At YOXO FESTIVAL 2024, many companies and universities conducted proof-of-concept experiments and demonstrations, creating opportunities for collaboration between exhibitors across industries and business categories, interacting with citizens, and creating innovation throughout the city.
We spoke to Yamaha Corporation, a member of the Yokohama Mirai Organization and an exhibitor.
*"YOXO FESTIVAL - Future Experience in Yokohama"... Innovators and creators bring new ideas and technologies for the "future" and interact across disciplines to gain inspiration and experience excitement. It's a festival.
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A place for demonstration experiments where customers can hear their voices directly
---Please tell us the purpose of exhibiting this time and the content of the exhibit.
As a demonstration experiment aimed at exploring how the technology developed through research and development can be translated into customer value, we exhibited "JAZZ EXPERIENCE," which combines our proprietary automatic accompaniment tracking function with performance reproduction technology.
When the participant hits the ride cymbal of the electronic drum, instruments such as the piano and contrabass automatically follow the tempo, and a jazz performance begins, allowing anyone to experience the world of jazz.
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I have been participating in YOXO FESTIVAL since last year, and I knew that it would be a valuable testing ground where I could hear customers' opinions on the prototype, so I prepared for this year about six months in advance. We were able to efficiently carry out demonstration experiments by selecting technologies, setting hypotheses, producing prototypes, designing booths, and preparing for YOXO FESTIVAL. On the day of the event, engineers involved in the development took the lead in interacting with customers.
Improvements and new insights
---What was the reaction from visitors on the day?
There was a constant waiting line for both days, and the concert was enjoyed by many people, from children to adults, in keeping with the concept that anyone could enjoy the performance.
Opinions from customers are not simply taken through questionnaires about the product, but are unique to YOXO FESTIVAL, where engineers see customers actually experiencing it on the street, hear their impressions directly, and get a feel for it. I cherished it. By doing so, I was able to not only find improvements on the technical side, but also gain various insights.
Also, when the target audience was ``everyone,'' we set ``children'' and ``people who can't play musical instruments at all,'' but the specifications were unsatisfactory for those with experience or those who can play a little, so in the true sense of the word, ``everyone.'' We were also able to discover issues with the service, such as the format not being able to enjoy the performance.
Demonstration experiments and employee training
---Do you have any plans for the future (next time)?
The technologies and products we exhibited this time were brought to life through YOXO FESTIVAL, so in the future we would like to have more people experience them, improve them, and turn them into services.
By exhibiting at YOXO FESTIVAL for two years in a row, we were able to accumulate know-how and how to carry out in-house demonstration experiments. We believe this is a valuable opportunity for our employees, as it allows engineers and researchers who don't usually interact with customers to directly interact with customers, and it provides an opportunity to advance projects across departments. I would like to consider this as well.