4‑1

4 Innovation Projects Innovation Initiatives

Summary of Innovation Projects
for the Tokyo 2020 GamesSAITO Kazuo HIRATA Hideyo
TSUCHIYA Koichi OKADA Takahiro

We planned and implemented measures from three perspectives to realize “the most innovative Games ever in history
bringing positive change to the world” With the cooperation of partners we introduced the latest technologies (VRtechnology robots and 5G) and incorporated concepts unique to the Olympic and Paralympic Games Tokyo 2020 Due tothe one‑year postponement of the Tokyo 2020 Olympic and Paralympic Games caused by the coronavirus disease 2019some of the events were scaled back or partially cancelled However we hope that these first‑ever initiatives will be
carried on as a legacy not only for the future Olympic and Paralympic Games but also for the development of sports
Keywords：Innovation VR Robot 5G SNS

1．Introduction
The Innovation promotion office was established inby other departments of the Organising Committee andpartner companies This article focuses on the projects
implemented by the Innovation Promotion Office

April 2017 to realize the vision of “the most innovative
Games ever in history bringing positive change to the

2．Approach and Design Concept

world” at the Tokyo 2020 Olympic and Paralympic
Games (hereinafter referred to as “Tokyo 2020 Games”)

The Innovation Promotion Preparation Office was

The goal was not only to pursue the latest technologies

established in January 2017 before the Innovation

but also to make proposals that would lead to social

Promotion Office was established in April of the samechange and leave a legacy as the “most innovative Games

year The following basic policies were set forth based

ever in history” The innovative measures for the Tokyo

on discussions by the project members

2020 include not only the original initiatives led by the
Innovation Promotion Office but also those implemented･

To ensure directionality and consistency ofmeasures with the vision and brand image of theTokyo 2020 GamesSAITO Kazuo
Digital Marketing Office The Tokyo Organising Committee of the Olympic andParalympic GamesHIRATA Hideyo
Innovation Promotion Office The Tokyo Organising Committee of the Olympic
and Paralympic GamesTSUCHIYA Koichi
Innovation Promotion Office The Tokyo Organising Committee of the Olympic
and Paralympic GamesOKADA Takahiro
Innovation Promotion Office The Tokyo Organising Committee of the Olympic
and Paralympic GamesThe Journal of The Institute of Electronics Information and Communication Engineers Vol 105 No 8 Supplement pp 197‑202 August 2022
© 2022 The Institute of Electronics Information and Communication Engineers･

To collaborate not only with the Organisingcommittee but also with the Japanese Government
the Tokyo Metropolitan Government partners andexternal organizations･

To aim that the measures drafted and promoted
will lead to social transformation after the Tokyo
2020 Games･

To establish collaboration among multiple business departments to make the measures more

Special Issue : Technology and Innovation in the Olympic and Paralympic Games Tokyo 2020197

innovativecompetition venue such as those residing at remoteplaces or those with disabilities

to give them an

We gathered volunteers from Organising Committee

immersive experience and a sense of togetherness as if

staff and carried out an ideathon to propose measuresthey are watching the games from the spectator seats atthat satisfy these principles As a result we selected andthe competition venue The aim of the project was tofine‑tuned 28 ideas that had emerged through the

distribute live sports dome visuals captured by all‑sky

ideathon while gaining insights from external experts(360‑degree) cameras installed at competition venues(Ministry of Economy Trade and Industry Ministry ofby transmitting the visuals to planetariums across Japan

Internal Affairs and Communications

Ministry ofover a network The viewers at the screening sites can

Education Culture Sports Science and Technology

enjoy a birdʼs‑eye view of the entire competition venue

Cabinet Office Cabinet Secretariat Tokyo Metropolitan

rather than a flat screen cut out as in TV broadcasts

Government Technology Advisory Committee(Note 1)

