Mitsubishi Electric Corporation’s Business Innovation Division held the in-house idea contest “GEMStones,” and the top three teams were selected through an in-house incubation system design and an in-house business contest. ZENMONDO was in charge of advising and supporting the commercialization of their ideas.
For approximately six months until the end of June, ZENMONDO’s professionals used their knowledge and experience to formulate strategies and design systems for Mitsubishi Electric’s innovation creation. We examined questions from various angles and incorporated them into an innovation system proposal, from a mid to long term perspective of what the future world will look like and how Mitsubishi Electric wants to be positioned in that world, what systems and measures should be implemented, who will manage these to achieve what results, etc.
The following are the things that ZENMONDO is keeping in mind when providing support, and the characteristics of the cross-border accelerator program that ZENMONDO is providing:
- ● Digging deep into business insights with serial entrepreneurs and other professionals who have experience in supporting various business creations,
- ● Casting of cutting-edge professionals in Japan and overseas,
- ● Rather than just consulting, working together to commercialize the business and pursuing outcomes, and
- ● Incorporating real opinions and issues learned through commercialization into the client company’s internal structure.
Comments after completing the first phase
(1) Ideas for improving efficiency at emergency medical sites using voice recognition and image recognition technology: Ms. Maeda
“We were able to learn a lot about how to proceed, how to organize, and what to think, by receiving guidance from ZENMONDO experts in various fields, tailored to our level as amateurs starting up a new business. We are very grateful to ZENMONDO for creating materials and providing information on behalf of those of us who were unable to do our part due to our regular duties at the company. We would not have been able to proceed without ZENMONDO. For the first month, I was completely dependent on ZENMONDO because I didn’t fully understand my role and tasks, and what I could ask ZENMONDO to do. I think if it had been made clear from the beginning, we would have been able to move forward with more speed.”。
(2) Idea of plastic recycling technology: Mr. Nakamura
“During the period from April to June this year, we further fleshed out our business ideas through customer interviews, etc., and dug deeper into the value we provide. During this process, ZENMONDO took the initiative to lead the team and provided full support, including deciding on the direction of activities, instructing members to share work, and organizing discussions. We were able to work together as a team to plan our business, and feel that we were moving steadily towards our goal, step by step, while always receiving insightful opinions from ZENMONDO from a perspective that our company members would otherwise not have had. As of the end of June, the resolution of the business plan had improved to an extent that was incomparably higher than when we proposed it at GEMStones last year, and the motivation and confidence of the members had further increased. I am very grateful to Mr. Kawahara and all the other professionals at ZENMONDO, and I very much look forward to working with them in the future (second phase) to commercialize this project.”
(3) New business idea that approaches solving social issues by combining electric power business in Africa and air conditioning technology: Mr. Hatakeyama, Mr. Shimizu, and Mr. Taniyama
Although we had no experience in commercializing a project, ZENMONDO clarified the procedures in advance and provided friendly and considerate support, so we were able to proceed with the project with peace of mind. Additionally, with their extensive experience and connections in an unknown continent Africa, they made proposals that exceeded our expectations and set up interviews with leading experts in the industry, allowing us to accelerate our project. We believe that we learned a lot through this review, and that our team members were able to grow significantly as well. We are really grateful for working with ZENMONDO.
In a big organization, it is very challenging to form a new and innovative system and get people involved and proceed as planned. When it comes to commercialization, we must analyze the situation from various perspectives and at times it may be with a difficult proposition. We, ZENMONDO professionals are pleased to hear that we were able to support their strong wills to go forward with making their projects into businesses.
ZENMONDO will continue to work together with passionate entrepreneurs to realize your dreams and wills.
