Event & Report

Events

Invitation to International Pitch Contest
"Hack Award 2019"

Special Support Program to Global Entrepreneurs
from Business Partner Cities.

イメージ写真

Osaka City Government and Osaka Business Partner City Council invite entrepreneurs, start-ups and SMEs (small-and-medium-sized enterprises) from Business Partner Cities to participate in "Hack Osaka 2019" which is to be held in Osaka on March 13th (Wed.), 2019. 13:00 – 18:00. In this event, various opportunities are offered to participating entrepreneurs for future business development and innovation through seminars, business plan pitch contest, showcase exhibition, and workshops.

Taking this opportunity, Osaka City Government provides BPC special support program for entrepreneurs from Business Partner Cities to challenge "Hack Award 2019" , an international business plan pitch contest which will lead to the chance to meet with potential investors, business supporters and collaborative partners in Osaka. ("Hack Award 2019" is one of the main program of "Hack Osaka 2019" which is global innovation conference.)

※Business Partner Cities (BPC): Since 1988, Osaka City Government has promoted business partnerships with 13 cities in the Asia and Pacific region. The BPC is a new type of city partnership in the sense that local government and economic organization as the BPC member play a leading part in promoting economic exchanges at the private sector level. Through this network, the BPC program aims to support globalization and revitalization of small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) and to promote the mutual development of BPC members through economic exchanges.

How to Apply "Hack Award 2019"

What is "Hack Osaka 2019"

Hack Osaka is Global Innovation Conference held annually in Osaka City with the slogan of “Open Innovation City, Osaka”. In this event, participants from all over the world bring ideas to promote their own business and interact each other to contribute to the business development and innovation in Osaka.
The details of upcoming year’s event is as follows;

Theme :	Looking to Establishment of Innovation Ecosystem - Paradigm Shift toward Hack Osaka Movement -
Program :	Conference, Hack Osaka Award 2019 (International Pitch Contest), Workshops, Showcase Exhibition etc.
Date & Time :	March 13th (Wed.), 2019. 13:00 – 18:00
Venue :	Congress Convention Hall A, Rooms 1 - 3 (Granfront Osaka Knowledge Capital B2 Level) (3-1 Ofukacho, Kita-ku, Osaka-Shi, Osaka, Japan 530-0011)
Target Participants :	Entrepreneurs, Investors, In-house developers of new projects, students, researchers, media and etc. from Japan and overseas.
Executive Committee :	Global Innovation Conference Hack Osaka 2019 Executive Committee (Osaka City and Urban Innovative Institute)
Co-host	Osaka Innovation Hub

BPC’s Special Support Program to “Hack Award 2019” (International Pitch Contest)

In this coming "Hack Osaka 2019", Osaka City Government is going to extend a special support to the prospective entrepreneurs / start-ups from BPC member cities*1 who are interested in participating to "Hack Award 2019", an international pitch session of "Hack Osaka 2019" as a delegated candidate from BPC network.

*1) BPC: Hong Kong, Singapore, Bangkok, Kuala Lumpur, Manila, Jakarta, Seoul, Shanghai, Ho Chi Minh City, Mumbai, Melbourne, Tianjin, Auckland

【Details of Hack Award 2019】

This year, the contestants will compete with their ideas and business models on the themes of sports tech and foodtech in addition to digital health, travel tech and smart cities. Participant companies should be in their seed or early stage, and operate IT-related businesses dealing with products or services in any field of the Internet of Things, the Internet, mobile technologies, software, digital content, or consumer electronics (including PDA and robots).

● Date & Time :	March 13 (Wed.), 2019, 3:30pm-5:00pm
● Venue :	Congress Convention Hall (Grand Front Osaka )　 (3-1 Ofukacho, Kita-ku, Osaka-Shi, Osaka, Japan 530-0011)
● Theme :	Digital health, travel tech, smart cities, sports tech, and foodteck
●Target fields :	IT-related businesses dealing with products or services in any field of the Internet of Things, the Internet, mobile technologies, software, degital content, consumer electronics (including PDA and robots)
●Target products / services :	Any products or services that can be demonstrated
●Target Companies :	Companies in their seed or early stage from in and out of Japan
●Benefits:	-- Opportunities to meet with investors from Japan and overseas. -- Opportunities for business matching meetings with Japanese companies. -- The prize winner will get a travel voucher to come back to Japan again.

