DOCOMO to Expand Educational ICT Services through Investment in eTextbook Developer forEst

TOKYO, JAPAN, March 5, 2018—NTT DOCOMO, INC. announced today that it would expand its educational ICT services for students and teachers by investing in forEst, Inc., a Tokyo-based developer of e-textbook content. DOCOMO will make its investment through NTT DOCOMO Ventures, a wholly owned subsidiary, on January 31, 2018. DOCOMO first became acquainted with forEst when it was a participant in DOCOMO Innovation Village, an open innovation program offered by DOCOMO and NTT group companies.

forEst developed its “ATLS” tablet-based e-textbook platform to provide students with personalized questions based on each user’s level of skill. The company has been providing the service in collaboration with textbook makers since April 2017. The cloud platform also enables teachers to manage student progress highly efficiently.

DOCOMO is expecting the educational field increasingly to adopt ICT as schools and municipal governments prepare for Japan’s full introduction of a new school curriculum from 2020.

Going forward, DOCOMO plans to support students and teachers with expanded ICT services for education, including through collaborative initiatives with education-venture companies under the company’s “Declaration beyond” medium-term plan to 2020.