The ANA AVATAR is a new social infrastructure conceived by ANA that transcends the barriers to movement that mankind has faced throughout history, lifting the physical restrictions imposed on us by distance. It connects people, facilitating social participation and activities. Development by ANA in cooperation with industry, government, and academia, avatar robots are produced using avatar technologies developed through the combination of robotics, VR, AR, haptics, AI, and communication technologies. These avatars will allow people to instantly teleport their consciousness, presence and skills to a remote location. The ultimate aim is to realize a future world expanded by man, while creating a new concept of transportation.

At first glance, it would seem that an avatar social infrastructure developed by an airline company is a concept that is likely to shrink their own market. However, they have approached it flexibly and started from scratch in reconceiving mobility as a form of communication through virtual reality while fostering an in-house startup that has taken two years for internal settlement. By providing and positioning new mobility options, motivating people in different locations to meet one another, ANA has adopted a fresh approach with the potential to cultivate the transportation market, growing it and leading to higher added value. This innovative approach and ANA’s enthusiasm for business development won high praise from the panel.

CI Inc. is developing a system that allows Web-based reservations and cancellations to be made for a sick childcare facility. Phone reservations are the norm for 90% of such facilities, making it difficult for many parents to make a reservation. By adopting CI’s Azukaruko-chan system, a facility can ensure that fewer parents find that they cannot get through when phoning. Moreover, the staff spend less time answering the phone and can focus more on caring for the sick children. This reservation system offers Web-based application/cancelation, automatic list generation for those wishing to use the facility, and a notification function designed to prevent parents from forgetting to cancel.

So as to handle specialist issues, the company has several medical personnel such as pediatricians and staff specialized in the care of sick children, midwives and obstetricians. It can also draw on its close links with childcare facilities, academic societies and local governments so as to be always aware of the details of any on-site issues that arise; this knowledge is then fed into the application. The judges were very impressed by this. The company has not simply adopted an IT approach to handle the office work of childcare facilities. So that the sick childcare business is used effectively as a foundation for the child-rearing generation to achieve their potential, fulfilling their social responsibilities while raising children, CI is developing this service which, it is hoped, will solve issues facing society that are related to the care of sick children.