Award Procedures

(1) The entrant companies present their business plans in the semi-final and final sessions.

(2) In the semi-finals, each of the entrants delivers a 10-minute presentation on their businesses. The top six goes to the final.

(3) At the final session, finalists make a 10-minute presentation.After a fair judgement, prize winners of each prize will be elected.

Judging Criteria

(1) Innovativeness, commercial viability and social impact of the business, with consideration given to the potential of the business to expand and bring about changes in the global economy and society.

(2) Business performance, which includes the nominee’s competitive advantages, management team, strategic vision, and communication capabilities, including presentation skills.

(3) Possibility of collaboration with Japanese large corporations or expansion of business in Japan backed by it’s business model and roadmap.

Awards

【Asian Entrepreneurship Award】
・First Prize: 3 million JPY
・Second Prize: 1 million JPY
・Third Prize: 500,000 JPY

＊Microsoft Award：
・Coaching and Review of IoT system architecture on Azure by technical specialists from IoT Asia
（Notes: The scope and period of support will be defined depending on the technical conditions and scenarios.）
・Posting on Microsoft Blog (planned)

＊Fujitsu Accelerator Award：Provides an opportunity for start-ups that could become co-creation partners of Fujitsu Computing as a Service (CaaS) to discuss with members of the Fujitsu department in charge.

＊IP Bridge Award：Strategy building support for Intellectual property

＊Life Science Award：
1. Support for scheduling 1on1 meeting with companies in LINK-J network during business trip to Japan and PR support at LINK-J website after consultation with LINK-J.
2. Posting an interview article of the award-winning company on website of LINK-J (Life Science Innovation Net.
3. (Japanese startups only) One-year free membership of LINK-J

＊The Japan Academic Society for Ventures and Entrepreneurs(JASVE) Award：50,000 JPY　The award will be given by JASVE to the most challenging team in solving problems and which is full of entrepreneurship.

【AEA Social Business Award】
・First Prize： 1 million JPY

Qualification for Entry

Startup companies must meet all of the following requirements.

(1)Must be a technology based startup company which has solution related to either Healthcare, Work & Life style, or Sustainability.
— Must be a company. Individuals or research labs are not accepted.
— ”Technology based startup company” is a startup which has it’s own technology as the core of it’s
business model.

(2) Must be an early stage startup which has completed PoC (Proof of Concept), and is able to communicate with a specific customer by using prototypes, samples or mockups.
— No conditions are required for number of years from establishment nor number of employees.
— Startups invested by VCs or planned to be invested are acceptable, but the capital amount must be basically 3M USD or under.
— Public companies or affiliates of large corporations are not accepted.

(3) Must be nominated by a person responsible for startup supports at a university, research institute, or private incubator, accelerator or any other startup supporting organizations.

(4) Startup company must be able to participate in all the programs held between October 26th to October 27th, 2022.
— Your absence to some programs can be reasons for disqualification.
— Nominators are expected to support their startup nominee’s preparation towards the participation in the AEA program.

(5) (For Non-Japanese startups only)　Must have specific interest in Japanese market or desire in expanding business in relation with Japanese
corporations. Additionally, you should be prepared to start smooth discussion between Japanese corporations towards expanding in Japanese market or having corporate relations.