This is a guest post authored by “Tex” Pomeroy. He is a Tokyo-based writer specializing in ICT and high technology. Cycle Mode International, held at the Makuhari Messe convention center, presented many startups with a niche market where they could gain business traction. In addition to Growtac (see earlier story about Tokyo International Industry Exhibition 2016), other startups took part at this annual show which attracts those involved in this field, but in particular athletes ranging from health-focused hobbyists and novice cyclists to professional riders and Olympic triathlon athletes. Cerevo made its first appearance at this show that brought over a thousand other booths by exhibiting its Smart Cycle device. This location tracking sensor pack makes use of WiFi, Global Positioning System (GPS) and ANT+ as a “cycle computer” for managing a “road trip” ride which even professionals can utilize. The startup had in fact added a former competition cyclist on its staff with an eye to expanding its market for the 9-axis product developed by Tokyo-based “networked consumer electronics” manufacturer. See also: Japan’s hardware startup Cerevo unveils smart sports gear for snowboarding As regards use of the radio waves, a trading company named JRS – also based in Tokyo and specializing in scooters, pedal bikes and the like – had…
This is a guest post authored by “Tex” Pomeroy. He is a Tokyo-based writer specializing in ICT and high technology.
Image credit: “Tex” Pomeroy
Cycle Mode International, held at the Makuhari Messe convention center, presented many startups with a niche market where they could gain business traction. In addition to Growtac (see earlier story about Tokyo International Industry Exhibition 2016), other startups took part at this annual show which attracts those involved in this field, but in particular athletes ranging from health-focused hobbyists and novice cyclists to professional riders and Olympic triathlon athletes.
Cerevo’s booth Image credit: “Tex” Pomeroy
Cerevo made its first appearance at this show that brought over a thousand other booths by exhibiting its Smart Cycle device. This location tracking sensor pack makes use of WiFi, Global Positioning System (GPS) and ANT+ as a “cycle computer” for managing a “road trip” ride which even professionals can utilize.
The startup had in fact added a former competition cyclist on its staff with an eye to expanding its market for the 9-axis product developed by Tokyo-based “networked consumer electronics” manufacturer.
As regards use of the radio waves, a trading company named JRS – also based in Tokyo and specializing in scooters, pedal bikes and the like – had at its booth a sports-use communication system developed by a Shizuoka startup, On’s Company.
JRS’s booth Image credit: “Tex” Pomeroy
The Bluetooth intercom dubbed Bb Talkin’ was originally geared toward the winter as well as water sports aficionados; but recently, it was adopted for use by motorcycle riders and hang-gliders who are now being joined by (casual) cyclists.
An interesting exhibitor which apparently expanded its booth from its initial year of participation in 2015 was the Korean outfit WIAWIS, highlighting the “nano carbon bicycle”… what made it of note is that fact that it is being made by a bow manufacturer, the bow being for use by archers.
Due to the fact that Olympics-use bows are nowadays mostly made using carbon materials, the company a while back decided to enter the bicycle production arena since bicycles are used by several Olympics categories, unlike archery.
On’s Company’s booth Image credit: “Tex” Pomeroy
Of note this time around was the holding at the adjacent convention hall of the annual meeting of the Japanese Society of Clinical Sports Medicine (JSCSM); this underscored the fact that not only new technology from info-tech to materials are being scrutinized but also sports science/medicine as 2020 looms on the horizon. It is foreseen that more startups will enter this sector through innovative applications of such prowess.
This is a guest post authored by “Tex” Pomeroy. He is a Tokyo-based writer specializing in ICT and high technology. Tokyo Governor Yuriko Koike attended the unveiling of the brand-new addition to the Big Sight international convention center where the 12th edition of the largest trade show for small and medium-sized businesses in Japan was started October 31. East Hall 7 was venue to the new Business Frontier Fair annex to the exhibition. Several selected startups were among those handpicked for the fair, encompassing the Going-Global Innovations Competitions Zone. Many firms were looking to partner with foreign companies in advance of the Olympiad slated for Korea (2018) and Japan (2020), not to mention 2019 Rugby World Cup to which Tokyo is playing host. The main sponsor, the Tokyo Small and Medium Enterprise Support Center, had last May tied up with the Thai Ministry of Industry and set up a Bangkok office, resulting in many companies from Thailand showing up at this year’s event. There have been other moves by the Japanese side, such as Japanese entrepreneur Takeshi Izuka looking to establish the Kirirom Institute of Technology in Cambodia and Taito City of Tokyo working closely with Hanoi for software development…
This is a guest post authored by “Tex” Pomeroy. He is a Tokyo-based writer specializing in ICT and high technology.
Image credit: Tokyo Big Sight
Tokyo Governor Yuriko Koike attended the unveiling of the brand-new addition to the Big Sight international convention center where the 12th edition of the largest trade show for small and medium-sized businesses in Japan was started October 31. East Hall 7 was venue to the new Business Frontier Fair annex to the exhibition. Several selected startups were among those handpicked for the fair, encompassing the Going-Global Innovations Competitions Zone.
