At the Digital Innovators Grand Prix 7, sponsored by the Keio University Research Institute at SFC Data Management Creation Lab, the team to which Mr. Seiichi Inoue (Faculty of Economics, sophomore) belongs won the Award of Excellence.
　This competition is participated in by students from high schools to graduate schools and has been held since 2014 with the aim of fostering capable individuals in the realm of data science. The Digital Innovators Grand Prix 7 was held under the theme “Value Creation via Japanese Food Culture.” Using word-of-mouth data on Japanese food, applicants made proposals for measures that can strengthen the appeal of Japanese cuisine.

　Cooperating with the students of other universities, Mr. Inoue formed the team, “madao.inc,” and participated in the competition. After the preliminary competition in which document screening was conducted, the team was selected among the nine finalists from among the 51 teams that applied. During the main competition, the team presented an “Improvement Proposal for a System for Reviewing Japanese Restaurants Using the Vectorization of Word-of-mouth Data.” They introduced ways to analyze issues pertaining to Japanese cuisine and to improve the efficiency of restaurant search functions by making use of word-of-mouth data using vectorization technology for certain vocabulary as a means for a solution.
　Commenting on the awarding, Mr. Inoue said, “In this competition, I wanted to make full use of statistics, which I began to learn by attending lectures on data science in the faculty of economics, so I am happy that this resulted in getting a good appraisal. We received detailed feedback from the judges, so it has become a wonderful opportunity that will lead to my next stage of learning.”