They also can experience powerful visuals and sounds as

Economy and Technology Committee (Note 2) and Dentsu

if they were at the competition venue As a result theInc ) For technology‑related measures perspective welive broadcast at a dome theater was successfullyreferred to the recommendations (Note 3) by the Technol-completed for the first time in the Olympics although it

ogy Advisory Committee Finally we consolidated thewas limited to eight venues (four for general screenings

ideas into three perspectives and six projects

and four for limited screenings for stakeholders) and the①“Innovation in sports” which proposes new ways

of watching and enjoying sports②“Innovation in participation” which proposes new
ways to participate in and enjoy sports games

number of spectators was approximately 1 000 due tothe coronavirus disease (hereafter COVID‑19) Details
are described in “4‑2 Future‑oriented Sport Viewing
Project” (1)“Innovation to change the future of society” as an

Secondly this project offers a new spectator experi-

effort to build a barrier‑free society and to develop aence of watching the games by utilizing the 5th

safe and secure society

Generation Mobile Communication System “5G”③

The

purpose of this project is to symbolically showcase Japan

3．Achievements at the Games
31

Innovation in Sports

as a technological powerhouse by introducing the latest
communications technology ahead of the rest of theworld

While services utilizing 5G were showcased

In “Innovation in Sports ” new ways of watching andduring the Pyeongchang 2018 Games 5G commercial

enjoying sports are being pursued through the use ofservices were used for the first time at the Tokyo 2020

innovative technology The Olympic and Paralympic

Games High speed and large capacity of 5G wereGames could be watched only by spectators with tickets

utilized to the maximum extent for sailing and golf andinside the venue This innovation will enable spectators

low latency was put to maximum use for swimming

to enjoy watching the competitions from outside theshowing the possibility of practical use of 5G technology

venue in the same way they would enjoy watchingin the future Details are described in “4‑3 Innovation

inside the venue The following is an overview of the

Projects utilizing 5G Technology” (2)measures implemented and their key points
Firstly this project is for fans who cannot go to theThirdly children who are unable to watch the games
at the venue due to illness or other reasons were given
the opportunity to enjoy the games in a realistic manner
by utilizing technologies such as sports dome visuals 5G(Note 1) A third‑party advisory body with 6 experts for technology‑
related measures to be constituted in the future by the Organising
Committee(Note 2) An expert committee for examining actions related to“Economy and Technology Commission” from the “Tokyo 2020 Action andLegacy Plan” created by the Organising Committee in collaboration withthe concerned organizations (Tokyo Metropolitan Government Government Japan Olympic Committee Japan Paralympic Committee andbusiness community)(Note 3) Recommendations by the Technology Advisory Committee(Published on June 28 2018)https://www tokyo2020 jp/image/upload/production/kuvuiehqolfvvd
qgjnmj pdf

198

network and technology as described above as well as
robots (described below) In collaboration with theTokyo Metropolitan Government we offered a uniqueexperience of the games to children and students from
special needs schools across Japan (296 participantsfrom 13 schools) by combining three measures namely
VR theatre (Figure 1) game watching tour with themascot robots (Figure 2) and TOKYO 2020 hands‑on
event (Figure 3) with five facilities in Tokyo as the

THE JOURNAL OF THE INSTITUTE OF ELECTRONICS INFORMATION AND COMMUNICATION ENGINEERS

Figure 3

Experiencing the Unique Atmosphere of the Games byDirectly Touching Mascots Olympic Torches andOther Items Associated with the Olympic Games(©International Olympic Committee‑All Rights Reserved)

interactive venues
All three projects implemented in “Innovation inSports” were the first‑ever attempts for the Olympic
and Paralympic Games Hence many issues had to be
Figure 1

Children in Wheelchairs and on Stretchers Experience
Realistic Visuals through the Use of a Dome‑shaped
360‑degree Projection Screen (©International Olympic
Committee‑All Rights Reserved)

solved in terms of technology operation and various
rights The realization of these projects was madepossible by the significant technical support of Tokyo
2020 marketing partners for the robots

AR

and

communications categories as well as the cooperation of
external organizations such as the Olympic Broadcast
Service (OBS) and the Japan Consortium (JC) The
ability of various stakeholders to work together in a joint
initiative has led to the provision of new ways to watch
and enjoy sports using cutting‑edge technology
32

