- “Project Humanity” is the only one selected from Japan -
The Dentsu Group (brand: “dentsu”, headquarters: Dentsu Group Inc., base: Minato-ku, Tokyo; representative: Hiroshi Igarashi, President and Global CEO; hereafter, dentsu) is a creative festival “SXSW (South by Southwest) 2024 (held from 2024/3/8 to 16), which includes music, movies, and technology. (Location: Austin, Texas, USA)※1Two works were selected as finalists at the “Innovation Awards (Innovation Awards),” which recognize innovative ideas and advanced projects in”.
The Innovation Awards, which will be held for the 7th time in 2024, will select 5 finalists for each of the 11 categories from hundreds of applications, and the winners will be determined through showcases during the event period. Since the companies and projects that have received the award have achieved rapid growth in the past, it is an award with a high level of attention.
Dentsu Lab Tokyo※2The joint project “Project Humanity” of Nippon Telegraph and Telephone Corporation (hereafter, NTT) and WITH ALS (hereafter, WITH ALS) was selected as a finalist in the Interface Design (Interface Design) category of the same award, making it the only project selected as a finalist among the works/projects submitted from Japan. “Project Humanity” is also scheduled to be introduced at a session entitled “Beyond Boundaries: Tech and Humanity Converge,” and our Global Chief Creative Officer Yasuharu Sasakinotewill be on stage as one of the speakers.
Also, Dentsu Creative, a creative agency brand for DentSU's overseas business※3The work “Therapeutics Therapy” was selected as a finalist in the Social Media (Social Media) category.
An overview of each work is as follows.
＜Work 1 “Project Humanity” ＞
“Project Humanity” is an initiative in collaboration with WITH ALS, where Dentsu Lab Tokyo and NTT jointly develop technology and is represented by Mr. Masatane Muto, an ALS (amyotrophic lateral sclerosis) symbiote and active as an artist, which is regarded as a designated intractable disease. By attaching an electromyoelectric (electrical signal generated when a muscle is moved) sensor that acquires biological information to the body, and biological information obtained by one's own fine muscle activity is converted into operation information, it is possible to freely operate avatars in a digital space.
＜Scenes from the performance performed at Tate Modern in the United Kingdom＞
＜Work 2 “Therapeutics"＞
“Therapeutic Therapy” is a mobile application jointly developed by Dentsu Creative's Argentina-Brazil/US team and Eurofarma (Eurofarma), a major Brazilian pharmaceutical company. It is an exercise tool that supports the improvement of initial symptoms such as stiff facial expression, which is known as one of the symptoms of Parkinson's disease. Using facial recognition technology, we support daily physical therapy by practicing each facial expression according to emojis such as joy, anger, sorrow, etc. that appear on the app. It is being used by 45,128 doctors in 10 countries around the world. This work won the Cannes Lions 2023 Pharma Division Grand Prix.
＜Smartphone app screen and facial expression exercises＞
*1: For more information about SXSW, please see the official website. (English only)
URL:https://www.sxsw.com/
*2: Dentsu Lab Tokyo (Dentsu Lab Tokyo) is a creative R&D organization integrating creative research, planning, and development while collaborating with both inside and outside of Dentsu. We are working to develop new experiences and solve social issues through open innovation. For more information about Dentsu Lab Tokyo, please visit the following website.
URL:https://dentsulab.tokyo/
*3: For details on Dentsu Creative, please see the release below.
URL:https://www.group.dentsu.com/jp/news/release/000736.html
Note: Reference: “Dentsu Report” articles contributed by Yasuharu Sasaki in the past:https://dentsu-ho.com/people/3
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Email:group-cc@dentsu-group.com