Tokyo Big Sight’s East Hall 7 Image credit: “Tex” Pomeroy
Jinzai Solution’s booth, connecting Tokyo and Hanoi for software development cooperation Image credit: “Tex” Pomeroy
There have been other moves by the Japanese side, such as Japanese entrepreneur Takeshi Izuka looking to establish the Kirirom Institute of Technology in Cambodia and Taito City of Tokyo working closely with Hanoi for software development cooperation deals between companies located in their two cities. Gridmark, which took part in TechCrunch Disrupt SF, is promoting its language teaching-use voice-pen. There’s also a group closely linked to Japan setting up a hotel management school in Myanmar.
But getting back to activities in the Tokyo area, there were several startups such as E3 Enterprise and Growtac offering athlete monitoring devices. Although not a startup per se, a Chiba outfit called Imedex (as President Makoto Ichida puts it, some companies could surely “re-startup”) – which was a Japanese delegation member at Disrupt SF exhibition too under its corporate banner of THINK INNOVATION – exhibited as well its cardiac monitoring system with the athlete in mind.
Imedex’s booth Image credit: “Tex” Pomeroy
Meanwhile others took a wider perspective like safety. Whill the all-terrain wheelchair had its rider safety system on show at the main hall. A perennial startup favorite of this writer’s, Challenge, had its earthquake sensor network as well as the campus safety system on display not only at the invited Business Frontier Fair Security/Safety/Disaster Preparation area but in the Information exhibition section too, looking to find as many overseas partners as possible.
Finally, there were Pi Photonics, a venture business from Hamamatsu, Shizuoka Prefecture which is now looking to set up a presence in Tokyo before the year is out, highlighting its LED lighting systems including for wave display-art use in Zushi, Kanagawa Prefecture and Mirai Labo of Hachioji, a venture business also looking to light up night-time construction work locations and such in addition to developing an innovative inverter for solar cell use.
The event’s international booth section Image credit: “Tex” Pomeroy
This is a guest post by Sabrina Sasaki, a marketing representative of Kyoto-based hardware startup accelerator Makers Boot Camp, together with volunteer Takako Teruyama. The accelerator holds the Monozukuri Hub Meetup event in Kyoto on a monthly basis. Additionally, all photos in this article were taken by professional photographer Kengo Osaka. Makers Boot Camp’s monthly event, “Monozukuri Hub Meet up” had its 7th edition on Wednesday, 16 October at MTRL Kyoto, entitled as “Design For Manufacturing for Startups”. Sabrina Sasaki, Marketing at Makers Boot Camp, got events rolling with a brief introduction on Design For Manufacturing (DFM). She broke down each stage of Manufacturing starting from concept to retail, the final stage startups want to reach, and also mentioned about how conventional ways of manufacturing, a.k.a “Over Wall Manufacturing”, where each expert at different stages are separated, are inefficient and time consuming because one needs to find the right person to move up to every stage, even if coming up with superb ideas for products. Literally there is a wall existing between each stage because there is no direct relationships among the experts. When it comes to startups, obviously they have limited financial and human resources so that these walls…
Sabrina Sasaki
This is a guest post by Sabrina Sasaki, a marketing representative of Kyoto-based hardware startup accelerator Makers Boot Camp, together with volunteer Takako Teruyama. The accelerator holds the Monozukuri Hub Meetup event in Kyoto on a monthly basis.
Additionally, all photos in this article were taken by professional photographer Kengo Osaka.
Makers Boot Camp’s monthly event, “Monozukuri Hub Meet up” had its 7th edition on Wednesday, 16 October at MTRL Kyoto, entitled as “Design For Manufacturing for Startups”.
Sabrina Sasaki, Marketing at Makers Boot Camp, got events rolling with a brief introduction on Design For Manufacturing (DFM). She broke down each stage of Manufacturing starting from concept to retail, the final stage startups want to reach, and also mentioned about how conventional ways of manufacturing, a.k.a “Over Wall Manufacturing”, where each expert at different stages are separated, are inefficient and time consuming because one needs to find the right person to move up to every stage, even if coming up with superb ideas for products.
Literally there is a wall existing between each stage because there is no direct relationships among the experts. When it comes to startups, obviously they have limited financial and human resources so that these walls stonewall their way. As startups always have to start from scratch, how are they going to jump over these walls, when they can keep only limited things in handy? Also, how to keep prototyping until getting some results, when they can not afford to? Well, in the bridge Paris-Kyoto, the French team of prototype experts, guest-speakers, can provide some insights for makers.
Natsuo Akazawa, PLEN projects
First speaker was Natsuo Akazawa, CEO at PLEN projects, where he has developed biped robot “PLEN”. “PLEN2” robot was crowdfunded through Kickstarter as a printable open source, meaning that anyone can build up robots on its own, anywhere in the world, as long as referring to their 3D open source data. In terms of their business model, the company can’t make money out of it because it’s an open source, however, people who used their data and assembled robots share their own robots through SNS, which spreads widely and effectively compared to advertisements.
