Awards & Recognitions
From international awards to recognition for social innovation and digital inclusion, our achievements reflect a commitment to creating opportunities through technology and cooperation.
Updating Humanity through Solidarity.
Each mark is one recognition on this page, on the ring for its year: 2022 at the centre, 2026 outermost.
Selected highlights
A selection of recognitions reflecting our work across digital inclusion, social innovation, and technology-driven opportunity.
Pioneers in SDGs Awards 2025
Journalists and Writers Foundation
ProjectDigital Refugee-Led Cooperative
Robo Co-op received the Innovation Excellence Award at the Journalists and Writers Foundation’s Pioneers in SDGs Awards 2025, for its project Digital Refugee-Led Cooperative.
View Recognition: Innovation Excellence Award, Journalists and Writers Foundation
Forbes JAPAN, 11 March 2025
Forbes JAPAN’s editors chose 30 next-generation impact startups after surveying investors, entrepreneurs and industry figures. Robo Co-op was profiled for accelerating job creation for refugees.
Fast Company
Fast Company named Global Gateway — a program from Automation Anywhere and Robo Co-op that trains refugees in automation skills so they can work from anywhere — the winner of its Corporate Social Responsibility category.
Our journey
Explore the achievements, selections, and milestones that have marked our journey. Newest first; every entry links to the source that documents it.
UNHCR, the UN Refugee Agency
UNHCR’s published profiles of the board’s 2026–2028 cohort list Robo Co-op, Japan, among its member organizations.
UNDP Digital X
UNDP’s Digital X platform profiles Robo Lab® — Robo Co-op’s platform for digital training and remote work — as a solution in its catalogue.
View source: Robo Lab® in UNDP’s Digital X solution catalogue, UNDP Digital X
Journalists and Writers Foundation
Robo Co-op received the Innovation Excellence Award at the Journalists and Writers Foundation’s Pioneers in SDGs Awards 2025, for its project Digital Refugee-Led Cooperative.
View source: Innovation Excellence Award, Journalists and Writers Foundation
Forbes JAPAN, 11 March 2025
Forbes JAPAN’s editors chose 30 next-generation impact startups after surveying investors, entrepreneurs and industry figures. Robo Co-op was profiled for accelerating job creation for refugees.
Business Insider Japan
RecipientJintae Kim, founder and CEO of Robo Co-op
Business Insider Japan’s award went to Robo Co-op’s founder personally, not to the organization.
Fast Company
Fast Company named Global Gateway — a program from Automation Anywhere and Robo Co-op that trains refugees in automation skills so they can work from anywhere — the winner of its Corporate Social Responsibility category.
View source: World Changing Ideas Awards 2024, Corporate Social Responsibility: winner, Fast Company
Iwasa Foundation (岩佐教育文化財団)
Awarded for Robo Co-op’s work opening digital careers to single mothers and refugees; the fifth round’s winners were announced on 30 September 2024.
World Summit Awards, nominated by its Japan country expert, World in You
One of five digital solutions from Japan nominated to the World Summit Awards 2023. A nomination, not an award.
Social Venture Partners Tokyo
One of the three organizations SVP Tokyo chose to invest in and work with that year.
View source: Investment and collaboration partner, 2022, Social Venture Partners Tokyo (in Japanese)
Global participation
Our work and community are also represented through international advisory participation, leadership recognition, and initiatives supporting digital inclusion.
UNHCR’s published profiles of the board’s 2026–2028 cohort list Robo Co-op, Japan, among its member organizations.
View source: Advisory Board of Organizations led by Forcibly Displaced and Stateless Persons, 2026–2028 cohort, UNHCR, the UN Refugee Agency Our announcement: Advisory Board of Organizations led by Forcibly Displaced and Stateless Persons, 2026–2028 cohort
Business Insider Japan’s award went to Robo Co-op’s founder personally, not to the organization.
UNDP’s Digital X platform profiles Robo Lab® — Robo Co-op’s platform for digital training and remote work — as a solution in its catalogue.
View source: Robo Lab® in UNDP’s Digital X solution catalogue, UNDP Digital X Our announcement: Robo Lab® in UNDP’s Digital X solution catalogue
In the spotlight
Explore independent coverage and conversations highlighting our approach to technology, cooperation, and social impact.
JETRO (Japan External Trade Organization)
A JETRO area report on the entrepreneurship-education ecosystem around Mondragon in Spain’s Basque Country, with a section on Robo Co-op’s work there.
Read Article: スペイン・モンドラゴンに学ぶ起業家教育エコシステム, JETRO (Japan External Trade Organization) (in Japanese)
Business Insider Japan
From Deloitte to founding Robo Co-op, and its next step: an online take on the worker cooperative, after the model of Mondragon.
Read Article: 新卒デロイトから難民支援で起業。次のチャレンジは世界最大“オンライン版”労働者協同組合, Business Insider Japan (in Japanese)
Business Insider Japan
An interview with founder Jintae Kim on growing up effectively stateless in Japan, his years at Deloitte Tohmatsu, and founding Robo Co-op in 2021.
What matters most
Each milestone represents work toward a larger goal: making digital education, meaningful work, and participation in the digital economy more accessible.
Expanding access to practical digital learning and technology.
Connecting skills and collaboration with real-world work.
Building pathways where participants can contribute, grow, and support others.
Build what comes next
Our journey continues through people, partnerships, and shared opportunities. Discover the mission behind our work and how you can be part of it.