NTT DATA Names FlytBase as Winner of Ninth Open Innovation Contest

Will collaborate in three-month project to develop concrete business plan

Tokyo, March 18, 2019 – NTT DATA, a leading IT services provider, announced today that it has awarded Pune, India-based FlytBase as the Open Innovation Contest 9.0 champion for developing the world’s first Internet of Drones (IoD) platform for easily deploying intelligent drones connected with cloud-based business applications. The winning proposal was chosen during the contest’s Grand Finale event at NTT DATA headquarters in Tokyo on March 13-14. Going forward, NTT DATA will collaborate with FlytBase to develop a concrete business plan.

FlytBase provides the edge and cloud-based software layers to deploy fleets of fully automated, cloud-connected drones at scale. Compatible with all major drones and hardware platforms, the solution can be leveraged for enhanced efficiency in diverse fields, such as agriculture, animal detection (farms), rescue, parking-lot monitoring, warehouse inventory management, environmental monitoring and compliance. In the contest, it was judged to be the overall best added-value IT service for NTT DATA customers, which include public bodies, the private sector and individuals.

NTT DATA’s annual competition invites high-tech startups to submit proposals on tackling issues in society worldwide. The proposals are judged by a panel comprising NTT DATA personnel and outside experts.

NTT DATA received more than 450 intriguing proposals from around the world starting last September. Regional contests were held in 20 cities (18 countries) on four continents between December 2018 and February 2019. Each regional contest selected a winner to present at the Grand Finale in Tokyo. The final proposals covered seven categories: Healthcare & Life Sciences, Financial Services, Insurance & Payments, Automotive & IoT, RPA & Back Office, Storefront & Digital Marketing, Data Distribution, and Disruptive Social Innovation.

In addition to the top prize, the SDGs Spotlight Winner award was presented to TNH Health (São Paulo), the Audience Award went to Innoviz Technologies (Tel Aviv) and the Judges Award was given to Iotium (San Francisco).

Nitin Gupta, founder and CEO of FlytBase, said: “This is a great honor. NTT DATA is one of the biggest system integrators and is trusted by very large customers, so we hope to expand our market quickly and efficiently. From the start, NTT DATA has been very focused on building a collaborative business and using our technology to develop new business opportunities. We look forward to creating great products for our customers.”

Kotaro Zamma, Head of NTT DATA’s Open Innovation and Business Incubation, said: “This year, we received many solutions tackling issues related to UN Sustainable Development Goals, especially in developing countries. It is exciting to learn about diverse new businesses that offer promising solutions for the infrastructure sector. We look forward to collaborating with FlytBase to co-create an innovative new business.”

NTT DATA’s Open Innovation Contest leads to the creation of practical new businesses. Social Coin, the 2017 winner, collaborated with NTT DATA to develop a commercial solution, Citibeats, that enables public and private bodies worldwide to leverage AI to identify community concerns and respond efficiently with practical programs. Also, last year’s winner Gestoos is implementing a proof-of-concept initiative together with NTT DATA clients. In addition, NTT DATA Italy has signed a collaboration agreement with GiPStech, last year’s winner in Milan, and is developing cooperative businesses with the other finalists.

Each regional contest was organized in collaboration with one or more NTT DATA group companies or regional partners: NTT DATA UK and Innovate Finance (UK), NTT DATA Italy (Italy), everis (Spain, Brazil, Portugal, Chile, Peru and Mexico), Dimension Data (South Africa), NTT DATA Services (U.S.A.), MaRS Discovery District (Canada), Business Finland (Finland), Agorize (France), Deloitte Israel (Israel), TiE (India), and Startupbootcamp and Rainmaking Innovation (China and Vietnam).

Next year’s Open Innovation Contest will again be held in venues worldwide as a winning proposition for startups, NTT DATA, its enterprise clients and global society.