Okayama University’s newly restructured Innovation Management Core (IMaC; formerly Okayama University Open Innovation Organization) has been implementing efficient and effective activities to strengthen research capabilities, encourage industry-academia collaboration and co-creation, and stimulate innovation through project management. As part of its activities, IMaC is an academic sponsor of the PMI Japan Chapter (Chapter Headquarters: Chuo Ward, Tokyo; Chairman: KATAE Aritoshi), which forms part of the world's largest professional organization for project management, the Project Management Institute (PMI).

On November 23, Okayama University participated in the “PM Award 2021” as a special sponsor. The award ceremony was held at Hilton Tokyo (Shinjuku Ward) and was organized by the PMI Japan Chapter to honor outstanding projects lead by domestic and Japanese companies and organizations. During the ceremony, Okayama University awarded the “Okayama University SDGs Innovation Award” to NTT DATA Corporation for its social action project “Using AI Diagnostic Imaging Technology to Increase Access to Tuberculosis Examinations for 100,000 People in India”.

This year marks the first iteration of the Japan Chapter PM Award. As part of the judging process, applications were reviewed by a panel of academic and industry experts and evaluated according to their performance in the following categories: “innovation”, “value”, “organizational impact” and “contribution”. Okayama University Vice Executive Director SATOH Norito, who acts as Okayama University’s University Research Administrator (URA) in Charge of Research and Industry-Academia Co-Creation and is also a Senior Science and Technology Policy Fellow for the Cabinet Office in Tokyo, as well as an angel investor who has both lead and participated in multiple domestic and international projects across various fields, participated as a panelist.

Six finalists were selected, after which they were introduced in a seminar and voting took place online. NTT DATA Corporation was announced as the winner of the Okayama University SDGs Innovation Award and the award was later presented by Okayama University Vice President and Executive Director in Charge of Research NASU Yasutomo. NTT DATA Corporation also won the prestigious “Best Project Award”.

The NTT DATA project aligns with the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), which Okayama University has set at the core of corporate management. The project aims to stop the spread of tuberculosis, which, despite being recognized as a “disease of the past” in Japan, has been identified as one of the “three major infectious diseases in the world” that results in loss of life for many people around the world and has a devastating social and economic impact. Not only does the project intend to help meet the health targets of the SDGs, but it also uses cutting-edge technology to provide services that ensure “no one gets left behind” and can serve a model for medical education and research activities at Okayama University.

In the near future, Okayama University hopes to use the PM Award as an opportunity to create new connections that promote industry-academia co-creation by setting up forums and activities where those involved in the NTT DATA project can exchange opinions and match research seeds to needs with Okayama University researchers and Okayama University Hospital medical personnel.

〇Click here to read comments by Executive Director in Charge of Research NASU Yasutomo and Vice Executive Director in Charge of Industry-Academia Co-creation SATOH Norito (in Japanese)

〇Related Resources
・PM Award 2021 homepage (in Japanese)
・“PM Award 2021” Recognizing Outstanding Projects in Japan Awards NTT DATA Corporation with Prestigious “Best Project” for its SDGs Project! （PMI Japan Chapter Press Release in Japanese）