Two GU Student Teams Achieve Excellent Results at the 'Tongali Idea Pitch Contest 2024'.
On Saturday, November 9, 2024, two Gifu University student teams achieved excellent results at the 'Tongali1 Idea Pitch Contest 2024.'
The "Tongali Idea Pitch Contest" is held to foster entrepreneurial spirit and a willingness to take on challenges by having university students, middle and high school students present innovative ideas based on social issues or themes they wish to tackle. This year, a record 184 teams entered, and 15 teams that advanced through the preliminaries and semifinals gave presentations in the finals.
From Gifu University, two student teams participated in the finals, and their ideas were highly evaluated, receiving the following awards:
Team 'GIVELOVE'
Theme: 'GIVELOVE - A warm connection through a monitoring and assistance service that links troubled seniors, their families, and university students.'
Representative: Ms. KITAGAWA Aiko (2nd year, the Faculty of Regional Studies, Member of the Startup Club)
Awards: 3rd place of Tongali Award, Overseas Challenge Award, Bank of Nagoya Award, Meitetsu Award
Team 'Hundale'
Theme: 'Reducing the burden on teachers for better education.'
Representative: Mr. FUNABIKI Takuma (1st year, the Faculty of Education, Member of the Startup Club)
Award: Nomura Securities Award
On Thursday, December 5, the representatives of the two award-winning teams visited the Office of the President to report the details and results of their ideas presented at the contest to President YOSHIDA Kazuhiro and discuss their future prospects.
Ms. Kitagawa said, "Through volunteer activities at nursing homes, I witnessed many seniors feeling socially isolated and lonely. I proposed GIVELOVE as a system to connect seniors with the community and students. Encouraged by this award, I plan to start a business next year to actively work towards solving this issue."
Mr. Funabiki said, "During my study abroad in Australia, I noticed that local teachers have more time to interact with children, whereas Japanese teachers have a wide range of duties, limiting their time with children. Therefore, I devised a system to reduce teachers' burdens and increase their time with children. I would like to gain real experiences through internships in Japanese educational settings and think of solutions to provide better education."
President Yoshida encouraged the students, saying, "I am impressed by how you have learned from the achievements and attitudes of your predecessors in the Startup Club and continue to take on new challenges. Please keep striving to realize ideas that will make society better."
Gifu University will continue to support the realization of students' ideas, strengthen collaboration with the community and other universities, and aim to create new innovations.
1) Tongali (Tokai Network for Global Leading Innovation): An entrepreneurial development project where universities and technical colleges in the Tokai region collaborate to foster students' entrepreneurial spirit by providing various support and events. 'Tongali Idea Pitch Contest' is part of the project, offering students a platform to present ideas aimed at solving social issues and taking the first step towards realizing them.
(From the back left) Vice President OYABU Chiho, President Yoshida, Professor UEHARA Masayuki /
(From the front left) Ms. Kitagawa, Mr. Funabiki
