Sony Group Corporation served as a gold sponsor of the "Waffle Festival 2024" held from Saturday, May 25 to Sunday, May 26 by Waffle, a non-profit organization that aims to close the gender gap in the IT field. "Technovation Girls Japan 2024 Official Pitch Event," a world-class app development contest for teenage girls and gender minorities (*) (sponsored by the Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology) was the main event on the first day, while the second day saw various sessions and workshops held to connect women working actively in the IT industry with girls and non-binary junior, senior high school and college students. Naomi Matsuoka, Senior Vice President of Sony Group Corporation and other Sony Group employees took the stage to deliver messages of support to participants, who will lead the next generation. Following is a report on each day's events at Waffle Festival 2024.

Day1 "Technovation Girls" Official Japan Pitch Event

Technovation Girls is an international technology education program for teens organized by Technovation, a U.S.-based non-profit STEM education organization that aims to foster the next generation of female IT entrepreneurs through competition in four areas: ideas, pitch (presentation), technical skills, and entrepreneurial spirits. The global convention in the United States, where the organization's headquarters is located, has been held since 2010, attracting about 55,000 participants from more than 100 countries. In addition, the official Japanese event, which is being held exclusively in Japan, was held for the seventh time this year, with a total of 409 individuals and 85 teams from 47 prefectures nationwide participating. For approximately more than six months, the participants worked on developing their apps and businesses with the support of university students and working volunteers, who served as mentors. The top ten teams that passed the preliminary screening then gave creative presentations on their business plans and original mobile app development focused on social issues to a panel of judges from five sponsor companies, including the Sony Group Corporation, as well as to local and online audiences.

Matsuoka, who took the stage as one of the judges from the sponsors, began by saying, "I am looking forward to listening to your passion for solving social issues through the power of technology and how you are aiming for a better direction with your diverse ideas." "We support your efforts so that your initiatives can be carried into the future," she continued. In this program, prior to the presentations, each team selected a target from the major themes of social issues, and to that end, they began with ideation in conducting user research. In addition, the junior and high school students received feedback from working mentors and continued to make improvements, developing apps while making full use of programming, and even came up with and created business and financial plans all by themselves. On the presentation day, team members seemed nervous, but they gave lively presentations using gestures and body language.
Identifying Japan's aging population crisis and the global proliferation of dementia as their issues, a group made up entirely of junior high school students proposed a business and app to combat dementia by focusing on the therapeutic techniques of origami, a traditional Japanese craft, and by providing 3D lessons using avatars and a community space for collaborative activities. Furthermore, in order to make railway services more accessible to wheelchair users, another group worked with a railway company to consider business models and financial plans, and developed a pre-booking app for wheelchair users, as a variety of ideas for bringing about healthier and more vibrant lifestyles were presented. As a result of the judging, the Sony Group Award went to a team of three high school students from Osaka, Japan, who, recognizing that people with hearing disability are at greater risk in the event of a disaster, presented a business and app that assists in evacuation efforts, allowing them to live safely and securely. Sony's wireless stereo headset was presented as a runner-up prize. Matsuoka offered high praise, saying, "As the number of disasters increases around the world, this app, the first of its kind in Japan and a pioneer in disaster prevention, aims to connect communities. It can contribute even to the world" Hearing this, the team members' eyes lit up, determined to make the app a reality.

• *In line with the U.S. "Technovation Girls 2024" application guidelines, the program is open to transgender individuals who are interested in "Technovation Girls" as well as those who self-identify as non-binary or gender non-conforming and would like to study in a female-oriented environment.

Day2 "Me x IT x Teamwork" - A Lively Discussion Between Two Sony Group Engineers!

On the second day, sessions and workshops were held by female engineers and researchers working for sponsor companies under the theme of "creating a fun life with IT" for girls and non-binary junior, senior high school and university students pondering their futures.
Two employees from the Sony Group, Ruri Oya (Sony Corporation) and Ayaka Toda (Sony Interactive Entertainment), took the stage. Titled "`Me x IT x Teamwork' - A Lively Discussion Between Two Engineers!," this event involved a 30-minute talk, during which each engineer introduced the work they are responsible for, and answered the questions of participating students.

Speakers

Discussion

Do you see a gap between the image you had of STEM as a student and the reality of your jobs?

