We are pleased to announce that we have selected the companies for the Open Innovation Challenge TSUBASA, organized by JICA and IDB Lab.
This Open Innovation Challenge began on October 18, 2023 and we received applications from 18 companies with very attractive ideas from the perspective of contributing the achievement of SDGs in the Latin America and Caribbean region.
After our rigorous screening process, 9 companies have been selected as following.
■List of Selected Companies
| Course | Name | Representative | Location | Proposed Idea |
| Business | elleThermo, Ltd. | Sachiko Ubukata | Tokyo | Converting a closed mine into a source of electricity: demonstration of semiconductor sensitized thermal power generation (idea brush-up program (*1)) |
| endophyte Inc. | Toshiki Kazaoka | Tokyo | Realization of highly productive agriculture and afforestation in extreme environments using endophytic fungi | |
| Koeeru Inc. | Soji Nagano | Kanagawa | Business development of “Mi Mercado Verde”, a SHEP (*2) marketplace by industry-academia-government collaboration | |
| TYPICA Holdings, Inc. | Masashi Goto | Osaka | Development verification, and standardization of a system for visualizing greenhouse gas emissions from coffee production (idea brush-up program (*1)) | |
| Tenchijin Inc. | Yasuhito Sakuraba | Tokyo | Risk management system for leakage in water pipes using satellite data | |
| TOKYO8 GLOBAL INC. | Taihei Ishida | Tokyo | Realization of increased harvest and carbon storage in soil by plant activators that can be produced locally (Idea brush-up program (*1)) | |
| Government | TOWING Ltd. | Kohei Nishida | Aichi | Soil regeneration using microbial culture technology for biochar |
| Biome Inc. | Shogoro Fujiki | Kyoto | Citizen-participatory monitoring of environment using the “Biome”, a smartphone application | |
| Pirika, Inc. | Fujio Kojima | Tokyo | Project for surveying garbages scattered on the street and taking countermeasures by using AI x smartphone x vehicle |
(*1) Through approximately one month of mentoring after the selection, if the direction of use case and business model are agreed, the course will be chanegd to Business Course, while the support will be terminated if such agreement on the direction is reached
(*2) Abbreviation for Smallholder Horticulture Empowerment & Promotion, a market-oriented approach to agricultural promotion by JICA
(*3) Selected for TSUBASA 2022: In TSUBASA 2022, a B-to-B business model was pursued, but based on the results, a B-to-G business model was proposed for the Gonvernment Course in TSUBASA 2023