— The recipients of the Grand Prize, the Excellence Prize, and the Newcomer Prize were selected to take a step forward toward starting a business! —
The final selection meeting for the 3rd Meiji Business Challenge was held at the global hall on March 14.
Under the themes of (1) discovering value-creating human resources, (2) fostering sustainable startups originated from Meiji University, (3) creating role models for innovative business development in a wide range of fields unique to the university, and (4) creating business models that contribute to society and culture, this business contest is hosted by the School of Business Administration and supported by the Tokyo Contents Incubation Center (TCIC); Graduate School of Business Administration, Meiji University; Graduate School of Global Business, Professional Graduate School, Meiji University; Center for Collaborative Innovation and Incubation, Meiji University; Entrepreneurship Research Center, Meiji University and sponsored by Daido Life Insurance Company and the Small and the Medium Business Consultant Shikon-kai at Meiji University.
The eight finalists selected in the first round participated in the final selection. The finalists took an acceleration program in January and February to brush up their business plans.
The final selection was conducted through a five-minute presentation for each person and Q&A session.
The presentation included proposals for solving social issues and business models using AI, which was highly evaluated by the judges.
In the second half, external judges OKUBO Kousei (a graduate of Meiji University, CEO of Sogyo Techo Co., Ltd.), SATO Shunta (deputy executive director, Tokyo Startup Support Plaza, Japan Finance Corporation), and SUZUKI Hideki (CEO of TSUCREA Co., Ltd.) held a talk session on the theme of “Thoughts on the business contest.” Okubo, one of the judges, said, “The business contest is just a passing point. I hope students at Meiji University will not be satisfied with it alone, but move on.” Suzuki said, “The Meiji Business Challenge is getting better every year. In particular, it is wonderful that many of the students who participated in the competition actually started their own business. I hope they keep up the good work.” as some advice for students who want to start a business.
Presentation by PEEK Aidan Zephyr, winner of the Grand Prize
As a result of strict screening, the Grand Prize (with additional prize of 1 million yen and one year of support for a start-up) was awarded to “Brain science x AI: depression predictive diagnosis” by PEEK Aidan Zephyr, and the Excellence Prize (additional prize of 200,000 yen) was awarded to “99 Support” by YAMAMOTO Ryouta and “INNODATA” by SUZUKI Aoba.
Starting from this year, the Newcomer Prize (awarded to a finalist in lower grades) was awarded to SUZUKI Aoba (winner of the Excellence Prize).
Presentation by SUZUKI Aoba, winner of the Excellence Prize
]Presentation by YAMAMOTO Ryouta, winner of the Excellence Prize
In fiscal 2025, Meiji University will launch a new university-wide comprehensive course called the Meiji Entrepreneurship Study 2025: Entrepreneurship is a Career Option, in addition to the spring semester Entrepreneurship Mechanism and the fall semester Startup Management Mechanism hosted by the School of Business Administration.
The fourth Meiji Business Challenge will also be hosted by Meiji University to further support and promote student entrepreneurship and startups.