Oya:

When I thought of an engineer, I imagined someone sitting alone in front of a computer typing away all day. Of course, we have such jobs, but because Sony is also in the entertainment business, I often get to work on-site with famous artists. People say things like, "Science majors don't need to have good communication skills," but I don't feel that is at all true.

Toda:

That's great. I don't have much work involving going out into the field, but communication skills are, indeed, necessary. I have quite a few opportunities to work with overseas members, so I am required to be proficient in English and possess communication skills.

Oya:

English is important, and I wish I had studied it more when I was a student. Did you find any gaps in your work?

Toda:

Yes, I myself studied information systems before entering the IT industry, so I thought that most of the people around me would have a scientific background, but when I actually joined the company, I found that many of my coworkers were from the humanities. I feel that everyone is playing important roles regardless of their educational background.

At Sony, you probably often work as part of a team. Can you think of a time when you were able to exercise your individuality as part of a team?

Oya:

The team I work on had previously only had male members, and I was the first female employee to join the team. As a result, the opinions I offer are often received as fresh and exciting, with people saying, "Hmm, I never thought about it that way." In addition, during brainstorming sessions in the entertainment area, I might say, "Oh, that's popular among women right now." Those are some situations where I was able to be myself and propose things I like and am interested in to the team.

Toda:

That's great! To be honest, I'm a worrier and a bit anxious, and I am not good at taking chances. There was a job that I had to do about once a month where even one mistake would have a huge impact, so I found it intimidating and troublesome. It was for this reason that I really wanted some sort of resolution. I created an automatic work support system, eliminating the basic process of visual and manual work and reducing the number of mistakes. This is one instance that shows me making the most of my personality.

Do you feel your opinion is respected in an environment where women are in the minority?

Oya:

In fact, the opposite is true. After joining Sony, I rarely felt that I was in the minority as a woman. I have never had an experience where my opinion was not respected because I am a woman or young; rather, it is simply a matter of "being different." For example, in terms of physical characteristics, women may be smaller than men, and such individual differences can sometimes make for an uncomfortable experience. In fact, I felt this so strongly during the testing phase that I told them I wanted them to collect more data, including from women like me, to ensure that the service could be experienced by as many people as possible. As a result, we were able to incorporate a mechanism that accommodates individual differences into the product. They also listen to women's opinions, and I have never got the impression that they look down on me because I am in the minority. How about you, Ms. Toda?

Toda:

Yes, I work a lot with computers in the information systems field, where women are often in the minority, with typically only one or two per team. However, since the nature of the work is not affected by physical characteristics, I don't think there is anything that I cannot do just because I am a woman. As an engineer, I feel the same way as Ms. Oya; I voice my opinion, and whether it is adopted or not is because I am just one engineer in that discussion, and I don't think my being a woman has any impact on one way or the other.

Finally, could you give some messages to the participating students?

Toda:

Thank you all for joining us today. We discussed a variety of topics, and I hope this was helpful to all of you. One more thing I would like to add is that you should try to interact with a variety of people. There are so many people in the world, and each has different values, ways of thinking, and common sense. I believe that talking with, listening to, and interacting face-to-face with them can be stimulating.

Oya:

If you're a junior high school student, you have a lot of choices to make, such as which senior high school to go to; if you are a senior high school student, you need to decide whether to study humanities or sciences, whether to go to college, where to work, and so on. But no matter what attributes you have or what you are not good at, if there is something you want to do, you can always find a way to pursue your dreams. For example, some people are now in the sciences after repeatedly trying to decide whether to change to the humanities or the sciences, and others have decided to pursue their dreams even as they are unsure of themselves. You will find a way if you have something you want to achieve, so I feel that there is absolutely no reason why a single failure should prevent someone from pursuing their dreams. As Ms. Toda said, as you get exposed to a variety of different experiences, you'll inevitably come across something that makes you think, "Oh, this is fun," or "Maybe I should give this a try." Have a lot of experiences and try different things. Thank you.

At the event, some participants could be seen with notebooks in hand, eagerly taking notes. Participants commented, "Their opinions were interesting. I was surprised to learn that they don't feel gender gaps," and "I think Sony cares about its employees, and that has renewed my interest in working for them.

• The Technovation Girls 2024 official website can be found HERE
• The Waffle Festival 2024 official website can be found HERE

The Sony Group will continue to strive to convey to the next generation the excitement and wonder of studying science and engineering.

Related link: Sony Group Portal | SONY STEAM GIRLS EXPERIENCE