through business innovation
The Business Acceleration Program (BAP) aims to
co-create the future
with
startup companies in
order to create a sustainable society where
10 billion people
can lead fulfilling lives to the age of 100
We are committed to continuing to resolve societal issues
through co-creation.
We are committed to continuing to resolve societal issuesthrough co-creation.
The Initiative for Co-creating the Future (ICF) exists
to create a
collective impact in order to
build a society
in which 10 billion people can lead fulfilling
and affluent lives until at
least the age of 100.
Last year,
BAP ended with an MRI DEMODAY for the first time,
successfully visualizing the
concrete
efforts
made to resolve societal issues through co-creation
and collaboration with innovative
startups.
This year, BAP 2023 will continue to focus on
the societal
implementation of both technology
and innovation by thinking, planning,
and acting together with startup companies that have
lofty aspirations and amazing ideas for resolving
societal issues.
The ideal applicant will have business models that
attempt to
resolve societal issues
in one more of the following 6 fields:
Wellness, Water & Food, Energy & Environment, Mobility,
Disaster
Prevention & Infrastructure,
and Education & Human Resources.
Utilizing the full power of the Mitsubishi Research
Institute’s
diverse and expert network and
the more than 570 ICF network members,
applicants will have the chance to change
the world in ways never thought
possible.
Let’s work together, and create a new world!
※For more information about ICF, click here!
What we look for
in a co-creation
partner
Ideas / Technology /
Business model
We are looking for startup companies with ideas/technologies/business models to realize the Mitsubishi Research Institute's vision of an ideal future society
ICF Business Acceleration
Program 2023
Features
-
Creating business
that solve
societal issuesMRI is seeking solutions to societal issues that we
Societal Issues
have deemed important to address, and is
collaborating with MRI business units to create
co-creation products
interactive webpage 〉 -
Providing business
opportunities
with the ICF member
networkApplicants can find matching and discussion
ICF: Abbreviation for [Initiative for Co-Creation of the Future]
opportunities with approximately 570 large corporations,
local governments, and startup companies -
Utilizing a support
system of MRI
researchers
and external industry
professionalsICF advisors and others are feverishly working with MRI researchers to support the early commercialization of new and innovative businesses
-
Up to 1
million yen in prizesUp to 1,000,000 yen in prize money support at the
final review session -
Collaborative PoC for co-creation
During the co-creation activity period,
(some cost support will additionally be provided)
after
reviewing project proposals,
joint PoC
implementation with MRI or
ICF will become standard
beginning
this year
Co-creation and societal implementation of businesses that solve societal issues through open innovation
Co-creation and
societal implementation
of businesses that solve societal
issues through open innovation
Mitsubishi Research Institute’s
vision of
an ideal future
society
society where 10
billion people can
lead fulfilling lives
to the age of 100
-
Wellness
A society where all can enjoy
a vibrant and healthy life
-
Water & Food
A society where all are securely
provided safe and healthy
water and food
-
Energy & Environment
A society where all can enjoy
sustainable and clean energy,
natural resources, and the environment
-
Mobility
A society where all can live
comfortably by meeting
their
mobility needs in
a clean, free, and
safe manner
-
Disaster Prevention &
Infrastructure
A resilient society where all
are assured safety
and security
-
Education &
Human
Resource
Development
A society where all are
empowered
to contribute
to their communities
MRI has identified 6 areas worldwide as societal issues to focus on
This program is intended for co-creation with MRI and ICF.
