Program participants will develop their change-making concepts with support from Salzburg Global Seminar and The Nippon Foundation
Almost two years from its first call for applications in November 2019, the Japan-India Transformative Technology Network marked an important milestone. Fellows of the program’s first cohort presented four projects they devised in working groups and will now see through to final delivery over the coming months.
The Network sought to attract a diverse, cross-sectoral mix of perspectives from professions, including research and development, implementation and commercialization, and expansion and scaling up. The program’s goal was to connect these individuals and fulfill their potential for leading positive transformation in their societies.
Through this development of a network of Fellows from Japan and India, they have worked toward social good through maximizing the benefits of various forms of new technologies. By developing innovative ideas to tackle the challenges of improving health and health care, expanding social inclusion, and enriching life in urban and rural communities, the Network has already had a big impact.
Originally intended to be an in-person program meeting alternately in Japan and India with a launch gathering in the historic mountain village of Magome, Japan, the onset of COVID-19 meant plans had to change rapidly. As a result, the program was re-designed for an online environment. Challenge Meetings were held monthly between June 2020 and February 2021, helping Fellows build relationships and benefit from peer-to-peer learning.
These meetings, along with informal meet-and-greets and content sharing, aided in disseminating knowledge between and among the cohort. Based on feedback from Fellows, the program’s focus turned to an action-based approach at the start of 2021 with the design of project ideas.
“What is Your Challenge?” was the provocation for Fellows to examine how their own work might be strengthened and their own knowledge – or skills gaps – filled by harnessing the expertise of the wider group. Ten different project pitches were submitted, four of which progressed to fuller development from this ideation phase, and proposals were presented in a recent online presentation gala.
The projects were reviewed by a panel of judges who offered feedback and advice on how to progress. In the wake of the gala, Salzburg Global Seminar and The Nippon Foundation announced all four shortlisted projects will now receive awards. These comprise a consultation with a marketing and promotional expert to compose a promotional plan and the underwriting to carry out that promotional plan worth between $15,000 and $20,000.
Tatsuya Honda teamed up with Nikhil Agarwal on the Next Sensory Augmented Hearing Aid (NSAHA) Project, combining his technology design experience with Agarwal’s business acumen. Their project aims to bring the Ontenna device designed by Honda to schools in India after a successful rollout in Japan. The device converts noise into vibrations and light intensity via a device worn by its user to enable hearing-impaired children to interact and communicate, not just among themselves but now also between peers, crossing language and cultural barriers in both India and Japan.
“I’m very lucky to have met Nikhil through the Network,” explains Honda. “He is the business side person; he thinks about how we make the business sustainable. My side is the technology. That’s why we’re a good team together.
“I want to create a lot of smiles and fun in the world by using design and technology through Ontenna and NSAHA. I do not see deaf people as disabled people. They have a very unique power, they have great senses and ideas, so I want to design something for them and make positive experiences for them.”
WeTheWomen: Mobile Service and Information Platform for Women is a project seeking to address the lack of a dedicated platform catering specifically to an audience of vulnerable women living in marginalized communities – particularly rural migrants to cities – who cannot read or write.
By providing a mobile application to underserved women, which uses video as the primary service of engagement along with artificial intelligence (AI) voice recognition to overcome literacy obstacles, the project aims to enable and encourage social and financial mobility for its users.
Another of the projects, named Project SAFAR (Safe and Accessible Fare using AI on Roads), will target the “public health emergency” of road accidents in India.
Through the creation of SAFAR Labs, the project will develop an AI engine that conducts a root-cause analysis of road accidents at the hyperlocal level using existing road accident data, then recommends location-specific policy and regulatory action to be implemented.
Enabling Magome: An Empathic Design Strategy for Community Revitalization is a project that will help provide a solution for rural communities to the contemporary challenges presented by urbanization and co-create actions that provide a future for all community members.
The project will put the concerns of local communities at the center of its action framework. It will aim to address the inter-generational challenges in Japanese society and enable the community to identify specific issues technology can assist. This includes matters such as job opportunities, local healthcare facilities, and sustainable tourism strategies.
The four teams will now work on the development of their projects through May 2022, during which time the objective of the support provided by the program’s awards is to help teams attract funding to make their projects sustainable long-term initiatives.
In addition, the Network will continue to support Fellows with monthly online gatherings that offer ongoing opportunities to network, exchange ideas and expertise, and share learnings.
