AY 2023 Too Corp. × AIC Collaboration Event Activity Report

On March 5, 12, 19, and 26, 2024, Too Corporation and Keio AIC collaborated to host the event, “Ideathon for Solving Social Issues Using AI.”

A total of 15 undergraduate and graduate students from a wide range of faculties—including those from the Faculty of Science and Technology, the Faculty of Economics, the Faculty of Business and Commerce, the Faculty of Letters, and the Faculty of Environment and Information Studies—organized into 5 teams to participate in the ideathon.

During the event

Kick-off (March 5)

Starting off the event, Junichi Ishii, director of Too Corporation, provided a detailed explanation about the latest trends in the field of generative AI, how it works, and specific services that use it, making his presentation easily digestible such that even those with little background knowledge could follow along. Each team then held free discussions to come up with a theme related to solving social issues using AI.

Workshop (March 12)    

Yasuo Tezuka, CEO of both Too Digital Marketplace Inc. and Cryptolier Inc., gave an invaluable talk based on his own experiences, with topics including how to draw up one’s ideas to start a business, organizational management, raising funds, specific management situations, and how to maintain motivation. Afterwards, the participants divided into teams and continued their lively discussions to decide on their ideathon theme.

Interim Presentations (March 19)

Each team gave interim presentations. They all presented their work from various perspectives and with great attention to detail. Meanwhile, Ishii and Tezuka provided indispensable advice, saying, “It is better to define clearly what the issues are and how to solve them, and then develop your logic.”

Final Presentations (March 26)

After three weeks of internal deliberations, each team summarized their points into a 10-minute talk for their final presentation. Drawing from the feedback received from Ishii and Tezuka on their interim presentations, the teams had since held numerous discussions amongst themselves and through the process drastically improved their contents for the final presentation. Serving as judges, Ishii and Tezuka posed many questions about each presentation. The participants from the floor also enthusiastically bombarded the teams presenting with many questions, leading to an exciting atmosphere during the final presentations. After all the teams had finished delivering their presentations, Ishii and Tezuka proceeded with the review. They announced the results while providing each team with their evaluation. The final results are as follows.

Judging results

• First Place: Team E (Yuji Fujima, Koya Ishizu, Takuma Nobuto)
  Theme: “Craite: Fostering an environment to maximize the creativity of creators”
• Second Place: Team A (Jo Hagane, Kosuke Nakawaki, Rinoa Hara)
  Theme: “Integration of AI and DX in Local Businesses ✖️ AI Professional Development”
• Excellent Presentation Award: Team D (Mei Yasujima, Kotaro Seki, Koki Obayashi)
  Theme: “Mood Catcher”　

Comments from participants:

• I liked the fact that I could get advice directly from those who have actually started and run their own companies!
• I learned a lot from their feedback which was very substantial.
• I was able to learn specific methods on how to form a startup and particular points to be careful about.

Acknowledgments

We would like to thank Junichi Ishii, director of Too Corporation, Yasuo Tezuka, CEO of Too Digital Marketplace Inc. and Cryptolier Inc., and many others for their support in organizing this event.

Keio AIC representative: Takahiro Yakoh, Project Professor: Mari Kobayashi, AIC Officer-in-Charge: Fumio Kono
AIC Student administrators: Reo Tanaka, Taiyo Yoshida, Aoto Tsuchiya