If you are interested in a collaborative project
with the MRI Operations
Division,
please refer to the following
Collaborative Project with
MRI Operations
Division
A society where all can
enjoy a vibrant and
healthy life
- What needs to be done
- Optimize medical and long-term care benefit costs, which are increasing due to lifestyle-related diseases and the aging of the population
- Respond to the emergence and increase in women's health risks
- Measures for people with impaired mental health
- Solution examples
-
Technology for
visualization of
health status and
behavior change,
measuring the
effectiveness
improvement
programs, and
systems for
improving nursing care productivity -
Support for medical checkups and consultations,
mental health
support, childcare support, infertility treatment support, career support, household chores, lifestyle alterations -
Understanding
the signs of
mental
deterioration,
self-care, and
measures to
address worker
absence and
turnover
A society where all are
securely provided safe and
healthy water and food
- What needs to be done
- Reduce the environmental impact of global food production, distribution, and selection
- Resolve supply chain inefficiencies and unreliability shortfalls
- Ensure food diversity and promote communication through food
- Solution examples
-
New food
production,technologies
to reduce the environmental impact of
production and
distribution, services to
promote behavior change when selecting foods - Visualization of production, supply, and consumption; efficiency improvement of agricultural production and distribution; improvement of food safety
-
Personalization of
food, encourage
dissemination of
cooking processes, formation of local communities
A society where all can enjoy
sustainable and clean energy,
natural resources,
and the environment
- What needs to be done
- Decarbonize energy production on the supply side
- Elicit behavior change on the demand side
- Encourage recycling and the efficient use of resources
- Develop more effective environmental measurement tools and analysis
- Solution examples
-
Technology for
decarbonization, microgrids, and
minimizing
forecast errors for renewable energy -
Decarbonization
solutions, energy
conservation support
tools, renewable
energy purchasing website, quantity
store locator
application, TCFD support -
Reducing
environmental
impact throughout
the product life
cycle, improve
efficiency of waste collection and
recycling processes
and biomass resource utilization - Air, water and soil pollution control, proactive pollution control solutions through
environmental monitoring
A society where all can live
comfortably by meeting
their mobility needs in a
clean, free, and safe manner
- What needs to be done
- Construct a more comfortable mobility system for advanced mobility
- Build a sustainable, compact, smart city
- Deploy policies to revitalize local communities affected by the declining population
- Establish measures to cope with the rapid aging of populations in developed countries
- Promote public-private data collaboration in urban development and regional development
- Solution examples
- Improved driver
work efficiency,
maintain private
space and time in
the car, and create services that can be provided within
cars -
Citizen
participation in
cities, visualization
of local assets, use
of ICT, address
last-one-mile of
human flow and
logistics -
Services to
revitalize rural
communities and
bridge the “digital divide” - ICT utilization,
data utilization,
address
last-one-mile of
human flow and
logistics - Linkage of government/industry data and services to solve local issues
A resilient society
where all are assured
safety
and security
- What needs to be done
- Build resilient societal systems against natural disasters
- Foster an individual awareness of crisis and behavior changes
- Develop efficient maintenance methods for societal and industrial infrastructure
- Solution examples
-
Mechanisms to
protect
local industries, information provision services,
centralization and openness of disaster information, effective communities in the event of a disaster -
Building
understanding of disaster risk, rapid evacuation services, disaster prevention education, phase-free products and services -
Efficient inspection methods, daily information gathering and anomaly
detection, optimal
repair and construction
A society where all are
empowered to contribute
to their communities
- What needs to be done
- Acquire skills required by rapidly changing technologies
- Popularize new ways of working and build organizations that are easy to work with
- Eliminate the gap between supply and demand of human resources, strengthen industrial competitiveness
- Solution examples
- Mechanisms to
provide new
learning, remote
class support,
learning progress management and sharing -
Capacity
development and
organization building
mechanisms for new ways of working, D&I and
gender-responsive employment of
human capital -
Mechanisms to
resolve the balance
between supply and demand of human resources, job-based employment, career shifting, and
promotion of
recurrent education opportunities
Mentoring by researchers with a wide range of
expertise unique to a think
tank,
combined with networking among
MRI divisions and ICF members
Application
MRI Researchers
ICF Advisors
Mentoring / Co-creation PoCMRI Divisions
- ・Business collaboration
and
investment with MRI - ・Co-creation of business
with MRI
ICF Members
・Business collaborationwith
about 570 member
companies
and
organizations
Co-creation
Developing collaboration on 4 types
of co-creation projects
Strengths /
Assets offered
Ideas / Technology /
Business Models
-
Collaborative Research
Realize MRI's tentative ideas and concepts
through collaboration with startups
New OrdinaryCollaborative research toward
MRI advocacy →“actfulness”MRI is currently proposing the "actfullness" concept, which aims to improve wellbeing and realize a sustainable society based on human behavior and is conducting joint research to improve and demonstrate the idea’s application by combining the strengths of New Ordinary's AI recommendation abilities and MRI's effectiveness measurement model. The goal is to introduce the technology to transportation operators and local governments.
-
Customer Proposal
Propose solutions to societal issues for large
companies and government agencies through
co-creation PJT
TaylorWorks Joint work for research center
collaboration in universitiesMRI has been commissioned by a government agency to plan and study the content exhibition for the 2025 Japan International Expo in the Industry-Government-Academia Collaboration Hub Consortium. MRI is currently collaborating with TaylorWorks, a BAP 2022 finalist, to provide a platform for co-creation to stimulate communication among the participants in this project.
-
New Business
Create new services that lead to solutions to
societal issues by collaborating using other's
strengths
HealthBit、UNTRACKED Building a package of health
management measuring toolsIn response to the growing awareness of health management initiatives among companies, MRI is currently working with HealthBit, a BAP applicant, and UNTRACKED, a BAP 2022 finalist, among others, to develop a service that provides services and solutions to monitor employees' health status (both physical and mental), encourage behavioral change, maintain and improve it, and measure its effectiveness.
