NineSigma Adds New 'Business Idea (Beta)' Feature to AI-Powered Technology Application Exploration Tool 'AKCELI'

NineSigma Holdings Co., Ltd. (Headquarters: Chiyoda-ku, Tokyo; President and CEO: Akihiko Suwa; hereinafter "NineSigma"), a company supporting corporate innovation, will begin offering a new feature called "Business Idea (Beta)" on its AI-powered service for supporting technology and product commercialization, "AKCELI," starting June 29, 2026.

Until now, AKCELI has primarily supported idea generation starting from in-house technologies—what is known as "seed-driven" ideation. The newly added "Business Idea" feature introduces a "needs-driven" approach, starting from a desired future vision or customer needs to be addressed. By enabling exploration from both seed and needs perspectives, users can now generate more divergent ideas that go beyond mere extensions of existing technologies. This marks the second consecutive week of new feature releases, following last week's launch of "Spec Research" on June 22.

For details, please visit the service website: https://www.ninesigma.com/jp/service/akceli/

Development Background: Business Opportunities Beyond Seed-Driven Approaches

While seed-driven ideation effectively leverages a company's technological strengths, it often leads to ideas that are limited to the immediate application of existing technologies. In contrast, starting from real societal or customer needs can uncover business opportunities invisible through technology-first thinking. However, needs-driven ideation faces challenges: how to obtain reliable, real-world needs data, and how to rapidly iterate through cycles of idea generation, evaluation, and pivoting.

"Business Idea" addresses both challenges. The needs it proposes are based on real human needs data gathered through NineSigma's Open Innovation Council (OI Council), its open innovation community. Furthermore, AI accelerates the entire ideation cycle, enabling rapid, needs-driven innovation.

What Is "Business Idea (Beta)"? Ideating New Ventures Starting from Needs

"Business Idea (Beta)" is a needs-driven ideation feature that starts with high-level keywords—such as a desired future state or a problem to solve—and proposes related customer needs, then generates new business ideas based on those needs.

The process is simple. First, users input high-level keywords related to a desired future or unmet need. The system then proposes candidate "target customers" and "customer needs" associated with those inputs. By selecting a specific need to explore further, users trigger the generation of new business ideas linked to that need. This allows users to transform abstract themes into concrete business concepts in a seamless workflow.

Balancing Seed-Driven and Needs-Driven Approaches

Seed-driven and needs-driven ideation each have their strengths and limitations. Traditional, seed-driven approaches—like technology scouting—can reliably generate ideas that leverage in-house technologies, but often confine thinking within the boundaries of existing capabilities. Conversely, needs-driven ideation broadens the scope of possibilities, but may generate ideas that cannot be realized with current company assets. In other words, they fail in different ways: seed-driven ideation risks generating ideas that are feasible but unwanted, while needs-driven ideation risks generating ideas that are desirable but beyond the company's reach. By combining both approaches, organizations can overcome these blind spots and more easily identify opportunities that are both achievable and in demand.

Moreover, users can now first expand their thinking broadly through needs-driven ideation (divergence), then converge and concretize ideas by aligning them with their core technological strengths (convergence)—all within a single, integrated process. This enables balanced exploration of new ventures, avoiding both incremental extensions of existing technologies and unrealistic, unfeasible concepts.

Key Features of "Business Idea (Beta)"

- Reflects real customer needs data: Proposes target customers and needs based on actual human needs data gathered from NineSigma's OI Council - Bridges abstract concepts to concrete ideas: Generates actionable business ideas from abstract future visions or keywords through structured, intermediate steps - Accelerates ideation cycles with supporting features: Includes functions such as generating business model canvases from individual ideas and enabling idea pivoting

Future Outlook: A Seamless Platform from Concept to Commercialization

NineSigma aims to evolve its AI-powered new venture creation tool, "AKCELI," into a comprehensive platform that accelerates the entire journey—from initial concept development and business concept refinement to solution development and customer discovery. With the addition of "Business Idea," AKCELI now fully supports dual-path ideation—both seed-driven and needs-driven—enabling stronger support than ever for the early-stage ideation phase of new ventures.

Feature Overview

New Feature Name

AKCELI "Business Idea (Beta)"

Availability Start Date

June 29, 2026

Service Details

For information on plans, pricing, inquiries, and sign-up, please visit the service website: https://www.ninesigma.com/jp/service/akceli/

Online Seminar Announcement

NineSigma will host an online seminar to introduce the details and practical use cases of this new feature. The seminar will also cover the recently launched "Spec Research" feature, presented within the same session. We invite all those interested in leveraging both seed-driven and needs-driven ideation to attend.

Event Date and Time

July 23, 2026 (Thu) 13:30–14:15

Participation Method

Zoom (viewing URL will be sent one day prior to the event)

Registration Deadline

July 22, 2026 (Wed) 13:00 / Register here

About NineSigma Holdings Co., Ltd.

Under its mission statement "We make innovation happen," NineSigma supports innovation activities for corporate R&D departments and others, helping unlock the latent potential of in-house technologies and driving the creation and advancement of new ventures and R&D themes. Established in Japan in 2006 as NineSigma Asia Pacific Co., Ltd., the company merged with NineSigma Holdings Co., Ltd. in 2022. With headquarters in Japan and offices in Europe and the U.S., NineSigma has supported over 10,000 open innovation projects across 105 countries globally, including more than 1,600 projects in Japan. Through open innovation methods such as external technology sourcing and knowledge integration, technology matchmaking, and various training programs, NineSigma connects outstanding technologies—both in Japan and globally—to maximize their value and contribute to creating a sustainable, innovative future.

Headquarters: 1-3-3 Uchikanda, Chiyoda-ku, Tokyo

President and CEO: Akihiko Suwa

Corporate Website: https://www.ninesigma.com/jp/

AKCELI Service Site: https://www.ninesigma.com/jp/service/akceli/

For Media Inquiries

NineSigma Holdings Co., Ltd.

Public Relations Contact: Tomohiro Ota

TEL: 03-3219-2006 / E-mail: [email protected]