It does not pay money back but the company lasts as a collaborative platform for humanoids. In the end, Akazawa also introduced their new joint venture “PLENGoer Robotics”, which was first offered by Chinese EMS company, Goertek and launched this year. They are now teamed up and working together to develop new robots that will be first shown next January. Born in a small town factory, now he is involved in this huge international project where the size of manufacturing is bigger than he has ever experienced before.
Second Speaker, Jean-Dominique Francois from La French Tech Tokyo, explained about the special agency launched by the French government. He works to bridge startups between France and Japan. Well, we all love France for its food, wine, fromage and arts but also as a source of very good IoT startups, like the case of the software ones giving Pepper a Latin movement.
With 20 years of International Business Development Experience in Europe and Asia (mostly Japan), Jean-Dominique acquired a comprehensive understanding of start-ups and their ecosystem. For the last years, as member of the French Economic Diplomacy, he is also helping French high-tech start-ups and SMBs to develop in the Japanese market.
Akihiko Tanaka, Director of the Academic Program at Dassault Systemes, spoke about their 3D Experience Lab Incubation startup related to CAD systems and System Management tools required for better Project Management, all in the cloud. Toyota, Honda and many others already use this platform that is also available for startups. Imagine the future using the virtual world, with amazing stories from clients.
Startups incubation project – gathering together startups from all over the world. There are 6 categories that startups can apply to join their City, Life, Lifestyle, IoT, Ideation and FabLabs. The criteria for being selected are being collaborative, disruptive innovation in products and services, and also make a positive impact on the society.
Benjamin Davoult, crossEffect
After a break, the Design for Manufacturing experts had the chance to introduce their company and their work, before joining the panel discussion.
The first one panelist was from crossEffect, Benjamin Davoult (Product Designer), who introduced himself as a French nerd. He came to Japan after finishing his Master Degree in Industrial Design, when he was hired by crossEffect. His work as a Product Designer also consists as a Silicone Mold Designer for Vacuum Casting and Prototypes/trial models creator.
He explained the process for rapid prototyping: receiving a 3D data from a client, upon a new project request, so they can check the design details and make sure it’s ready to build the physical part- that’s when they use a 3D printer, a huge laser machine called stereolithograph, where a laser soft with metal plates sink inside the liquid resin, and then the laser fits again and become a new layer of the part. This process is done during the night (it takes around 8-10h), so the team can start building the model on the next day. Sometimes the physical model is provided by the client, but either way, they still have to finish the master model. The next part is to frame, with the silicone inside, and then, after one day, the master model is ready for vacuum casting machine, where they fill in the model with resin. Then they open the machine to finalise the details, in the painting room, so the prototype will look very similar to the industrial mass-manufactured product: if you have both side by side, you can’t say which one is the prototype.
The company where he works also started a new branch focused on Industrial Design, so the main idea is to start from concept to 3D modelling, 3D printing and vacuum casting.
They can start any project just by concept (an idea), from hand drawing, from hardware with a PCB (a circuit board). Within one week, his team is able to come with many proposals, as speed is their main focus. They can also offer multiple services like, but of course the price can vary a lot, depending on the specialty.
He showed some recent IoT products by crossEffect for brands like Panasonic, Rohm, Sanyo and Omron.
Ben likes to make things, especially useful new inventions, spending most of his spare time creating devices and machines of all kinds, with his own 3D printer at home.
Emery Delmotte, Saijo Inx
Emery Delmotte, Sales Specialist at Saijo Inx, a Japanese company founded in 1950, was also born in France. He is now in charge of International sales at Saijo Inx, where he’s been supporting the company to expand its business overseas. Currently, their main customers are Japanese large corporations, as Kyocera, Omron, Murata, Fujitsu, Denso and NIDEC. Saijo Inx main business is to make prototypes from thin sheet metal working and plastic resins, press stamps, folding and cutting and die-sets making.
Their production speed is focused on small pieces for high precision 0.03mm margins, for prototypes with less than 2mm² and sheet metal thickness until 0.05 mm. The lead time is about 7 days: prototype corresponds to 46% of Sales, while Mass production is around 45% – the other small fractions are molding and thins. Over 400 projects are handled a month from medical products, motors, in-vehicle relays and connectors, industrial equipment, communication modules, electronic components, switches, batteries & fuel cells to heat fins.
Together with Kyoto Shisaku Net, Saijo Inx provides a complete support: from development, prototyping, mass production, fast realisation, smooth transition to mass production, early market introduction, implement incrementations.
The French Engineer introduced his company, showing a photo with not many workers in the factory ground, and they’re starting an automatization process to control machines with new customized software – Antoine is the Project Leader of the Smart Factory Project, in charge of the factory’s automation, using IoT and Industry 4.0 concepts and technology to bring the company to the new era of fast prototyping.
