Scrum Studio Announces New Initiatives Created in the First Year of its SmartCityX Program at Demo Day

Stage-agnostic startups, iconic Japanese brands and thought-leaders partnered on initiatives for the City of the Future

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Jun 23, 2021, 09:00 ET

SAN FRANCISCO, June 23, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- Scrum Studio, Inc. concluded SmartCityX program with a demo day and announced the new initiatives that resulted in the first year of its global open innovation program. SmartCityX supports the creation of smart city related businesses with leading Japanese corporations and participating startups from around the world.

Launched in August 2020, SmartCityX supports and enables the development of new businesses related to smart cities. 13 leading Japanese corporations representing a broad variety of industries and 95 startups selected from 20 countries around the world, collaborated with six local city governments and more than 60 expert mentors on topics related to the development of smart cities.

At the SmartCityX Demo Day presentation on June 22nd, 2021, participants in the program representing each category gave presentations on business content and initiatives that resulted from the SmartCityX program, including:

Idemitsu Kosan Co., Ltd., a Japanese gas station company, and Smart Scan, out of Scrum Ventures' Japanese portfolio, will work together so residents can have medical examinations such as brain dock and pulmonary cardiovascular CT right at local gas stations at reasonable prices. This will be trialed in Toin Town, Mie Prefecture
Lion Corporation, a Japanese producer of personal care products, East Japan Railway Company, one of Japan's largest transportation companies, ExaWizards Inc., a Scrum Ventures portfolio that uses AI in nursing care, and Hakuhodo Incorporated, a global integrated marketing solutions company, will set up "hygiene stations" at train stations to gather data such as hand sanitizer and mask use by customers inside the station, and to promote hygiene awareness.
Aioi Nissay Dowa Insurance Co., Ltd., a company offering insurance services, will collaborate with Shibuya Ward in Tokyo to develop a disaster prevention application easily accessible to local residents, and plans to develop a prototype by the end of 2021 as a proof of concept to be used in Shibuya.
Aioi Nissay Dowa Insurance Co., Ltd., Fukui Prefecture, and Fukui Prefecture Police will collaborate on a project that uses Aioi Insurance's telematics technology to gather Fukui Prefecture driver data to predict where accidents are likely to occur and implement proactive traffic safety measures.
Nihon Unisys, Ltd., an information technology company, Aioi Nissay Dowa Insurance Co., Ltd., Miles, a startup offering a frequent flyer program for ground transportation, Kashima City, located in Ibaraki Prefecture, and Kashima Antlers F.C. Co., Ltd., a football club, will share data to help create incentives for Antler game fans to use public transportation instead of driving and visit local stores.
East Japan Railway Company, Aioi Nissay Dowa Insurance Co., Ltd., and Miles will co-develop an application that provides rewards according to residents' movement to incentivize them to shop at places they have not been to before.

During SmartCityX Demo Day, six startup participants also presented on stage including:

Misapplied Sciences, creators of Parallel Reality™ Displays
EVA, providing advanced drone infrastructure
Caspar.ai, providing safe, healthy and engaged living experiences for residents of retirement communities
Electro-Active Technologies, turning waste into energy to power cities
Tomorrow.io, a weather intelligence platform for brands to see how weather will impact their businesses
Singular Perturbations, providers of a crime prediction system and criminal risk hedging solutions such as risk visualization, safe route proposals, security personnel planning, and criminal factor analysis.

The second year of SmartCityX, scheduled to start in the summer of 2021 will soon open to global startups looking to collaborate with corporations on creating the cities of the future.

For more information on Scrum Studio and SmartCityX, please visit: https://en.smartcity-x.com/

About Scrum Studio, Inc.
Scrum Studio, Inc. is an open innovation platform formed to bridge the gap between iconic Japanese corporations with startups from around the world. The platform focuses on three pillars to create new business opportunities: acceleration, incubation, and connection. Its vertical studio programs include SPORTS TECH TOKYO, SmartCityX, and Food Tech Studio - Bites! Learn more at https://scrum.vc/studio/

About Scrum Ventures
Scrum Ventures is an early-stage venture firm based in San Francisco with a growing Tokyo office. With entrepreneurial expertise and a strong network in Japan, we actively support portfolio global growth and success. Learn more at https://scrum.vc/

SOURCE Scrum Ventures