Innovation in Participation

The “Innovation in Participation” program is an
initiative to promote the participation of young individuals by offering a new way of participation in the Tokyo
2020 Games which has never been done before with aneye toward the future Representative examples include
selecting the mascot through voting by elementary
school students producing medals using recycled metal
recovered from small home appliances and creating anddistributing Tokyo 2020 math drills (Note 4) for elementary
school sixth‑grade students

Figure 2

Remote Control of the Mascot Robot at the Competition
Venue Allows Visitors to Experience the Atmosphere of
the Competition Venue in Real Time (©International
Olympic Committee‑All Rights Reserved)(Note 4) The drills that incorporated 33 sports in the Olympics and 22
sports in the Paralympics were distributed to all public elementary
schools (approximately 100 000 students) within Tokyo This initiative
was aimed at increasing interest in the Olympics and Paralympics
through the study of mathematics In addition in order to enhance thestudentsʼ understanding of the drills practical learning sessions were heldin which athletes were invited to the elementary schools to demonstrate
the content learned in the drills

Special Issue : Technology and Innovation in the Olympic and Paralympic Games Tokyo 2020

199

On the other hand from the perspective of the use of

sports” We combined the 5G and latest technologies totechnology we introduce a project in which people fromoffer a new style of watching sports that fully demon-

all over the world participated by making full use of

strated the high speed and large‑capacity transmissionsocial media In this project cheering videos posted oncapabilities of 5G

SNS with the hashtag (#2020beat) are edited and

SNS which is familiar to the general public is utilized

combined into a single cheering movie that is shown on

for the “Innovation in Participation”

giant screens at the competition venues Since the Tokyo

messages posted by users are used to automatically2020 Games were held without spectators this contrib-

generate cheering videos through the use of AI

Videos anduted to “delivering cheers to the athletes” for encourag-In the “Innovations to Change the Future of Society ”

ing the players from outside the venue and for medalists

various robots were provided by the partners to support

to communicate with families and friends in their home

the Games operations staff including the correspond-

countries through the screens at the venue By the end

ence to COVID‑19of the Games there were 1 369 posts (of which 529 werevideo posts)

Eight videos were screened at the42competition venues and three videos were screened in

Other Technologies Used in the Tokyo 2020
Games

the Olympic and Paralympic village Collecting videos

In addition to the technologies introduced in 4 1 manyfrom social media and displaying them on giant screens

other innovative initiatives were implemented using

at the competition venues were the first‑ever attempts

technologies from other departments and partners

during the Olympic and Paralympic Games

These included Drones (Ceremony) Hydrogen‑powered Vehicles (Transportation)

33

Hydrogen‑powered

Innovations That Will Change the Future of

Torches (Torch Relay)

Society(Olympic and Paralympic Village) Face Recognition

Automatic‑driving Buses

A variety of robots appeared at the Tokyo 2020

System (Security) and Next‑generation Commercial

Games The objectives were to “show how robots can be

Wireless Systems (Technology) This article presents

useful to people in various situations” and to “promote

an overview of the two technologies from NTT

social implementation of robots through the Games”
At the Tokyo 2020 Game not only did we showcase
the robots the we also utilized robots in a variety of

421

Marathon x Ultra‑low‑latency Communication
Technology

situations with 12 types made up of 73 robots working

This technology provides real‑time video transmission

together with staff to provide hospitality In particularbetween the marathon course in Sapporo and thethe use of robots under the COVID‑19 showed that theycheering venue in Tokyo

can contribute to safe secure and sustainable Games

spectatorsʼ cheering from remote location to theoperations from the viewpoints of avoiding physicalathletes Since they do not need to gather in on place itThis technology delivers

contact and saving labor The details are described in “4‑provides a safety Furthermore it provides a sense of

4 Utilization of Robotics Technology in the Tokyo 2020

presence as if we are cheering along the roadside We

Games” (3) and “4‑5 Supporting the Tokyo 2020 Games

could feel a sense of unity between athletes andwith People‑friendly Robots” (4)spectators In conventional general video transmission
various delays occur These include optical propagation