His team work is focused on automation and right now there is a new trend in the company with IoT devices and consumer products. He showed some cases of B2B solutions created internally by his development team, from idea to the next steps of development for customers, such as testing devices, bicycle safety lights, aroma diffusers, transporting robots, etc.
Hilltop can provide Prototype, Mechanical Design, Assembly and even mass production support for IoT.
The panel discussion spoke about maker’s issues and how Kyoto Shisaku members can support hardware startups as a group, part of Makers Boot Camp main activities.
Click here if you would like to check the presentation deck from all speakers, with detailed information about each one.
This is a guest post authored by “Tex” Pomeroy. He is a Tokyo-based writer specializing in ICT and high technology. Earlier this month, CEATEC 2016 was held in Chiba at the Makuhari Messe convention center. Many startups were gathered this year at the waterfront venue to the south of Narita International Airport, with Japanese firms joining forces with older companies while overseas startups entering Japan such as those from the U.S. and France gained support from their governments. One conspicuous corner was Kyoto-based startup Techmac which with electronics manufacturer Rohm (TSE:6963), also a Kyoto denizen, exhibited a joint application currently under development which is being called Pulse Launcher Unit (PLU). The enhanced IoT focus of the former Consumer Electronics/Telecom event from this year matched the exhibit items. The gun-shaped “launcher” is replete with sensors, obviously provided by Rohm, that enable users to participate in a “game” being developed, dubbed Z.O.N.E.(β). This game evaluates a person’s concentration ability as well as other traits. It may be used for example to check both physical and mental health status in the future for workers, students and other people whose performance needs to be monitored. Regarding sensors Rohm also has a subsidiary, Lapis Semiconductor…
This is a guest post authored by “Tex” Pomeroy. He is a Tokyo-based writer specializing in ICT and high technology.
Image credit: CEATEC JAPAN Organizing Committee
Earlier this month, CEATEC 2016 was held in Chiba at the Makuhari Messe convention center. Many startups were gathered this year at the waterfront venue to the south of Narita International Airport, with Japanese firms joining forces with older companies while overseas startups entering Japan such as those from the U.S. and France gained support from their governments.
Pulse Launcher Unit Image credit: Techmac, Rohm
One conspicuous corner was Kyoto-based startup Techmac which with electronics manufacturer Rohm (TSE:6963), also a Kyoto denizen, exhibited a joint application currently under development which is being called Pulse Launcher Unit (PLU). The enhanced IoT focus of the former Consumer Electronics/Telecom event from this year matched the exhibit items.
The gun-shaped “launcher” is replete with sensors, obviously provided by Rohm, that enable users to participate in a “game” being developed, dubbed Z.O.N.E.(β). This game evaluates a person’s concentration ability as well as other traits. It may be used for example to check both physical and mental health status in the future for workers, students and other people whose performance needs to be monitored.
Regarding sensors Rohm also has a subsidiary, Lapis Semiconductor (located in Shin-Yokohama), which is readying sensors that fathom environmental conditions of soil. It is thought that such sensors, which monitor non-soil mechanics properties like temperature and humidity, could be applied to fields ranging from agriculture to zoology.
Tokimeki Sensor Image credit: Rohm
Reverting to applications for human beings, in the past Techmac and Rohm had produced jointly also a game entitled Tokimeki Sensor, of course using a sensor as the name implies. In Japanese the word Tokimeki means “the throbbing heart brought on by infatuation”; actually what is sensed by the system that was exhibited at CEATEC last year is in fact heart palpitation.
Image credit: Kabuku
Another Japanese endeavor was that of Kabuku, a design startup, who joined forces with Honda (TSE:7267) the automobile maker to produce an automobile whose body is made with parts printed using a three-dimensional printer. The Kabuku system is called Rinkak, a mass customization solution for cars and other vehicles; Rinkak in Japanese means “profile.”
L to R: Tsubasa Koseki (Styler), Jumpei Notomi (Tohmatsu Venture Support) Image credit: Styler
The thrust of CEATEC being changed toward IoT was underscored as well by a day-long session of seminars centered on IoT and fashion, which brought together such startups in this industry like Styler – as represented by CEO Tsubasa Koseki – taking part in discussions emceed by Jumpei Notomi of Tomatsu Venture Support.
Lyon mayor Gerard Collomb speaks at CEATEC 2016 Image credit: Jerry Suppan, Visionworks Productions
French startups were highlighted by an event held in Tokyo in addition to the Chiba CEATEC site with the French government presence including a delegation from the startup capital Lyon. Headed by the Socialist mayor, Gerard Collomb, this city announced a tie-up with DMM.make in Akihabara.
As for the U.S., the American corner of CEATEC supported by the Embassy had Darktrace, a startup involved in cybersecurity, appealing its services. In Japan it has its own local subsidiary based in Shibuya at Cerulean Tower, while working together with a Japanese firm known as PSI.
