On February 17, the activity results presentation of the "FY2023 Student Innovation Challenge Promotion Project", hosted by Okayama City, was held, and Okayama University's student group "EMPOWER OKAYAMA" won the semi-grand prix.

"EMPOWER OKAYAMA" consists of three students: HONGO Kenta (2nd year, School of Letters), BANDO Yuki (2nd year, Faculty of Law), and SHONO Jinyu (2nd year, Faculty of Law). They are working on creating a website aimed at revitalizing tourism in Okayama City, where travelers become a source of information about Okayama, allowing everyone to rediscover the charm of the city.

At the presentation, Mr. Hongo and Mr. Bando explained that the website they are building is based on the concept of soliciting and disseminating the uniqueness of Okayama that residents are not aware of. They reported on conducting tours for international students and using the results for their project. They also proposed a website with elements such as a competition to announce the "Top 10" images, tagging images by genres like fashion and cafes to cater to diverse needs including cultural and religious differences. Their efforts earned them the semi-grand prix out of 21 groups.

Mr. Hongo and Mr. Bando commented, "We are honored that our vision and ideas were appreciated. Since we are still in the proposal stage, if there are organizations or companies that support our ideas, we would like to proceed with actual image recruitment and aim for business implementation."

At Okayama University, we actively support students' efforts to start social businesses and small businesses to revitalize the region and solve social issues. For more information, please visit the Okayama University Venture Support Portal Site.

※ EMPOWER OKAYAMA Pre-site

◆ Student Innovation Challenge Promotion Project
This is a project organized by Okayama City that provides subsidies to support activities where university students collaborate with companies, local communities, NPOs, etc., to propose and implement flexible ideas unique to young people to solve regional issues and challenge entrepreneurship utilizing the skills learned at university.

○Participating teams from Okayama University for the FY2023 "Student Innovation Challenge Promotion Project"
・Insect Fusion
・The World Kitchen
・EMPOWER OKAYAMA
・Okayama University Tourism DX Promotion Group (Grand Prix Team for FY2021)
・Sustainable Society Systems Research Laboratory (Semi-Grand Prix Team for FY2022)