SoftBank has launched the second round of its ’SoftBank Innovation Program‘, a program that seeks a wide range of innovative solutions and technologies from around the world which potential for commercialization.
The second round of the SoftBank Innovation Program is open to six categories - Smart Homes, Connected Vehicles, Healthcare, FinTech, VR (virtual reality) / AR (augmented reality) / MR (mixed reality) and Drones.
The SoftBank Innovation Program's aim is to create new value by combining the innovative solutions and technologies of other companies with SoftBank's own resources. SoftBank selects applications that it deems to be innovative and superior, and then provides funding for prototype development, environments for test marketing and other forms of assistance. Based on the test marketing results, SoftBank will consider the commercialization of the product or service.
The parent company of US Operator, Sprint has recently started collaboration with Honda R&D for a joint research project toward application of the “emotion engine,” an artificial intelligence (AI) technology developed by cocoro, a SoftBank Group company, for mobility products.