This is a guest post authored by “Tex” Pomeroy. He is a Tokyo-based writer specializing in ICT and high technology. In early October, Digg CEO Gary Liu talked about the American firm’s newly-reborn services in Tokyo at Digital Garage’s headquarters. Emceed by DG Incubation Managing Director Takahiro Shoji whose company had recently invested in Digg, Liu made a quick stopover on his way back to the US from Southeast Asia for presentation of his views related to trends in Digg’s business sector. Shoji (who appeared sporting a Chartbeat T-shirt but more on this later) first outlined Digg’s background, as most of the audience was Japanese and unfamiliar with the old precursor news-curating site with the Digg moniker. In a nutshell the reincarnated Digg is today a messaging-driven media info supplier that threshes out content from cyberspace, selecting, indexing and ranking/clustering news that should as well as need to be read from 7.5 million articles or videos sourced daily. The Digg chief then laid out a convincing case of how media trends have shifted from Portal and Open Web to Mobile types, in reflecting the change of technology to the one centered on the smartphone. The jetsetting executive foresees the messaging…
This is a guest post authored by “Tex” Pomeroy. He is a Tokyo-based writer specializing in ICT and high technology.
Digg CEO Gary Liu (right) moderated by DG Incubation’s Takahiro Shoji (left)
In early October, Digg CEO Gary Liu talked about the American firm’s newly-reborn services in Tokyo at Digital Garage’s headquarters. Emceed by DG Incubation Managing Director Takahiro Shoji whose company had recently invested in Digg, Liu made a quick stopover on his way back to the US from Southeast Asia for presentation of his views related to trends in Digg’s business sector.
Shoji (who appeared sporting a Chartbeat T-shirt but more on this later) first outlined Digg’s background, as most of the audience was Japanese and unfamiliar with the old precursor news-curating site with the Digg moniker. In a nutshell the reincarnated Digg is today a messaging-driven media info supplier that threshes out content from cyberspace, selecting, indexing and ranking/clustering news that should as well as need to be read from 7.5 million articles or videos sourced daily.
Digg CEO Gary Liu
The Digg chief then laid out a convincing case of how media trends have shifted from Portal and Open Web to Mobile types, in reflecting the change of technology to the one centered on the smartphone. The jetsetting executive foresees the messaging apps taking center stage in business and social communications sectors henceforth as seen in the increasing popularity of list and write-around.
It was added by the American who took notice of the emcee wearing the name of the analysis tool handled by the Digital Garage group that his seven-person editorial team was harnessing the Chartbeat product to achieve much results. By leveraging such advances, Digg is gaining a proprietary and defensible operations model. This also was strengthened earlier in the year with the introduction of DiggBot messaging apps that avails a content search engine and a content push mechanism.
Digg now works with Amazon’s Alexa-enabled Echo devices
Digg thus hopes to transition from a publishing site to a global data-tech powerhouse while the Digital Garage group can expect to derive benefits beyond simple return on investments.
This is a guest post by Sabrina Sasaki, a marketing representative of Kyoto-based hardware startup accelerator Makers Boot Camp. The accelerator holds the Monozukuri Hub Meetup event in Kyoto on a monthly basis. Additionally, all photos in this article were taken by Kyoto-based systems biologist Tugi Guenes. On Tuesday, Makers Boot Camp joined a special Monozukuri Conference organized by Osaka City and held at Osaka Innovation Hub, getting together key players in the hardware ecosystem to introduce new trends for the next generation of entrepreneurs. The main lecture was given by Osamu Ogasawara, CEO of Tokyo-based hardware incubator ABBALab CEO Osamu Ogasahara. HWTrek team members Roger Wu, VP of Supply Chain, and Alan Jung, Business Development for Japan, brought their international expertise from manufacturing in China and Taiwan, and our CEO Narimasa Makino presented Makers Boot Camp partnership with Kyoto Shisaku Net, a group of over 100 local manufacturers that combined their business strengths to face daily industrial challenges, focused on their prototype expertise (Design for Manufacturing). The purpose of the panel discussion was to talk about new ways that collaboration in hardware can lead to a win-win business environment SMEs can benefit from. The main topic was introduced by Ogasahara,…
This is a guest post by Sabrina Sasaki, a marketing representative of Kyoto-based hardware startup accelerator Makers Boot Camp. The accelerator holds the Monozukuri Hub Meetup event in Kyoto on a monthly basis.
Additionally, all photos in this article were taken by Kyoto-based systems biologist Tugi Guenes.
L to R: Moderator Gen Tagaya (Business Innovation Center Osaka), Osamu Ogasahara (ABBALab), Narimasa Makino (Makers Boot Camp), Roger Wu (HWTrek), Alan Jung (HWTrek)
On Tuesday, Makers Boot Camp joined a special Monozukuri Conference organized by Osaka City and held at Osaka Innovation Hub, getting together key players in the hardware ecosystem to introduce new trends for the next generation of entrepreneurs.
The main lecture was given by Osamu Ogasawara, CEO of Tokyo-based hardware incubator ABBALab CEO Osamu Ogasahara. HWTrek team members Roger Wu, VP of Supply Chain, and Alan Jung, Business Development for Japan, brought their international expertise from manufacturing in China and Taiwan, and our CEO Narimasa Makino presented Makers Boot Camp partnership with Kyoto Shisaku Net, a group of over 100 local manufacturers that combined their business strengths to face daily industrial challenges, focused on their prototype expertise (Design for Manufacturing).
