Tech & Innovation

  • Blog
    Rakuten Mobile’s smallest smartphone has received big praise from both users and industry experts, recently winning the prestigious Red Dot Design Award.
    4 weeks ago

    Rakuten Mini receives Red Dot Design Award

    Rakuten Mobile’s smallest smartphone has received big praise from both users and industry experts since launching in October 2019. Now, the Rakuten Mini can add Red Dot Design Award-winner to its list of accomplishments. What is the Red Dot Award? The Red Dot Award is an international design award presented by Germany’s Red Dot GmbH & Co. KG. Among many categories, the Product Division establi…

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  • Blog
    Rakuten launches Rakuten Symphony to accelerate global adoption of cloud-native, Open RAN-based mobile networks.
    August 5, 2021

    Accelerating global adoption of cloud-native, Open RAN-based mobile networks with Rakuten Symphony

    Rakuten Symphony is a new business organization created to empower the global adoption of cloud-native open RAN infrastructure and services — including RCP — by mobile network operators, enterprises and government bodies. Rakuten Symphony’s vision is to provide a future-proven, cost-effective cloud connectivity platform. “With Rakuten Symphony, we’re bringing together our global resources to take…

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  • Blog
    Rakuten’s Drone and UGV team has teamed up with legendary Japanese carmaker Honda to run a trial robot delivery on the campus of the Ibaraki-based uni.
    August 3, 2021

    Honda and Rakuten collaborate on campus robot delivery trial

    This summer, Japan’s University of Tsukuba is welcoming an exciting new guest to their campus: a delivery robot. Rakuten’s Drone UGV team has teamed up with Honda to run a trial robot delivery on the campus of the Ibaraki-based uni. The vehicle was developed by Honda, with the delivery boxes and systems provided by Rakuten. A short trip north from Tokyo, Tsukuba University is situated on one…

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  • Blog
    Rakuten Mobile successfully verified data transfer on a 5G standalone mobile network with collaboration from Tokyo Institute of Technology.
    August 3, 2021

    True 5G is just around the corner: Tokyo Tech and Rakuten Mobile

    After years of exciting headlines, “true 5G” may finally be upon us. On July 4, Rakuten Mobile successfully verified data transfer on a 5G standalone (5G SA) mobile network with collaboration from Tokyo Institute of Technology (Tokyo Tech), on the grounds of the university’s Ookayama campus in southern Tokyo. “Standalone” 5G: What’s the big deal? The imminent age of 5G has been heralded in industr…

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  • Blog
    To discover and delve deeper into new applications for 5G, Rakuten Mobile has announced partnerships with three leading institutions in Japan.
    July 16, 2021

    Discovering new applications for 5G and beyond with Japan’s leading universities

    What does a new student on campus today think of when they hear 5G? Perhaps better online gaming or movie streaming, or maybe better connectivity for calling home or ordering food delivery? Could it be that they dream of remote learning without buffering? To discover and delve deeper into new applications for 5G, Rakuten Mobile has announced partnerships with three leading institutions in Japan: T…

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  • Blog
    Secai Marche, a Japan-based B2B platform with Rakuten investment funding, connects farmers and restaurants, handling orders and building up supply-chains.
    June 29, 2021

    Farm fresh to table: How Secai Marche’s AI helps link farmers and restaurants

    Thanks to sustainability-minded shoppers, rising demand for locally grown products and initiatives like Rakuten Agriculture that support local farmers, small-scale family farming is increasingly gaining global recognition. The COVID-19 pandemic has also acted as a catalyst, speeding up what could be an agricultural transformation. There is however one significant challenge that smaller farmers hav…

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  • Blog
    Rakuten Mobile is taking a run at busting some of the most common myths about Open RAN - from performance to readiness and more.
    June 26, 2021

    Mythbusting Open RAN – separating fact from fiction on open radio access networks

    The mobile industry is in a constant state of transformation. While industry buzzwords have long been focused on the Gs (prepare yourself for a whole lot of talk about 6G moving ahead…), perhaps the greatest mobile industry evolution is occurring today within the infrastructure. The telco industry is evolving In a traditional mobile network ecosystem, the RAN (radio access network) is proprietary:…

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  • Blog
    Rakuten and Rakuten Medical kicked off large-scale vaccination operations at Rakuten’s Crimson House and are rolling out the "Kobe Model" nationwide.
    June 24, 2021

    Rakuten is taking its “Kobe model” COVID-19 vaccination operations nationwide

    Rakuten’s employee vaccination program is officially underway. On June 21, Rakuten ― together with Rakuten Medical ― kicked off large-scale vaccination operations at Rakuten’s Crimson House headquarters in Futako-Tamagawa, Tokyo. The program, which currently has capacity for around 1,000 daily vaccinations, is targeted to increase to 5,000 per day going forward. Operations will also roll out to Ra…

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  • Blog
    A former government robot policy taskforce member and robocon competitor, Hiroyuki Ushijima is now driving Rakuten’s robot delivery ambitions across Japan.
    June 10, 2021

    Hiroyuki Ushijima is driving Rakuten’s robot delivery ambitions

    On the streets of Japan, autonomous delivery robots are rapidly becoming a reality. After a trial late last year, Rakuten’s Drone UGV department ran a successful month-long robot delivery service in the spring of 2021. In a first for Japan, the ambitious project saw a four-wheeled self-driving vehicle deliver groceries directly to the doors of customers in Yokosuka, south of Yokohama. This UGV aut…

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