4．Realized Technologies
41

transmission

video data compression

and media

processing delays The total delay time can be several

Technologies Utilized in the Six Projects

seconds round‑trip Due to these delays delivering the

Various technologies have been utilized in the projects

cheering to the players was impossible NTTʼs “Ultra‑

implemented by the Innovation Promotion Office All

low Latency Communication Technology (5)” has mini-sorts of technologies are being used to realize the mostmized the delay time for the transmission process toinnovative Games ever in history and the details of

approximately 100 ms each way Due to this technology

which are given in the following articles

the cheering to the athletes was delivered reliably

The 360‑degree video technology and NTTʼs ultra‑

A 50 m wide display at the Tokyo venue provided anrealistic communication technology Kirari! were used

immersive experience

to enhance the immersive experience for “Innovation inathletes were running right in front and could show their200

The spectators felt that the

THE JOURNAL OF THE INSTITUTE OF ELECTRONICS INFORMATION AND COMMUNICATION ENGINEERS( a ) Spectators cheering from Tokyo for the women’s marathon
in Sapporo

Figure 5

Appearance of CUzo Card (©NTT)

gestures of the other person The “facility guidance”
application guides the visitors by adding visual annotations to the usersʼ surroundings Approximately 250
venue‑management staff members used the CUzo card
( b ) Cheering from Tokyo reaching the runners during thewomen’s marathon
Figure 4

Ultra‑low
LatencyCommunication
Technology（©2021‑International Olympic Committee‑All Rights
Reserved）

to support attendees

including event officials andplayers at three venues in the Kanto region for a total of
28 days

5．Review Reflection and Future Legacy
51

Review and Reflection

support by clapping and waving flags On the other

The impact of the COVID‑19 outbreak in early 2020

hand on the marathon course in Sapporo the ultra‑low‑forced us to review the innovation measures We alsolatency communication technology allowed spectators to

had to revise the vision of “the most innovative everdeliver their cheers before the athlete passed byGames in history bringing positive change to the world”

Spectators were able to feel a sense of oneness with the

As a result measures were mapped out to realize theathletes at the Tokyo venue as well (Figure 4(a)(b))

new vision of safety and security cost reduction andsimplification without significantly changing the imple-

422

Venue Operation Staff x CUzo

The “CUzo Card (6)”(Figure 5) a handheld device witha transparent display

mentation content of the games
The first measure was “Innovation in participation”

was provided to the venue

which was planned to boost excitement at the venue

management staff This device provided a communica-

from many more people worldwide with the slogan

tion style that allowed visitors to be guided while“contribute to providing an environment where athletes

watchingtheir facial expressions of visitors The CUzo

can concentrate on the game with peace of mind” This

card is provided with applications to support “face‑to‑

was a safe and secure measure using SNS to boost theface translation” and “facility guidance”

mood at the venue eliminating opportunities for physicalThe “face‑to‑face translation” application in the CUzo

contact between event officials and spectators

card displays the conversation content like subtitles

The next measure was “Innovation in sports” whichallowing two people to have a conversation while

was positioned to “provide spectators with a greater

simultaneously watching the facial expressions andemotional experience through watching sports which isSpecial Issue : Technology and Innovation in the Olympic and Paralympic Games Tokyo 2020

201

the basic requirement of competitions” This measureshared the excitement from watching competitions with

References(

many people even when the games were held without
spectators(

The last measure was “Innovations that will change
the future of society” which was aimed at “management(

using advanced technologies as a precursor to coexist
with the COVID‑19” In addition to the use of robots for
reducing physical contact and remote services to avoid(

crowding 5G which was the core technology for these
services was introduced(

As a result the projects were implemented almost as
initially planned but we regret that some services werecanceled or scaled back due to lack of spectators and thatthe expected results could not be obtained Many ofthese initiatives at the Tokyo 2020 Games are the first in()

