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Support for the Intercollegiate Negotiation Competition

The Sumitomo Group Public Affairs Committee strives to support university students’ negotiation skills, assist in upgrading higher education, and contribute to global human resources development through the Intercollegiate Negotiation Competition.

22nd (2023) Intercollegiate Negotiation Competition

On December 9 and 10, 2023, the 22nd Intercollegiate Negotiation Competition (INC) took place. For the first time in four years, the INC was held in the normal face-to-face manner at Sophia University in Tokyo, though certain judges participated online.

With 32 teams competing in Japanese and 20 competing in English, there were 243 contestants in all. 18 Japanese universities participated: Tohoku University, the University of Tokyo, Waseda University, Meiji University, Sophia University, Chuo University, Gakushuin University, Nihon University, Rikkyo University, Tsukuba University, Keio University, Hitotsubashi University, Nagoya University, Kyoto University, Doshisha University, Osaka University, Kyushu University, and Seinan Gakuin University. Four teams participated from overseas: Team Australia, the National University of Singapore, the National University of Mongolia, and SolBridge International School of Business.

Tournament chart

<Japanese>

	Round A / arbitration		Round B / negotiation
	Red	Blue	Red	Blue
1	Mongolia	Kyoto	Meiji 1	Singapore 1
2	Tokyo 1	Waseda 1	Tokyo 2	Tohoku 2
3	Osaka 1	Sophia 1	Tokyo 1	Chuo 1
4	Kyusyu 1	Nihon 1	Osaka 1	Doshisha 1
5	Rikkyo 1	Chuo 1	Hitotsubashi2	Waseda 2
6	Tokyo 2	Sophia 2	Rikkyo 1	Tohoku 1
7	Osaka 2	Singapore 2	Kyusyu 1	Sophia 1
8	Hitotsubashi1	Doshisha 1	Meiji 2	Chuo 2
9	Gakushuin	Chuo	Osaka 2	Waseda 2
10	Meiji 1	SeinanGakuin1	Kyusyu 2	Doshisha 2
11	Tsukuba	Tohoku	Gakushuin	Kyoto
12	Kyusyu 2	Kyoto 2	Tsukuba	Sophia
13	Meiji 2	Tohoku 2	Meiji 3	Nihon 3
14	Hitotsubashi2	Sophia 2	Hitotsubashi1	Kyoto 1
15	Rikkyo 2	Waseda 2	Mongolia	SeinanGakuin
16	Meiji 3	Doshisha 3	Rikkyo 2	Sophia 2

<English>

	Round A / arbitration		Round B / negotiation
	Red	Blue	Red	Blue
1	Team Australia 1	Singapore 1	Tokyo	Keio
2	Solbridge	Tohoku	Solbridge	Doshisha
3	Meiji	Waseda	Kyusyu	Singapore
4	Tokyo	Singapore	Team Australia 1	Chuo 1
5	Mongolia	Chuo	Rikkyo 1	Nagoya 1
6	Rikkyo 1	Doshisha 1	Hitotsubashi	Tohoku
7	Team Australia 2	Sophia 2	Mongolia	Singapore
8	Hitotsubashi	Chuo	Meiji	Sophia
9	Kyusyu	Nagoya	Rikkyo 2	Chuo 2
10	Rikkyo 2	Keio2	Team Australia 2	Waseda 2

Problems and the Competition Outline

The competition has two parts, Round A devoted to arbitration and Round B to negotiation, with Japanese and English divisions for each part. In both rounds, the topic was a space development business between partners Red Corp., which is engaged in electronics (semiconductors, sensors, solar cells, telecommunications, and data businesses) and Blue Inc., which has aircraft, automotive, and mobile communications businesses. Acting as the protagonists of either Red or Blue, the teams got down to discussions.

The issues to be arbitrated in Round A were 1) the Moon Case and 2) the Satellite Case. Red and Blue have been partners in a Moon exploration project. The point at issue in the Moon Case was whether Blue, which currently possesses rocks and other materials gathered from the Moon and the data obtained during the exploration, is obliged to hand over the rocks etc. and data to Red. The Satellite Case concerned Blue’s failed launch of Red’s satellite due to a geomagnetic storm. Red and Blue had concluded a contract for the launch but had no insurance coverage for it. The teams acted as attorneys representing either Red or Blue, stating their claims in the presence of the arbitrators whose roles were played by the judges.

In Round B, the teams negotiated on 1) the details of the second Moon exploration project (the area to be surveyed, the deployment of a lunar rover, etc.) and 2) terms and conditions of a contract concerning Red’s use of a satellite communications service provided by Blue.

Judges and Officials

Over the two days, a total of 113 people, including legal professionals, academics, and corporate legal staff, extended cooperation to INC by serving as judges. There were 26 matches. Some matches were held in a hybrid format with certain judges participating online. INC alumni supported INC as officials in charge of reception, other arrangements, and the matches.

Results of the 22nd INC

The awards ceremony always has an element of high drama. On the one hand, there is the delight of the winning team, and on the other hand, the disappointment of the runners-up. The drama attests to the contestants’ commitment and enthusiasm. The University of Tokyo won the first prize and Team Australia won the Best Teamwork Award. The teams with the highest scores in the competition in Japanese were the University of Tokyo for arbitration and Kyoto University for negotiation. In the competition in English, the University of Tokyo had the highest scores for both arbitration and negotiation.

Shuichi Nagasawa, Sumitomo Group Public Affairs Committee Executive Director

Sumitomo Cup presented to The University of Tokyo team

The University of Tokyo team, the winners of the first prize

1st prize	The University of Tokyo	224.833 points
2nd prize	Team Australia	218 points
3rd prize	Kyoto University	215 points
4th prize	Sophia University	211.125 points
5th prize	Osaka University	207.75 points
6th prize	National University of Singapore	202.667 points
7th prize	Meiji University	199.5 points

Best Teamwork Award

Team Australia

Highest score for the competition in Japanese for arbitration

University of Tokyo

Highest score for the competition in Japanese for negotiation

Kyoto University

Highest score for the competition in English for arbitration

University of Tokyo

Highest score for the competition in English for negotiation

University of Tokyo