On the event day, five judges including innovators and accelerators will judge companies on a scale of one to ten live. Top three companies will be awarded.

•English only for both speech and materials
•The maximum number of companies for presentation is 10. One person per company should give a presentation (e.g. business owner or manager)
•Each company has five minutes to make a presentation (we will inform presenters of presentation environment later after presentors have been decided)
•There will be Qs and As by judges with up to three minutes per company.

How to Apply for BPC’s Special Support Program to
“Hack Award 2019”

Apply through the below On-line Entry form.
(Please submit presentation materials when you apply.)

Online Registration

● Presentation material of your service/product should be submitted through the above on-line entry form. If the presentation material exceeds 3MB, please send the file directly to the contact desk of Osaka Business Partner City Council
(event@ibpcosaka.or.jp)
● The presentation slides should be prepared in Power Point or Keynote Ver. 5. , and it should not exceed10 pages.
● Please adjust the slide size ratio to 16:9.
● In case there is a supplementary materials or moving image for the explanation of your product and service, the applicants can submit them to the contact desk of BPC Council together with presentation materials. Please be reminded that the submitted presentation documents will not be returned to the applicants. (Please do NOT send actual products.)
● Presentation materials should be made in English.
(Common language among the participants during the event is supposed to be English.)

Benefits of BPC Support Program

From among all applicants,
4 companies will be selected through the first screening in terms of
(1) originality, (2) reality, (3) impact, and (4) scalability.

The below BPC Supporting Companies A and B will be selected from the applicants from BPC through the official screening by the board of business experts at Hack Osaka 2019 Executive Committee and Osaka Innovation Hub.

1) Supporting Company A (2 companies): ⇒ The company with the 1st and 2nd highest evaluation

2) Supporting Company B (2companies): ⇒ The companies with the 3rd and the 4th highest evaluation

1) BPC Supporting Company A (2 companies)

● Round-trip air ticket to/from Osaka (Economy Class) to be provided (Up to 1 person)
● Accommodation costs at designated hotel in Osaka (Single Room )to be provided up to 3 nights (From March 12th to 14th)
● Opportunity to make presentation at "Hack Award 2019"(International Pitch)(The winner of the international pitch contest will get free round-trip ticket to Osaka or equivalent amount of money to come to Osaka again.)
● Opportunity to exhibit at "STARTUP SHOW CASE" in Hack Osaka 2019.
● Invitation to Networking Reception on March 13th, 2019.
● Opportunity to make business matching meeting with investors or companies from Japan and overseas on March 14th,2019.
● Invitation to Pre-Event on March 12th, 2019.

※The above privilege is just for 1 representative only. All the incurred costs for accompanying traveler should be borne by the applicant.

2) BPC Supporting Company B (2 companies)

● Accommodation costs at designated hotel in Osaka (Single Room )to be provided up to 3 nights(From March 12th to 14th)
● Opportunity to exhibit at "STARTUP SHOW CASE" in Hack Osaka 2019.
● Invitation to Networking Reception on March 13th, 2019.
● Opportunity to make business matching meetings with investors or companies from Japan and overseas on March 14th,2019.
● Invitation to Pre-Event on March 12th, 2019.

※The above privilege is just for 1 representative only. All the incurred costs for accompanying traveler should be borne by the applicant.

Note) All the arrangement of air tickets, hotels are to be done by BPC Council and Hack Osaka 2019 Executive Committee.

Online Entry

Time Schedule

Application will be closed on October 31st, 2018.
Examination will be done upon receipt of presentation materials.

Timeline	Details
September 1 – October 31st, 2018	Application Period
October 31st – November 16th, 2018	Screening(examination)of Submitted Documents by Business Experts Results of documentary examination are to be notified to each applicants.
By Early January, 2019	Travel Arrangement to Osaka, Japan/ Preparation for the Event
March 12th, 2019	Arrival to Osaka, Japan / Participation to Pre-Event
March 13th, 2019	Participation to Hack Award 2019 (Hack Osaka 2019 Conference, etc.) , Networking Reception
March 14th, 2019	Business matching meeting with investors or companies from Japan and overseas.
March 15th, 2019	Departure from Osaka