In May this year, Mizuho Financial Group, Inc. (President & Group CEO: Yasuhiro Sato), and Mizuho Bank, Ltd. (President & CEO: Nobuhide Hayashi) held a hackathon1 event, "Mizuho.hack", with the aim of creating new value through open innovation2. The theme of the hackathon was "Creating completely new banking services with Pepper". The apps created by the four winning teams from Mizuho.hack will be exhibited in turn for a month each starting from August 1, at Mizuho Bank's Yaesuguchi Branch.
Open innovation is an increasingly important tool, across various fields and industries, for companies looking to create new business and improve customer service. An example at Mizuho is the Mizuho.hack hackathon. Mizuho invited entries proposing novel ideas for developing apps for Pepper, Softbank's humanoid robot, which is already being used in Mizuho branches as a concierge.
Eighteen teams participated in the hackathon, and the exhibition at the Yaesuguchi Branch will showcase the apps developed by the four winning teams. Customers visiting the branch will be able to try out the apps and discover the new kinds of services Pepper can offer. These innovative services have been created by looking beyond the borders of the bank, to make the most of outside expertise.
Going forward, Mizuho will continue to engage proactively in creating new finance business through the collaborative possibilities of open innovation, in order to be able to provide attractive services to meet our customers' diverse needs.
- 1:"Hackathon" is a new portmanteau composed of the words "hack" and "marathon", and refers to an event where participants work together for a fixed period to generate ideas and develop programs and then compete against other teams.
- 2:"Open innovation" refers to creating innovative services and business by bringing together technology and ideas not only from within the company but also from outside.
Please note that in some cases, the content of the apps may be altered for the purposes of the exhibition.