The purpose of this technical college OI is to provide opportunities for technical college students to work on social issues in Africa, to deepen their understanding and interest in global issues, and to seek innovative solutions with their flexible ideas and advanced technical skills. In response to the challenges set by JICA and its African partners (local companies, government organizations, and educational institutions), Nagaoka National College of Technology takes the lead in soliciting proposals for solutions from teams of technical college students from all over Japan, and the teams selected in a pitch contest produce prototypes and conduct on-site demonstrations. The teams selected in the Pitch Contest will build prototypes and conduct on-site demonstration experiments. So far, a total of 203 students from 13 national colleges of technology(1) have participated in the project, working with local partners in seven African countries(2). For example, in the FY2022 OI, which had two themes of improving nutrition and health of African children and flood control, the Ube National College of Technology team worked with a local company in Rwanda to develop additional functions for a nutrition improvement application, and the Nagaoka National College of Technology team worked with a flood control organization in Madagascar to develop an application for treating trash and water plants that litter lakes and drainage channels. The Nagaoka National College of Technology team developed a seine-type net to dispose of trash and waterweeds scattered in lakes and drainage channels. Both teams visited the site in January 2023 to demonstrate the developed prototype.
The 5th Japan Open Innovation Awards highly evaluated OI as a leading and creative initiative that can serve as a role model in accelerating the creation of innovation in Japan, and in addition to its effectiveness in fostering engineers who can work globally, it is expected to contribute to regional development through collaboration with local companies and universities in Japan. In addition, the program is expected to contribute to regional development through collaboration with local companies and universities in Japan.
Professor Yuki Murakami of Nagaoka National College of Technology, who gave a speech at the award ceremony on behalf of the award-winning organization, said, “I believe it is one of the missions of technical colleges as well as continuing efforts to create communities throughout Japan by challenging students of technical colleges to solve global social issues and applying the knowledge and experience gained through these efforts in cooperation with local companies and local governments. I believe that this is one of the missions of a national college of technology,” he said, and also expressed his gratitude to those involved.
Professor Kagami of the University of Tokyo, who gave a review of the judging, commented on the OI of technical colleges, saying that “Japanese technical college students are contributing to solving social issues, especially specific issues in Africa, from a global perspective, and that it is a very wonderful project where what they have cultivated through their activities has been fed back to local development. The project is at the forefront of open innovation in that it involves not only Nagaoka National College of Technology but also other technical colleges throughout Japan, and it is an extremely successful initiative with a new approach that has not been seen in previous Open Innovation Awards. The award is a new approach that has never been seen in the Open Innovation Awards before and is extremely successful.
In his closing remarks, Mr. Takaichi, Minister of State for Cabinet Affairs, gave the following words of encouragement: “I have great expectations that international open innovation initiatives will serve as a new role model in terms of fostering human resources who can play an active role in the world. I am convinced that Japan will lead the world in building a path for solving social issues through this kind of open innovation, and by expanding it to Japan and the rest of the world, a path for sustainable economic growth will also open up.
(Note 1) Ariake National College of Technology, Ube National College of Technology, Okinawa National College of Technology, Kagawa National College of Technology, Kagoshima National College of Technology, Kisarazu National College of Technology, Kure National College of Technology, Kitakyushu National College of Technology, Sasebo National College of Technology, Tokushima National College of Technology, Nagaoka National College of Technology, Hachinohe National College of Technology, Miyakonojo National College of Technology
(Note 2) Ghana, Kenya, Nigeria, Tanzania, Madagascar, Mozambique, Rwanda
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