Ricoh Challenge: The Future of the Multifunction-Printer

You can sign up at https://www.agorize.com/en/challenges/ricoh-2023.

First click on “Create an account” and follow the instructions. Then click the blue “Participate” button on the platform to finalize your participant account. You can then submit your proposal!

You will receive a confirmation email upon registration.

When there is an update, you will receive an email from the admin on the Agorize platform and a notification at your provided email address. Please make sure you have clicked ‘Participate’ and check your junk mailbox!

To update your details, log in at https://www.agorize.com/en/challenges/ricoh-2023 and go to your participant profile to edit or change your details.

The challenge is open to startup businesses and students currently enrolled on an active course. Students can create teams with up to 4 members but only 1 student can register on behalf of the team. Exact names of the team members will need to appear on the deliverable.

Dependent on your setup, there are two different types of submissions required for the application phase:

A template is available to download on the participation space. You are highly encouraged to use it as it includes the breakdown of information required for our assessment. 

If you don’t use the template, make sure that your PPT/PDF is 10-slides max for startups, 5-page  idea/concept for students and is written in English. Furthermore, please ensure that you’ve previewed your project, to ensure it is displayed correctly, prior to submitting it.

The deadline for the application phase is 2 April 2023. 

The judging panel will use the following criteria to assess your submission:

1. Value of the addressed issues: Is there a real need in the market to address the targeted issue? How many people are impacted by it?
2. Innovativeness of the technology and business model: How innovative is the technology used and the business model? How is it unique from others?
3. Feasibility (Short-term: within 1 to 2 years, or Future long-term: 10 years ahead): How feasible is the solution to put into practice? Does the solution make sense financially? Will the solution be sustainable over the long term?
4. Impact: What is the scale of potential social impact? How broad is the impact? How many people will your solution reach? How significant is the impact?

The judging panel will select 30 teams to be shortlisted to go through to the next round. The results of this shortlist will be announced on 17 April 2023 (18 April 2023 at the latest).

After the judging panel has selected 30 teams to go on the shortlist, each team will be interviewed online to assess their submission in more detail.

Following the online interview process of the 30 shortlisted teams, the judges will select 10 teams to proceed to the final. Finalists will be notified on 17 May 2023 (18 May 2023 at the latest).

Following notification, successful teams will be mentored by Ricoh mentors on the platform, to provide guidance and insights to prepare for the final event. The mentoring period will last for 1 week from 22 May 2023.

Successful teams will be mentored for 2 weeks via experts from the Ricoh team in order to enhance and fine tune their submission for the final event.

The final event will take place on 31 May 2023. The event will take place online.

The 10 finalists teams will pitch their finalized proposal to the final judging committee via a 5 minute online pitch and an 8 minute online Q&A

The judging panel for the final event will be composed of Ricoh executive and management-level personnel. Resulting winners will be announced immediately.

Prizes consist of the following:

For startups - Connect with related Ricoh Business Units plus Proof of Concept discussion opportunity.

For students - A GR III camera for each team member worth up to US$1,000.