L to R: Moderator Gen Tagaya (Business Innovation Center Osaka), Osamu Ogasahara (ABBALab), Narimasa Makino (Makers Boot Camp), Roger Wu (HWTrek), Alan Jung (HWTrek)
The purpose of the panel discussion was to talk about new ways that collaboration in hardware can lead to a win-win business environment SMEs can benefit from. The main topic was introduced by Ogasahara, part of his own experience as a serial entrepreneur, leading recent IoT trends in Japan, not only for ABBALab and the DMM.make ecosystem but also for Sakura Internet.
Ogasahara spoke about the challenges to start changing the common sense to a new market, focused on small and medium-size manufacturing industries and its specific needs. Just as the internet has revolutionized the information industry, manufacturing is following the digital age, and there are many opportunities available in the current industrial structure for SMEs to develop and adapt more quickly to the market’s new demands.
In addition to this movement, automation evolution and factories using 3D printers, such as the China movement of manufacturing-based entrepreneurs with a focus on gathering in Shenzhen, is massive and growing more and more, starting a new way of manufacturing: smaller lots, targeting customized products for connected devices.
HWTrek
The concept of connected devices and IoT (Internet of Things) leads to a range of new opportunities to solve most of our current problems: large corporations can’t handle them, as its structures are solid and change demands more time than our resources can wait. The solution then remains on small and medium enterprises, who must play an innovative role and be open to try new things out, as startups have been doing actively and constantly.
Alan Jung, Business Development for Japan, HWTrek
Roger encouraged entrepreneurs to invest time and energy talking to the new creators in order to try to find alternative applications for their own products and technologies: new projects are coming out, from many hubs in the world, as HWTrek platform has proven, and partnerships between creators and experts can lead to new approaches and different solutions.
The audience, composed by around a hundred SMEs, was interested to share insights about how to change the common sense and consider the new IoT market: a new business model for the manufacturing industry. During the networking session, innovative cases of new business in IoT were presented by HWTrek, to introduce creators that will come to Japan in November to network with local enterprises.
Roger Wu, VP of Supply Chain, HWTrek
Makers Boot Camp is co-organizing the next Asia Innovation Tour 2016 with HWTrek. The tour will start in Shenzhen on November 2nd and arrive in Japan on November 7th, with the following two events open to the public.
Osaka Innovation Hub: HWTrek Meetup – November 8th (Tuesday)
If you’re interested to know more about Design for Manufacturing, join our next meetup on October 12th at MTRL Kyoto, where we’ll make a direct bridge Paris-Kyoto, bringing Japanese and French makers and talk about ways to get ready for manufacturing.
See the original story in Japanese. IDEASShow, one of the largest startup conferences in Taiwan, was held in the island’s biggest city of Taipei in July. Around the same time, the Mayor of Fukuoka City, Japan – Soichiro Takashima – visited Taipei, and various events to promote invitational activities for Taiwanese startups available from Fukuoka City were held. See also: All the Signs Say Welcome (Highlighting Japan) Startup Visa: Entrepreneurial Incentives for Foreigners in Fukuoka (Fukuoka Now) Fukuoka City National Strategic Special Zone for Global Startups & Job Creation (Fukuoka City) On July 21st, an event called Fukuoka Night was held at Taiwan Startup Hub (TSH) which was established by the Taiwanese Executive Yuan. At this event, Mayor Takashima went onstage and presented the support plans offered by Fukuoka City, such as startup visa issuance or renting of office plus salary support scheme for foreign startups, which all became available under Japan’s national strategic economic zone operation. Also he exhorted the audience to take part in a matching event for Japanese investment funds and startups known as Fukuoka Startup Selection, which is scheduled for November 10th. From the day after Fukuoka Startup Selection, another startup festival called Myojo Waraku will…
IDEASShow, one of the largest startup conferences in Taiwan, was held in the island’s biggest city of Taipei in July. Around the same time, the Mayor of Fukuoka City, Japan – Soichiro Takashima – visited Taipei, and various events to promote invitational activities for Taiwanese startups available from Fukuoka City were held.
On July 21st, an event called Fukuoka Night was held at Taiwan Startup Hub (TSH) which was established by the Taiwanese Executive Yuan. At this event, Mayor Takashima went onstage and presented the support plans offered by Fukuoka City, such as startup visa issuance or renting of office plus salary support scheme for foreign startups, which all became available under Japan’s national strategic economic zone operation. Also he exhorted the audience to take part in a matching event for Japanese investment funds and startups known as Fukuoka Startup Selection, which is scheduled for November 10th. From the day after Fukuoka Startup Selection, another startup festival called Myojo Waraku will be held.
