In recent years, more and more companies have been actively engaging in collaboration by “opening” themselves—through initiatives such as promoting open innovation and establishing co-creation spaces. By creating points of contact with external players, companies aim to gain new perspectives and connect them to new business creation. Across a wide range of such projects, Loftwork has continued to walk alongside companies from diverse fields.
Among its distinctive approaches are “open call projects” that leverage Loftwork’s own online open call platform, AWRD.
Open calls are generally known as opportunities for creators to submit their work and open new paths in their careers. On the other hand, the value of open calls for the companies that host them has not always been fully shared or understood. In this article, we introduce the value and tangible outcomes that Loftwork has discovered through open calls as a means of guiding companies toward solving their challenges.
Loftwork’s Spirit of “Opening” Since Its Founding
Opening up the potential of companies and creators facing challenges has been a core philosophy of Loftwork since before its founding. In 1990s Brooklyn, New York, creators and artists opened their own spaces to the public, fostering a culture of encounters and collaboration. For Suwa, Loftwork’s representative, who immersed himself in that environment, this scene became the greatest inspiration behind the company’s founding.
In 2000, Loftwork Inc. was established with the mission of “circulating creativity.” At the same time, driven by the desire to “create a platform where creators’ work can circulate globally,” the portfolio site loftwork.com was launched.
Just before the internet bubble, the internet was beginning to connect things and people that had never been connected before. In its early days, Loftwork functioned as an online community for illustrators, giving rise to projects that created games and T-shirt content with many illustrators. Later, projects evolved into the creation of large-scale websites and spaces together with creators possessing complex skill sets—such as engineers, designers, and architects. Throughout this process, many projects took the form of open calls, and Loftwork grew alongside emerging and young talents.
Expanding the Possibilities of Open Calls: YouFab Global Creative Awards
n 2012, the digital fabrication café FabCafe Tokyo was established as a creator community. Launched simultaneously was YouFab Global Creative Awards, a global creative award originating from FabCafe.
Initially launched to raise awareness of digital fabrication, discover creators, and energize the industry, YouFab gradually expanded its scope to become a global platform that generated collaborations with various companies as each edition unfolded.
At the 5th edition in 2016, a collaboration was realized between sponsoring company Yamaha Corporation and the Grand Prix winner. Yamaha’s development team and the award recipient co-created a project that evolved into prototype development and exhibition.
YouFab Global Creative Awards 2016 – Yamaha Award OTON GLASS: Smart glasses for people with reading difficulties
Through ten years of operating YouFab—from its first edition in 2012 to the tenth in 2021—Loftwork developed a strong conviction in the effectiveness of open calls as an approach to “opening” connections between creators and companies.
For many participants, open calls are an ideal opportunity to test their potential on a global stage and gain chances that lead to future success. At the same time, for companies, open calls are a powerful opportunity to encounter diverse players they have never interacted with before and to engage with unconstrained, unconventional ideas—leading to open innovation.
Open calls offer opportunities to players while guiding companies toward solutions. Could they become tools that open the future for both sides? This belief became the driving force behind all of Loftwork’s subsequent open call projects.
Opening Companies Through Open Calls: Loftwork’s Practice
Next, we introduce concrete examples of how Loftwork has addressed corporate challenges through open calls. From communicating corporate messages and strengthening internal and external branding to evolving into new projects, these outcomes reveal the potential of open calls as tools for “opening” companies.
Communicating Diverse Interpretations of a Corporate Message to Society Nissan Motor Co., Ltd. – “Everyday Invention Challenge”
Organized by Nissan Motor Co., Ltd. and planned and operated by Loftwork, the Everyday Invention Challenge was conducted as part of the co-creation initiative DRIVE MYSELF PROJECT, which aimed to communicate Nissan’s brand promise, “Innovation for Excitement.”
Facing challenges in reaching younger audiences—especially Gen Z—Nissan implemented three initiatives to expand empathy toward its brand promise: an ideathon, prototyping, and an award-based open call. Under the theme of bricolage, a concept closely related to the brand promise, the challenge received approximately 200 submissions from 21 countries.
By gathering works expressed from the unique perspectives of applicants, the project visualized the “diversity of interpretations” of the brand promise and suggested new possibilities for communication, through which corporate messages permeate society via creative works.