-
Consortium-based
Create new markets by conducting research and
business development necessary to realize a
desirable society
FemTech Startups Creating a gender-oriented
consortiumICF positions women's health and advancement as a priority issue. Since BAP 2020, ICF has selected FemTech startups as finalists every year and continues to co-create with them. In the future, the company will expand the scope of its activities to include the concept of gendered innovation, which focuses on gender differences not only among women, but also among men.
MRI Business Support
Full use of our think tank's unique
knowledge and network
-
MRI's proprietary methods
Providing Impact Strategy
SupportMRI has years of experience introducing and providing support for research examining business strategies and their impacts. We quantitatively and qualitatively visualize the societal impact of each product and service from short-, medium-, and long-term perspectives, and can help you develop the necessary strategies to maximize the ripple effect on society.
-
Accompanying support for
co-creation and social
implementation with MRIMRI researchers, who are well versed in industry structure and regulatory trends, can provide the knowledge and network necessary for commercialization, including industry and business analysis, business model development, and sales channel development.
-
Consideration of investment
through CVO（Corporate
Venturing Office)The CVO (Corporate Venturing Office), which is in charge of MRI's startup investments, will consider investments and provide enhanced support for the commercialization of those that are chosen.
Cooperation with ICF
Utilization of our network of approximately
570 member* companies and
organizations
focused on resolving societal issues
-
Co-creation promotion
Successful applicants will be able to conduct business matching with ICF members, coordinating collaboration and co-creation towards early and effective societal implementation, all while accompanied by experienced experts.
-
Providing various
ICF member servicesICF can provide many opportunities for applicants to participate in various seminars, discussion events, research groups, and more, organized by MRI and ICF. ICF is also able to promote solutions to societal issues through the introduction and matching of institutional investors that understand these types of businesses.
-
Assistance by ICF advisors
and
other external professionalsApplicants can receive advice from ICF advisors and other outside professionals on startup commercialization support and co-creation business creation.
-
- July 4, 2023
-
Application opens
-
- August 22, 2023
-
Application deadline
-
-
Late Aug. 2023
to Mid-October -
1st and 2nd round selections (documents, online pitch)
Nov. 2023 → Finalists selected
-
Late Aug. 2023
-
-
Late October 2023
to Early December -
Mentoring
Support for commercialization
Pitch coaching
※Online in most cases (in-person meetings arranged individually)
-
Late October 2023
-
- August 12, 2023
-
Final Review
Grand prize (1 million yen), Mitsubishi Research Institute Prize,
and others (prize money available)
※Conducted at MRI headquarters (hybrid event) by invitation
(ICF members, + MRI clients)
-
-
End of Dec 2023~
End of Feb 2024 -
Co-creation activities
--Support for commercialization of proposed businesses
--Co-creation business study (new idea exploration, product
popularity test (PoC implementation), business model test)
--Impact Strategy study
--Matching support needs with ICF members
※Online in most cases (in-person meetings arranged individually)
-
End of Dec 2023~
-
- Early March 2024
-
DEMODAYCo-creation project presentations）
- ※Held at large venue in Tokyo (hybrid)
- ※Panelists will be from companies
that have successfully achieved
co-creation
-
-
April 2024
onward -
Full-Scale Collaboration Phase
・Participation in ICF and co-creation with members through activities
・Business collaboration with MRI, investment, and research activities
-
April 2024
-
-
Application
Deadline -
Tuesday, August 22, 2023
-
Application
-
-
Applicant
Qualifications -
- ■ Applicant companies must be registered as a corporation
- ■ Large corporations, new business divisions of large corporations,
internal ventures, and non-profit business are not eligible for participation - ■ Applicant must have an idea, technology, or business model
that will create a significant societal impact
-
Applicant
-
-
Application
Details -
Based on the six areas of societal issues (Wellness, Water & Food, Energy &
Environment, Mobility, Disaster Prevent & Infrastructure, and Education &
Human Resource Development) that make up the core of ICF’s research efforts,
applications will put forward solutions (business models) to current and future
societal issues that will contribute to the realization of the ideal future society
envisioned by the Mitsubishi Research Institute, Inc.
-
Application
-
- Other
-
Please read the ICF Business Acceleration Program Participation Rules
below before applying
For any questions or inquiries about this program,
please contact us at support@eiicon.net
Program Management Host:
Secretariat of the Future Co-creation Initiative, Mitsubishi Research Institute, Inc.
For the latest information on the BAP
applications and program, please see the following:
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For reports on previous BAPs,click here