In addition, Mayor Takashima announced that a startup support base in Fukuoka Startup Café and Taiwan Startup Hub will cooperate and start mutually supporting both the Japanese startups expanding into Taiwan and the Taiwanese startups expanding into Japan. The startups under support by either of the organizations will be allowed to use office spaces in Fukuoka and Taipei.
At a pitch competition held during Fukuoka Night, five Taiwanese startups made pitches. The competition winner was SkyRec, providing in-store analytics and solution for retailers, after winning this year’s Slush Asia. Two members from the team are invited to Fukuoka City, to be supported for full-scale business development. The other four teams, namely a provider of golf course information support Golface; a game developer utilizing augmented reality (AR) and location-based service (LBS) Toii; an installment payment service for C2C (consumer-to-consumer) trading Installments; and a developer of an app showing shortest routes in subway stations Thinktank, will be invited to Fukuoka Startup Selection, as transportation and accommodation costs will be covered by Fukuoka Directive Council.
Four teams failed to win the competition but will be invited to the Fukuoka Startup Selection
On July 22nd, Mayor Takashima made a courtesy call on Mayor Ko Wen-je of Taipei City, who is known for utilizing social media during the election campaign. They confirmed the establishment of mutual contact points for startup support. The cooperation between Fukuoka City and the Taiwanese startup ecosystem dependent on grassroots activities is seen developing into a cross-border support system at local administration levels.
From the left: Mayor of Fukuoka City Soichiro Takashima, interpreter and Mayor of Taipei City Ko Wen-jeLeading members of Fukuoka startups also made a courtesy call on the Mayor
Translated by Taijiro Takeda Edited by “Tex” Pomeroy
This is a guest post authored by “Tex” Pomeroy. He is a Tokyo-based writer specializing in ICT and high technology. Focusing on financial sector development, the Asia Development Bank Institute (ADBI) in Tokyo hosted a seminar to encourage debate among policymakers, researchers, academics, think-tanks and other audiences interested in economic development challenges in Asia and the Pacific. This research institute is affiliated with the Asia Development Bank, based in Manila. ADBI this time brought the BitCoin startup Quoine‘s Mike Kayamori (MBA, Harvard) into the series. As per past articles, Quoine is looking to become an “exchange of exchanges” in this arena. It was started up in Singapore but due to legal changes there was reorganized so that the former Japan subsidiary is now the main operational entity, with a Japanese CEO who is also co-founder running things out of Tokyo now. Kayamori is Quoine’s co-founder and CEO, following on from a career spanning 20 years where he held senior roles at Mitsubishi Corporation, Globespan Capital Partners and Softbank Group. He brings extensive experience in business and management both in Japan as well as abroad, in addition to having been closely linked to investment activities covering technology and telecommunications fields. At…
This is a guest post authored by “Tex” Pomeroy. He is a Tokyo-based writer specializing in ICT and high technology.
Image credit: ADBI
Focusing on financial sector development, the Asia Development Bank Institute (ADBI) in Tokyo hosted a seminar to encourage debate among policymakers, researchers, academics, think-tanks and other audiences interested in economic development challenges in Asia and the Pacific. This research institute is affiliated with the Asia Development Bank, based in Manila.
ADBI this time brought the BitCoin startup Quoine‘s Mike Kayamori (MBA, Harvard) into the series. As per past articles, Quoine is looking to become an “exchange of exchanges” in this arena. It was started up in Singapore but due to legal changes there was reorganized so that the former Japan subsidiary is now the main operational entity, with a Japanese CEO who is also co-founder running things out of Tokyo now.
Kayamori is Quoine’s co-founder and CEO, following on from a career spanning 20 years where he held senior roles at Mitsubishi Corporation, Globespan Capital Partners and Softbank Group. He brings extensive experience in business and management both in Japan as well as abroad, in addition to having been closely linked to investment activities covering technology and telecommunications fields.
At the seminar, general explanations of blockchain and crypto-currency and why these are seen as being the future of finance were offered. There were also elaborations as to opportunities and risks entailed, in addition to a look at the competitive landscape. Particular emphasis was made on how regulators look at crypto-currencies today.
It is understood that Quoine is rapidly expanding its presence in Japan and will be extensively publicizing itself in the market here — including a planned October appearance at a specialist-oriented seminar in Kabutocho area, Tokyo’s financial center and seat of the Tokyo Stock Exchange, among others.
This is a guest post authored by “Tex” Pomeroy. He is a Tokyo-based writer specializing in ICT and high technology. Startup Grind Tokyo, currently the only Google for Entrepreneurs community in Japan of the startup-focused group, held a meeting on 19 April at its new venue in Roppongi for the first time. Sponsor Pivotal provided the space for the group on the 20th floor of Roppongi Hills Mori Tower. It will also be the main site for subsequent meetups, with guests from Japan for the May and June events already lined up. The Tokyo City Chapter Director is Tamami Ushiki, with Satoru Kobayashi acting as Event Host. Japan-based Indian entrepreneur Shyam Pyarauk is the General Coordinator. As is usually the case, the April Startup Grind meeting in Tokyo featured a “fireside chat” with an interviewee, a prominent startup player, being asked to talk about their experience upon launching their business(es). The guest this time was Hallohallohome Founder Hiromasa Suzuki, a Japanese entrepreneur who found success in business in the Republic of Philippines (RP). He has recently written a book urging the Japanese to take a closer look at the market in RP and other “Emerging Markets” in addition to promoting land purchases in ASEAN centered upon the Filipino real estate….