Questioning New Fields and Creating a Movement JST ACCEL Embodied Media Project – “HAPTIC DESIGN AWARD”
Led by the JST ACCEL Embodied Media Project, a research and development support program promoted by the Japan Science and Technology Agency, and planned and operated by Loftwork, the HAPTIC DESIGN AWARD was Japan’s first open call focusing on works and projects centered on “haptics.”
At its second edition in 2017, the award attracted 117 works from 20 countries, presenting the potential of HAPTIC DESIGN as a new field to society.
By opening the academic domain to society, the open call aimed to invite new players such as designers and creators and foster a broader movement. The submitted works introduced fresh perspectives into academia and evolved into new projects involving diverse players and companies—generating further challenges toward the social implementation of research.
Creating Encounters With Creators and New Project Possibilities Maxell, Ltd. – “Kuse no Aru Award”
The Kuse no Aru Award, developed in collaboration with Maxell, Ltd., is an open call project inviting unique and cutting-edge works that fuse art and technology. It was planned as part of the program for Kuse no Aru Studio, Maxell’s open innovation hub in Oyamazaki, Kyoto, also produced by Loftwork. Finalist works were exhibited in a group exhibition held within the studio.
Beyond activating the studio as an open innovation hub, the project also aimed to encourage long-term behavioral change by creating spaces for interaction between employees and creators. The perspectives brought in through the open call helped “open” Maxell’s technologies, which had been cultivated primarily in the B2B domain.
Embodying Corporate Values and Messages Pentel Co., Ltd. – “100 Art Crayon Drawings Exhibition”
The 100 Art Crayon Drawings Exhibition, planned and operated by Pentel Co., Ltd. in 2025 using the AWRD platform, invited works created with Art Crayons co-developed by Pentel and painter / art YouTuber Harumichi Shibasaki. A total of 2,300 works were submitted from across Japan, and 100 selected works were exhibited at Hibiya OKUROJI.
Beyond promoting the appeal of the Art Crayons themselves, the project sought to convey the philosophy behind their development—helping adults rediscover the richness of drawing freely. During the exhibition period, the venue was bustling with visitors, including applicants. The vibrant colors and lively touches of the 100 displayed works vividly embodied Pentel’s corporate message: “Nurturing the joy of expression.”
An Approach That Generates Co-Creation, Not Competition
Through four case studies, we have explored how the “opening” approach of open calls can bring signs of change to companies. In all cases, submitted works were selected by judges or curators, and opportunities for evaluation, awards, and recognition were provided. Some applicants undoubtedly leveraged these awards as stepping stones toward further success.
What deserves attention is that while conventional open calls often aim primarily to honor outstanding works and their creators, Loftwork’s open calls are not necessarily limited to that purpose. Loftwork implements open call projects not only to grant awards or recognition, but also to discover new contours of value within collections of works, and to foster dialogue and connections—always with an eye toward “what comes next.”
While some open calls emphasize competition and celebrate superior skills or techniques, another approach gathers works around a theme posed by a company and connects them to dialogue and co-creation. Compared to the former, the latter is more effective as a means of “opening” companies, holding the potential to give rise to new communities where companies and players connect beyond the open call itself.
“Open Calls” That Open Companies to Players Around the World
As society grows increasingly complex, companies are forced to confront a wide array of challenges. Behind these challenges lie numerous intertwined factors, making it harder than ever to identify paths toward solutions. In such circumstances, connecting with the perspectives, technologies, and expressions of players around the world can provide companies with breakthroughs and open pathways to new business creation and successful innovation.
That is why it is essential to intentionally design how—and to whom—a company’s technologies and values are “opened.” Open calls are only one method among many, alongside websites, co-creation spaces, and events. To open companies more effectively, it is crucial to have both a project concept that expresses the company’s philosophy and stance, and planning and communication that stimulate the curiosity of participating players.
Known in English as an “Open Call,” this approach is itself an act of opening. Online open calls free companies and players from constraints of time and place, maximizing opportunities for encounters. As illustrated throughout this article, Loftwork has repeatedly witnessed companies transform and embrace new challenges through open calls. By bringing unexpected encounters to companies and serving as a means to “open” paths through an unpredictable era, open calls continue to hold the potential to exert even greater power going forward.