Tofu, which has been familiar with Japanese since ancient times, is supposed to be a key to longevity, and in recent times it is attracting the attentions as a low-calorie and healthy food. In this wise, tofu has a lot of positive effects, however its expiration date is too short to meal prep. Next day sales for tofu is predicted to decide the production amount in the plants but a shortage of tofu results in sales opportunity loss or losing customers' trust, whilst it is discarded when left unsold. Such deeds of discarding food is called food waste and is seen as a social issue around the world today. About 1.3 billion tons of food corresponding to the one-third of global output costs about 750 billion dollars to be discarded every year. In order to develop the sustainable economy with the effective utilization of limited resources, it is considered to be important to improve the accuracy of demand forecasting for production planning in a food. A certain study shows that tofu sales correlates with historical changes of temperature, not only temperature itself.

Here, Pokka Sapporo presents you a challenge to create a model that predicts an optimal production amount of tofu to save it from the food waste problem.


・Submissions are scored on the (RMSE) Root Mean Squared Error.
・Target variable represents the daily amount of tofu production (5 kinds in total).
・The score is computed by adding up the RMSE of each kind of tofu.

Determination of the final rankings
1. During the competition, scores on the leaderboard are computed based solely on a fraction of the test set. We use the rest of the set to evaluate and determine the final ranking after the competition.

2. If you have the same score with the other participants, the rank will be placed on a first-submit.

Preliminary winners are asked to provide the following items:
　- Model source code
　- Pre-trained model
　- Model documentation*1 (Execution environment, execution time**1, random seed value*2, feature descriptions and importances*3, modeling approach, insights, and so on)
　*1: Give a description of each of the following parts: preprocessing, training, and predicting
　*2: Should be fixed in the source code
　*3: If available
　- Questionnaire (motivation for the competition, elapsed time, opinions and feedbacks on the competition, and so on)

3. When a preliminary winner falls under any of the following, it will lose its eligibility to claim the prize:
　- Does not respond to the contact within the prescribed period
　- Unable to reproduce the result
　- Does not meet the terms or rules

4. When a person is disqualified, its runner-up will be eligible for winning the prize.

Premise
Please keep in mind to create a practical model as each competition, in principle, has its own goal such as achieving business challenges, solving social problems, and sharing results of studies.

One account per individual
・You may have one account per participant.

Creating a team
Please follow these procedure to create a team.
　1. Create a SIGNATE account for each member.
　2. Send us a mailing list of the team by a team leader's email address.
Please use a team leader's account to submit predictions.

No private sharing
・Sharing code or data outside of teams is not permitted.

Data limitations
・Using external data is not permitted.
・In predicting y at time t, you may use the information available until time t.
・You may use day of week and Japan holidays information.

Other limitations
・You may use any softwares as long as they are open sourced and free.
・Modeling process should be divided into 3 parts and a source code for each part has to be executable independently.
　1. Preprocessing
　　Define functions for both train and test set.
　2. Training
　　Define functions that generate such as pre-trained model, feature importances, and results of cross validation.
　3. Predicting
　　Define functions that generate predictions by importing input variables and pre-trained models.

This competition uses data from NTT DoCoMo.

Disclosure policy

As a general rule, in accordance with Article 4, Paragraph 1 of the terms of participation, diclosing any contents such as insights and deliverables transmitted through the information or data provided by our company in relation to this competition is not permitted, however, only after the completion of this competition and for non-commercial purposes, it will be possible to disclose the contents within the score of the table below
Model *1
Private
Analysis results *2
Private
Public : Posting to social media sites, blogs and source repositories, and citing to papers
Restricted : Using in a limited range from research, education to seminars, where many unspecified people cannot access
*1 Execution unit source code and learned models
*2 The insights obtained using the information and data provided, or the solutions including scripts and processed data such as summary statistics

In order to participate in the Competition, you are required to agree to these Terms, in addition to the Terms of Use of SIGNATE.JP Site (hereinafter referred to as the “Terms of Use”). You should participate in the Competition after reading carefully and agreeing to these Terms. If you agree, these Terms, the matters that are added to these Terms as "additional matters", the Terms of Use and other terms and conditions that you have agreed to shall be binding on the relevant parties as integral documents.


