The final selection and award ceremony for the winners of the KOSEN Open Innovation Challenge 2025 was convened by JICA and Nagaoka University of Technology

On May 17^th, the final round of “Kosen Open Innovation (KOI) -Challenges from Africa 2025-”, a hackathon for KOSEN students organized by JICA and Nagaoka University of Technology (NUT), was convened in Nagaoka City, Niigata Prefecture.

Over 50 students from 12 teams of 9 Kosen from all over Japan, which passed the document screening, gathered in-person to present their ideas in English for addressing social development issues in Africa.

In this year, KOI has called for ideas, focusing on Ghana and Senegal under the theme of “Save the Cacao Crisis” (Ghana) and “Solve the last-one-mile issues” (Senegal) respectively. Based on their ideas that were developed through deliberation including imaginative ideas with the state-of art technology, or ideas with low-tech but affordable and accessible, the participants gave a passionate presentation, proposing approaches from various perspectives to tackle the issues.

The judging panel included Dr. Yukio MIYASHITA, Vice President of NUT, Dr. Tadachika NAKAYAMA, Executive Vice President, Professor of NUT and Secretary General of KOI, Mr. Toshiyuki NAKAMURA, Special Advisor to the President of JICA, and other representatives such as UNDP and Bourbon Corporation. CFAO (Senegal: a subsidiary of Toyota Tsusho) and TACHIBANA &Co., LTD. (Ghana), who were unable to participate in person on the day, also cooperated in the preliminary screening.

During the Q&A session, Kosen participants were asked such practical questions as “What is the basis for the cost calculation?” and “Is it possible to maintain the system with local technology and material?”.

The winners are going to make prototypes based on their ideas in Japan and expected to bring the prototype to Ghana and Senegal for demonstration experiment in local environment. The selection of winners were done by voting of judges, and the result came out as follows;

●Ghana project: “Save the Cacao Crisis”
> Winner: Nagaoka National College of Technology "Cacao shells change the future - A new cycle that generates income and the environment from waste"

●Senegal project: “Solve the Last One Mile issues”
> Winner: Hakodate National College of Technology "Increasing the freshness of fish with the power of baking soda and nanobubbles - Sustainable Senegalese fishing by introducing freshness-improving technology to fishermen"

In addition, the following teams were given the special awards from companies and organization as follows;

・Bourbon Award: Hakodate National College of Technology (Ghana): Stabilization of cacao bean fermentation using Zia Pot refrigerator.

・CFAO Mobility Senegal Award: Hakodate National College of Technology (Senegal): Improving freshness of fish with the power of baking soda and nanobubbles - by introducing freshness improvement technology to fishermen Sustainable Fishery in Senegal-

・TACHIBANA Award: Oita National College of Technology (Ghana): Cacao plantation for the next generation: Sustainable plantation restoration realized by methane energy

・UNDP Award: Toyama National College of Technology (Senegal): Logistics reform in Senegal using QR code

Since 2019, KOI has been held 6 times to date, with a total of approximately 308 participants from 20 Japanese national colleges of technology.

In the past KOIs, students were sent to countries such as Kenya (Nagaoka National College of Technology: development of fertilizer and fodder for American watermilfoil), Rwanda (Kitakyushu National College of Technology and Miyakonojo National College of Technology: development of automatic sugar content measurement device for coffee beans, Ube National College of Technology: development of nutrition and health improvement guidance application with game function), and Nigeria (Sasebo National College of Technology and Kitakyushu National College of Technology: development of self-powered water meter).

The ultimate goal of the project is to apply the solutions (devised by technical college students who have conducted demonstration tests in Africa) to local issues in Japan (reverse innovation). The fertilizer/animal feed project of the American watermilfoil is in fact being put to practical use in Japan after demonstration tests in Africa.

The fertilizer and animal feed production business of the American watermilfoil is now being commercialized in Japan after demonstration experiments in Africa. In recognition of its attempt to combine reverse innovation with efforts to address social development issues in Africa, KOI was awarded the Grand Prize (Prime Minister's Award) of the 2023 Japan Open Innovation Awards (Organized by the Cabinet Office).

Related Links

● Kosen OI Official Website (in Japanese)
Kosen open innovation challenge | オープンイノベーション (kosen-oi.com)


● Kosen OI 2024 Kick-off Event Report
JICA jointly organized a kick-off event of “Kosen Open Innovation – Challenges from Africa 2024 –” with Nagaoka University of Technology ｜ Africa Plaza - JICA