The 2018 NTT DATA Global Open Innovation Contest recently took place in Tokyo, with companies from across the globe coming together to compete for the grand prize
Participants were selected by winning heats from around the globe, with a goal of bringing together various companies to provide innovative enterprise and business products while offering a better experience for users.
NTT DATA is part of Japan’s leading telecommunications company NTT. With operations in more than 50 countries, NTT DATA specializes in the social aspects of information and communication infrastructure. Competitors pitch their ideas for improving ICT infrastructure, with an emphasis on the end user. The winner of the grand finale in Tokyo will receive three months of in-kind contributions from NTT DATA, with the goal of helping companies invest in bold ideas and bring them to market promptly.
Among 11 competitors competing at Level39 in Canary Wharf, Callsign was declared the winner of the London heat and will go on to the grand finale. Callsign, founded in 2012, has focused on taking proactive approaches to authentication, and its focus on adaptive access control decisions aims to give users and enterprises more control over their authentication and security. Callsign customers include consumer-facing digital service providers, enterprises, and financial institutions, including some of the largest banks in the world. Callsign will compete against the San Francisco-based SightCall, which provides various out-of-the-box components for modern application development. GESTOOS won the Barcelona heat and will bring its revolutionary approach to engaging humans with technology to the finals.
The grand finale of @NTTDATA_PR ‘s Open Innovation Contest takes place in Tokyo this week. We spoke to the leadership team at @NTT_DATA_UK and the UK winner @Callsign. #CEE18 #NTTData #TechNativeTV pic.twitter.com/b8XpeMEHPc
— TechNative (@TechNative) March 21, 2018
NTT DATA discusses ICT social infrastructure, and it’s constantly seeking new ways to provide human-friendly interfaces between burgeoning technology and the people who use it both as employees and as users. Through its competitions, ICT aims to provide further incentive for entrepreneurial spirit and help foster some of the most promising companies and technologies. Competitors aren’t rewarded a traditional cash prize. Instead, they’ll work with NTT DATA to further develop the idea and determine the most appropriate funding model.
The Grand Finale was held on March 22nd at NTT DATA Headquarters in Toyosu, Tokyo Japan and GESTOOS was selected as the Grand Champion. NTT DATA and GESTOOS will now proceed to co-creating a new and innovative products together.