The challenge was launched in September as a technology competition aimed at creating an innovative spectator event and bids to encourage people to get involved in the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games.

The competition was co-sponsored by Alibaba Cloud and Intel, International Olympic Committee (IOC) and The Olympic Partners (TOP).

HACKist teamFFF were awarded the gold medal prize after their team developed a mobile application which interacts with spectators’ portable fans during events.

The application was the result of a project entitled “FanForFun! – Share the Excitement of Olympic Sport by Mobile Fan”.

The power of a users’ fan is adjusted depending on the state of the competition and the performance of their nominated team's athletes.

“Thinking about sport and technology, there have always been a number of ways for people to catch sporting events, including via live broadcasts,” said Ooyama Takafumi, a member of the winning team.

“But we approached this wondering whether technology could enable people to have a more realistic experience.

“There aren’t many of those kinds of solutions around and we were feeling our way a bit, so when we managed to create ours, we all thought ‘wow’ and were so happy.

“We hope more and more of these kinds of applications will be developed in the future.”

The competition was aimed at encouraging the development of technology solutions that will create a more innovative spectator experience and to find enjoyable ways of bringing fans closer to the action.

A total of 29 entries came from seven nations, with Canada, China, Germany, Japan, Philippines, Chinese Taipei and the United States represented.

The number of teams was reduced to 12 after an initial screening process.

Seven teams participated in a final screening process, where they gave presentations about the solutions they had developed.

After winning the competition, the HACKist teamFFF team earned an invitation to attend the Alibaba Cloud APSARA Conference in China later this year.

The HACKist teamTFG team, also from Japan, was awarded the silver prize, winning tickets to Tokyo 2020 events.

The Team CGA from Japan were awarded the bronze prize and receive Tokyo 2020 official merchandise.

Team DaKa from Germany and the AOT team from Japan received 2020 special awards.

An opportunity is planned for all five winners to showcase their solutions during the Tokyo 2020 Games.

“The cooperation of Alibaba Cloud and Intel and the support of the IOC were key factors in the success of this Open Innovation Challenge – the first in the history of the Olympic Games,” said Tachi Takashi, Tokyo 2020 executive director of technology services.

“The contest focused on the new ‘urban sports’ and the finalists’ solutions were full of ideas for new ways of watching and presenting events as well as tips for the use of technology.

“I think there is still a need to further improve the visuals of some of these before they can be used in the actual Games.

“The Organising Committee will work to ensure that the ideas emanating from this contest will be one of the legacies of the Tokyo 2020 Games.”