6 Great Ideas from Open Network Lab’s Demo Day in Tokyo

Open Network Lab is a Tokyo-based incubator backed by Joi Ito (the director for MIT’s Media Lab) and two Japanese internet juggernauts, Digital Garage and NetPrice.com. They have just concluded the fifth batch of their acceleration program and they held a Demo Day event on Tuesday. Startups presented their apps and services, which will be going live pretty soon. Let’s take a look at some of the ideas which have come out this innovation cradle in Tokyo.

1. WHILL type-A, by WHILL – chosen as the best in the batch
2. Sparta
3. Onegai Company, by Actcat
4. Mashroom.fm
5. Smakul, by Hungry
6. Jam, by Rena

1. WHILL type – A (by WHILL – chosen as the best in the batch)

This vehicle helps individuals with physical disabilities move more easily, and reach locations beyond their regular comfort level. The team has developed Whill with the aim of making its users feel better. It’s designed in compliance with Japanese traffic laws, and allows users to drive on public roads without a driver’s license.

This product has come from Campfire, Japan’s Kickstarter-like crowdfunding site, where they fundraised about $13,000. With the money, they plan to produce the first 100 units and put them up for sale in December. The team includes engineers who previously worked at Nissan Motors, Sony, and Olympus.

The WHILL Team and their prototype.

2. Sparta

Sparta is a Photoshop-like platform that allows 3D graphic artists to easily operate a point cloud (3D coordinate) system without learning programming skills. Using only a tablet and a pen, artists can create their works. The startup plans to monetize the service by charging licensing fees from to users, providing a storage option and sharing revenues at an asset store, which would also let users to sell their art/designs online. This product raised about $7,300 on Campfire from 86 people, and 43 of those purchased the service. The development team includes computer graphics engineers who previously worked in visual effects for movies.

3. Onegai Company, by Actcat