecosystem with Japan, Singapore, India, Silicon Valley, Sweden, and other countries at its core, and aims to solve global issues and create a sustainable future by leading co-creative innovation with various stakeholders (corporations, startups, accelerators, governments, municipalities, universities and research institutions, students and citizens, etc.). 

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Inquiries:
ICMG Co., Ltd.
Daisuke Tanaka, Innovation Group Manager  |
Tel:(+81) 3-6812-2544（International）
E-mail address: [email protected]