NTT DATA has announced the launch of its 10th international Open Innovation Contest. The global technology leader invites startup businesses around the globe to submit ideas for new technologies that can make the world a better place.
Worldwide, regional contests will be held in 15 cities across 13 countries, where 1-2winner(s) in different business challenges will be chosen. This winner will earn a place at the grand finale in Tokyo, Japan in January 2020. In the UK, the regional competition will be held in London and Edinburgh in December, with applications open from today. For an entire list of cities, click here.
“NTT DATA’s Open Innovation Contest has actively helped dozens of startups to get the head-start they need to make new technologies and ideas a reality,” said Tom Winstanley, Head of Innovation, NTT DATA UK. “The UK is home to some of the world’s best talent and through our contest we can help to bring their technological innovation to the global stage and identify the unique ideas that will make a real impact on our clients’ business’ and society at large.”
“The UK is in a highly competitive global market but with some of the best talent and technological innovation in the world, is ideally placed to thrive as an innovation hub. The contest allows us to create a win-win-win situation, providing added value for us, for our customers and for the startup entrants. With this mentality, we are ideally positioned to help our UK clients become more agile and succeed in their market,” added Winstanley.
NTT DATA is committed to using information technology to help contribute to a more affluent and harmonious society and this outlook underpins the mission of the company. Following the selection of winner(s) at each regional contest, NTT DATA experts will work with their respective winner(s) to develop where the startup company’s product or service would be used in NTT DATA’s client ecosystem. Regional winners will be invited to present their pitch to a panel of judges for the Tokyo grand finale in January 2020 to determine the ultimate grand champion of the global contest.
To develop innovative business together with NTT DATA, the ultimate grand champion contest winner will be funded up to $100,000 USD to develop a proof of concept (POC) with NTT DATA clients in addition to receiving support of a dedicated team of expert consultants, technologists and business experts who will work together with the startup. NTT DATA will also help make important mentoring and business connections for finalists and winners among their client base and professional networks.
“This contest is an important measure to realize the following three strategies for NTT DATA Group: the contest promotes innovation that helps tie back to the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals, expands global digital offerings for our company, helps unleash our employee’s potential that maximizes organizational strengths and, most importantly, delivers great value to our clients all over the world based on their regional needs,” said Yo Honma, CEO, NTT DATA.
Any startup company is welcome to submit a proposal for a collaborative business with NTT DATA group companies in the following fields: Healthcare and Life Sciences; Finance, Insurance & Payments; Automotive & Manufacturing as a Service; Telecom& IoT ; In-Store Front &Marketing Digitalization; Smart Automation; Data Distribution and Disruptive Social Innovation.
Last year’s global contest champion, India-based FlytBase ‘Pune’, is working with NTT DATA experts to field the world’s first Internet of Drones platform for easily deploying intelligent drones connected with cloud-based business applications.
In the UK, regional winner for the 9thcontest hosted in London in 2019 was GeoSpock, a spatial big data startup that demonstrated a unique power to discover new insights in data, with huge potential to drive a hyper-connected future. Read more here.
For more information and how to apply, please visit https://spark.adobe.com/page/Gu1JeCWGk2XwQ/or send an inquiry to openinnovationuk@nttdata.com