K. Koshiba and S. Kinoshita, “4-2 Future-oriented Sport Viewing
Project,” Journal of IEICE, vol. 105, no. 8 supplement, pp. 203-210,
Aug. 2022.
) Y. Ohto, S. Kinoshita, and N. Furuno, “4-3 Innovation Projects
utilizing 5G Technology,” Journal of IEICE, vol. 105, no. 8 supplement, pp. 211-219, Aug. 2022.
) T. Nakano, T. Toda, T. Moridaira, T. Nakayama, Y. Inagaki, and T.
Kuwabara, “4-4 Utilization of Robotics Technology in the Tokyo 2020
Games,” Journal IEICE, vol. 105, no. 8 supplement, pp. 220-231 Aug.
2022.
) K. Ogishima, Y. Uchida, T. Kurokawa, and R. Honda, “4-5 Supporting
the Tokyo 2020 Games with People-friendly Robots,” Journal of
IEICE, vol. 105, no. 8 supplement, pp. 232-237, Aug. 2022.
) S. Usui, S. Fukatsu, E. Matsumoto, M. Imoto, D. Shirai and S.
Kinoshita, “Marathon×Ultra-low-latency Communication Technology,” NTT Technical Journal, vol. 33, no. 10, pp. 30-34, Oct. 2021.
Available at https://journal.ntt.co.jp/article/15557) T. Kusafuka, Y. Maki, T. Goda, A. Suzuki, M. Tamaru, and T. Indo,“Venue Operation Staff×CUzo,” NTT Journal, vol. 33, no. 12, pp. 3133, 2021.
https://journal.ntt.co.jp/wp-content/uploads/2021/12/JN202112.pdf

Olympic and Paralympic Games history and we believethat in the future these initiatives will contribute to thedevelopment of the sports industry not only in the
Olympics and Paralympics
52

Legacy of the Innovation Promotion Office

We believe that each project in collaboration with theJapanese government the Tokyo Metropolitan Government partners and external organizations should be
passed on to bring social change in the future In(Received February 9 2022 ; Revised March 16 2022)

SAITO Kazuo
Graduated from Hunter College of the City
University of New York in 1998 and joined
Fujitsu Research Institute in 2000 Working asa consultant for business innovation and new
business development Seconded to The Tokyo
2020 Organising Committee since 2014 SeniorDirector of Digital Marketing Digital Marketing Office Senior Director of Innovation
Planning and Innovation Promotion Innovation
Promotion Officeparticular the new experience of watching sports using
advanced technologies such as 5G and robots is the first‑
ever practical technology to be introduced in the
Olympic and Paralympic Games We hope to work with
our partners and the Tokyo Metropolitan Government torealize a legacy
The Innovation Promotion Office is an organizationthat was established for the first time at the Tokyo 2020
Games

Having faced various challenges under thesituation of the absence of IOC counter organization we
operated the office and implemented measures throughtrial and error In the end with the support of the IOC
and with the cooperation of partners and externalorganizations we were able to contribute to making theGames more attractive Innovative initiatives have thepotential to be required at future Games and we hopethat the experience and know‑how gained from theTokyo 2020 Games will be passed on as a legacy

HIRATA Hideyo
Graduated from Kyoto University in 1977 andjoined Fujitsu Limited in the same year
engaged in system development as a systemengineer in the public sector Seconded to The
Tokyo 2020 Organising Committee since 2014
Head of Innovation Promotion Office Head of
Digital Marketing Office and Deputy Head ofTechnology Services Bureau
TSUCHIYA Koichi
Graduated from Tokyo Law Professional
Training College in 1992 joined the Tokyo
Metropolitan Government in 1993 seconded to
The Tokyo 2020 Organising Committee since2017 Director of Innovation Planning Innovation Promotion Office
OKADA Takahiro
Graduated from the College of Liberal Arts at
International Christian University in 2015
where he studied the use of private finance inthe public sector (PFI) Joined the Tokyo
Metropolitan Government in the same year
Seconded to the Tokyo 2020 Organising Committee since 2018 Manager of Innovation
Planning Innovation Promotion Office㍇㍇㍇㍇㍇㍇㍇㍇㍇㍇㍇㍇㍇㍇㍇㍇㍇㍇㍇㍇㍇㍇㍇㍇㍇㍇㍇

202

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