Article 1. Definitions

１.For the purpose of these Terms, the following terms shall be defined as follows:

(１)"Site" means the website "SIGNATE (https://signate.jp)” on which the Competitions are posted.
(２)"Competition" means any competition on AI development or data analysis on the Site as held by the Host.
(３)"Host" is the host(s) of the Competitions. The Host may be SIGNATE, Inc. (hereinafter referred to as the “Company”) or the Company’s client companies, affiliated companies, schools or organizations, etc. (hereinafter referred to as the “Client(s)”).
(４)"Participant(s)" means the member(s) who participate in a Competition.
(５)"Submissions" means, collectively, the analysis and prediction results and reports, etc. as submitted in the Competition.
(６)"Final Submissions" means the Submissions that are specified by a Participant on the prescribed page in the Site by the time of completion of a Competition.
(７)"Winner Candidate" means the Participant who has received a notice from the Company that he/she is nominated as a winner candidate.
(８)"Submissions for Final Judgment" means the analysis and prediction model and learning data, etc. as submitted by a Winner Candidate pursuant to the instructions of the Company.
(９)"Final Judgment" means the acceptance inspection and judgment, including reproducibility verification, by the Company for the Final Submissions and Submissions for Final Judgment of a Winner Candidate.
(１０)"Winner" means the Winner Candidate who is informed by the Company that he/she has won a prize.
２.Unless otherwise defined in these Terms, the terms used in these Terms that are defined in the Terms of Use shall have the same meaning as defined in the Terms of Use.

Article 2. Competition

１.A member who desires to participate in a Competition shall be required to agree to these Terms and to satisfy the conditions for participation as specified in each such Competition. Any person who is not a member shall not participate in any Competition.
２.Participants shall participate in each Competition in the manner as advised by the Company and shall be obligated to comply with the rules as prescribed in each Competition.
３.Participants may submit the Submissions for the assignment of each Competition during the period of such Competition and submit a proposal on the method of solving the problem to the Host by the end of the period of the said Competition.
４.Participants may submit the Final Submissions in the form specified in each Competition by the time specified by the said Competition.
５.The Final Submissions as submitted shall be evaluated by the evaluation method as specified in each Competition and the final rank order shall be determined based on such evaluation.
６.Any Participant may, as a general rule, check the evaluation results of the Participant him/herself and each of the other Participants on the Site for the Submissions that may be evaluated quantitatively.
７.Participants shall be liable or otherwise responsible for their own Submissions, including their legality.
８.Participants shall not submit any Submissions that have no direct relationship to each Competition.
９.Unless otherwise provided for, Participants shall not directly communicate to, consult with, make a request to, solicit or take any other actions with the Host in respect of the matters related to a Competition during the period of the said Competition.
１０.Any Participant who has uncertainty or questions about any Competition shall make sure to contact the Company or its designee through the procedures prescribed by the Company as posted on the Site.
１１.The Company shall not be obligated to pay any remuneration or other consideration other than those prescribed in the following Article for any act of the Participants as prescribed in paragraphs hereof.

Article 3 Reward and Vesting of Rights

１.Unless otherwise provided for, any Participant shall satisfy the following requirements in order to be entitled to receive a reward in any Competition that offers a reward:

(１)To be a winner;
(２)To agree to transfer to the Host and the relevant transferee of rights in such Competition all transferable rights, such as copyrights, rights to obtain patents and know-how, etc. in and to all analysis and prediction results, reports, analysis and prediction model, algorithm, source code and documentations for the model reproducibility, etc., and the Submissions contained in the Final Submissions and Submissions for Final Judgment (including the rights as prescribed in Article 27 and Article 28 of the Copyright Act and the rights to obtain patents; hereinafter referred to as the "Rights");
(３)To agree that any relevant transferee of rights exclusively has the right to use the know-how contained in the Final Submissions and Submissions for Final Judgment for its own business and other purpose without any restriction;
(４)To agree not to exercise moral rights to the Rights against the relevant transferee of rights;
(５)To enter into an agreement for the transfer of the Rights with the relevant eligible transferee of rights, including the agreement to the matter in the preceding three (3) items and other reasonable provisions;
(６)To have the personal identity of such Participant verified by the Company.
(７)Not to breach any provision of these Terms and the Terms of Use.

