Okayama University start-up TechSword Co., Ltd.―represented by Graduate School of Natural Science and Technology first-year students NAGASHIMA Yoshiki and MIYAMOTO Taiki―won the grand prize at the 2021 Campus Venture Grand Prix (CVG) Chugoku Regional Tournament award ceremony, held in Hiroshima on January 20. Additionally, two other first-year groups from the same graduate school―comprising IHORIYA Kazuki, OCHI Akihiro and KAI Naoto and KOREKANE Shinya, OKAJIMA Daiko and KAMIEBISU Ryuichi, respectively―received encouragement awards. NAGASHIMA Yoshiki and MIYAMOTO Taiki who won the grand prize, have advanced to the National Competition to be held on January 28.
Students entered the tournament as part of the Advanced Engineering Design course, offered under the Mechanical and Systems Engineering major at the Graduate School of Natural Science and Technology.

●Grand Prize: NAGASHIMA Yoshiki and MIYAMOTO Taiki (TechSword, Co., Ltd.)
NAGASHIMA Yoshiki and MIYAMOTO Taiki co-founded the university AI start-up company TechSword in May 2021. TechSword Platform is a No-code Edge AI platform aimed at non-engineers that can be used by companies to facilitate an environment where anyone can develop AI and apply it to their business with little to no knowledge of machine learning or AI. The platform enables the wider use of AI technology with the vision of realizing an optimized society in the near future. Commenting on the achievement, NAGASHIMA Yoshiki noted that he was elated to receive positive feedback on the services offered by his company and affirmed that his group would do their best at the upcoming national tournament.

●Encouragement Award: Group comprising IHORIYA Kazuki, OCHI Akihiro and KAI Naoto
The group received an award for “Study Bomber”, a learning support tool and video sharing platform that allows students to post videos explaining course content and answers to practice exercises, which are then made available to their peers. Videos are ranked according to the number of views and favorable reviews, allowing posters to accumulate points that can be exchanged for goods offered by affiliated companies marketing their products on the platform. Not only does the platform benefit students, but it is also an effective marketing tool for companies targeting young people. The group came up with the idea for the business proposal after considering the growth of video sharing platforms in recent years as well as the increasingly diversifying study methods used by students today. Group members commented that they were extremely happy to have won an award.

●Encouragement Award: Group comprising KOREKANE Shinya, OKAJIMA Daiko and KAMIEBISU Ryuichi
Recognizing that it can be difficult for local students who would prefer to work in nearby regions to gather information on local companies, the group designed “SC Connect”, a platform that connects students and companies by highlighting a company’s Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) activities. Group members expressed their delight at receiving an encouragement award.