NTT Ltd. has partnered with Red Bull Basement with the intention of aiding entrepreneurial students around the world with diverse projects.
As the official technology partner of Red Bull Basement's third year, NTT's Cloud Communications Division will facilitate live virtual workshops to empower teams of university students from host countries to ‘innovate for good'.
In addition, as part of the partnership, NTT will mentor the students throughout the competition and judge the entries at the final Global Workshop, where a winning team will be announced.
Launched in 2015 in So Paulo, Brazil, Red Bull Basement was launched to support social innovators using technology to approach social and environmental issues at universities.
This year Red Bull Basement decided to virtualise the program with NTT. This year's program encourages the next generation of diverse thinking and innovation and is centred around finding solutions to the world's problems using technology to create positive change.
The event will be virtualised and as such there are no location-specific and physical space barriers to entry. There are four distinct phases as part of the competition.
Application phase: NTT will host virtual launchpad events using its Intelligent Workplace technology solutions, as teams innovate to address a variety of issues inspired by the 17 United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (Global Goals).
Voting and selection phase: In addition to the shortlisted teams, NTT will select a wildcard team who demonstrates their commitment to innovative thinking and will take them to the Global Workshop.
Development phase: As part of NTT's investment, NTT's Venture Capital arm and 25 experts from across its business will host mentoring sessions and co-creation workshops, further providing the teams with the tools and technology they need to succeed.
Global Workshop: In the final phase of the competition, NTT experts will serve as panelists who listen to the final pitches and select the winning team.
NTT senior vice president of branding Marisa Jansen van Vuuren says, “We have a long-standing history of investing in the community and this partnership demonstrates how important the next generation is for creating a sustainable business environment. Doing the right thing for the world makes businesses stronger.
"Organisations are increasingly compelled to do business with purpose-driven companies that use innovation to differentiate themselves. NTT Group invests US$3.6 billion in innovation each year.
"This partnership supports NTTs commitment to achieving the targets of the Global Goals by 2030 and being a Business Avenger for Goal 11 Sustainable Cities and Communities."
Jansen van Vuuren concludes, "Red Bull Basement complements our own approach to innovation, including our InnerSourcing and Co-Innovation programs, that utilise an open-innovation framework with both internal and external innovation.
"Through these programs, we aim to inspire young people to pursue tech-driven careers and attract talent who are passionate about making a difference in the world through innovation."