２.Any Winner Candidate shall, after having received a notice from the Company that he/she is nominated as a winner candidate, submit the Submissions for Final Judgment on or before the designated date and communicate the matters requiring confirmation or response in relation to the Final Submissions and the Submissions for Final Judgment to the Company on or before the designated date, in accordance with the instructions of the Company. The Company shall carry out the final judgment based on such matters requiring confirmation or response. If the Company receives no confirmation or response satisfactory to the Company on or before the designated date, the Company may exclude such Winner Candidate from the subject of the final judgment.
３.If the Company considers that the Final Submissions or Submissions for Final Judgment need to be amended or modified, or there occur any additional matters requiring confirmation, in the course of the final judgment, any Winner Candidate shall take action or make response in relation to the matters that require amendment, etc. or the detailed information on the matters requiring confirmation, on or before the designated date in accordance with the instructions of the Company. If the Company receives no action or response satisfactory to the Company on or before the designated date, the Company may exclude such Winner Candidate from the final judgment.
４.The Company shall determine the Winner through the final judgment and inform the Winner to that effect.

Article 4 Confidentiality

１.Any Participant shall treat any information and data that they receive from the Company in relation to each Competition (hereinafter referred to as the "Company-Provided Information") as confidential information and shall not disclose the same to any third party and use the same for any purpose other than for such Competition and purpose specified by the Company separately; provided, however, that the confidential information shall not include any information that falls under any of the following items:

(１)Information that is known to the public at the time of the disclosure;
(２)Information that is already possessed by the Participant at the time of the disclosure (only in the case where such Participant may demonstrate such fact by reasonable means);
(３)Information that becomes known to the public without the fault of the Participant after the disclosure;
(４)Information that is independently developed by the Participant without reference to any information as disclosed (except for those Submissions of the person eligible for a prize which are evaluated); or
(５)Information that is rightfully disclosed by any third party having a right to do so without the obligations of confidentiality (only in the case where such Participant may demonstrate such fact by reasonable means).

２.Any Participant shall delete or return to the Company the Company-Provided Information immediately after the completion of each Competition.
３.Any Winner shall handle his/her Final Submissions and Submissions for Final Judgment in the same manner as prescribed in paragraph 1 hereof.
４.If there is any separate arrangement in relation to the confidential information in each Competition, the provisions of such arrangement shall prevail over the provisions of these Terms.
５.If any dispute occurs between the Host or other third party and the Company due to the breach by any Participant of the provisions of this Article and such other party makes any claim against the Company, such Participant shall compensate for any damage, loss, expenses (including, but not limited to, attorneys’ fees), lost profits and lost revenues, etc. incurred by the Company.
６.The provisions of this Article shall survive the termination of the relevant Competition or the Participant’s completion of the procedures for withdrawal from the service of the Company, with respect to the Company-Provided Information and the Winner’s Final Submissions and Submissions for Final Judgment for a period of five (5) years thereafter.

Article 5 Prohibited Acts of Participants

１．The Company shall prohibit Participants from engaging in any of the following acts in any Competition:

(１)An act of cracking, cheating, spoofing other misconduct;
(２)An act of directly communicating to, consulting with, making a request to, soliciting or responding to solicitation or other activities to other Participants or the Host (other than the Company) without the involvement of the Company;
(３)Any profitmaking activities using the Competition (including solicitation or scouting activities, and use for a third party in educational business, etc.) without the prior approval of the Company in writing or any other manner specified by the Company;
(４)Transfer, offering as collateral or other disposition of the status as a Participant or the rights or obligations as a Participant (except with the prior written consent of the Company); and
(５)Any other act in breach of the Terms of Use.

２.If the Company deems that a Participant engages in any of the prohibited acts as prescribed in the preceding paragraph, the Company may, without prior notice to the Participant, disqualify the Participant from the Competition in which the Participant participates, temporarily suspend the Participant from using the service of the Company, withdraw the Participant’s membership, claim damages from the Participant or take any other measures deemed necessary by the Company.

Article 6. Change, Discontinuation or Termination of Provision of Services under These Terms

１.The Company may change or temporarily suspend the services provided by the Company under these Terms without prior notice to the members.
２.Upon one (1) month prior notice to the members, the Company may suspend for a long period of time or terminate the services provided by the Company under these Terms.
３.The Company shall not be liable for any results or damage arising from the measures taken by the Company under this Article.

Article 7 Modification of Terms

１.The Company may modify, add or delete any provisions of these Terms from time to time without the approval of the members.

Enforced on April 1, 2018