This is a guest post authored by “Tex” Pomeroy. He is a Tokyo-based writer specializing in ICT and high technology.
Startup Grind Tokyo, currently the only Google for Entrepreneurs community in Japan of the startup-focused group, held a meeting on 19 April at its new venue in Roppongi for the first time. Sponsor Pivotal provided the space for the group on the 20th floor of Roppongi Hills Mori Tower. It will also be the main site for subsequent meetups, with guests from Japan for the May and June events already lined up. The Tokyo City Chapter Director is Tamami Ushiki, with Satoru Kobayashi acting as Event Host. Japan-based Indian entrepreneur Shyam Pyarauk is the General Coordinator.
As is usually the case, the April Startup Grind meeting in Tokyo featured a “fireside chat” with an interviewee, a prominent startup player, being asked to talk about their experience upon launching their business(es). The guest this time was Hallohallohome Founder Hiromasa Suzuki, a Japanese entrepreneur who found success in business in the Republic of Philippines (RP). He has recently written a book urging the Japanese to take a closer look at the market in RP and other “Emerging Markets” in addition to promoting land purchases in ASEAN centered upon the Filipino real estate.
In recounting his road to entrepreneurship, Suzuki said that he was working in apparel sales in RP when his Japanese employer decided the company should quit the market.
I first became an entrepreneur by default, when I asked my boss then not to fold the RP operation and was told ‘OK then, you run it!’… in the beginning things went quite well.
Then the mainstay business worsened and he faced major difficulties, including a huge debt. He notes that fortunately, “I had products in stock that could be monetized, so I continued on.”
By dint of hard work, he was able to regain success, by “playing smart and keeping an eye on the market conditions.” The Japanese entrepreneur in RP especially kept tabs on the financial field since RP was a country where “global currency abound due to Filipinos sending money back home from their workplaces abroad” not to mention the IT sector which he found to be the “game changer” both in RP and Japan. Regarding the Internet, he added that he learned a lot from his association with models, who used their blogs effectively upon marketing.
In retrospect, he asserts “I am lucky to be supported by very many people.” Today, he handles the marketing for Hallo Hallo Alliance which is a network of businesses centered upon his companies, involved in diversified fields such as housing, human resources and travel. The Aichi-born Suzuki concluded,
I am now spending much time in Tokyo but I found my way here via Manila. RP reminds me of Japan of yore, back when it was full of vim and vigor. Hopefully this energy will transfer here in part, as my colleagues and I shuttle back and forth.
After the meetup, Startup Grind Tokyo’s General Coordinator Pyarauk stated that hopefully the group can become even more international as time goes on.
If there are potential sponsors out there, hope they can contact us. Perhaps English-language speakers can also be lined up in the future. And of course there are other cities in Japan so the Tokyo City Chapter need not be alone in this country.
The content of this article first appeared on CNET Japan. It has been translated and reproduced by The Bridge with the approval of CNET Japan and the author of this article. (Text by Yuki Yamadai, Photography by Takao Tsushima) The Third CNET Japan Startup Awards ceremony was held on December 10th. The CNET Japan Startup Awards are given to startups that were noticed in 2015 and chosen. Selection was done by CNET Japan as well as The Bridge’s editorials with five startups receiving awards. In addition to the award ceremony, a variety of lectures as well as discussion panels were held with guest speakers. In this article I will be reporting on a discussion that was held on the topic of “How Japanese Media and Foreign Media View Startups in Japan.” The discussion featured four reporters from Japan and abroad and was moderated by The Bridge’s Masaru Ikeda. See also: Articles on past CNET Japan Startup Awards events A discussion between four reporters from Japan and abroad First, an introduction of the four panels members. Serkan Toto worked as a Tokyo-based writer for the world’s biggest tech blog, TechCrunch, from 2008 to 2012. Currently he is the CEO of a…
The content of this article first appeared on CNET Japan. It has been translated and reproduced by The Bridge with the approval of CNET Japan and the author of this article. (Text by Yuki Yamadai, Photography by Takao Tsushima)
In addition to the award ceremony, a variety of lectures as well as discussion panels were held with guest speakers. In this article I will be reporting on a discussion that was held on the topic of “How Japanese Media and Foreign Media View Startups in Japan.” The discussion featured four reporters from Japan and abroad and was moderated by The Bridge’s Masaru Ikeda.
A discussion between four reporters from Japan and abroad
First, an introduction of the four panels members. Serkan Toto worked as a Tokyo-based writer for the world’s biggest tech blog, TechCrunch, from 2008 to 2012. Currently he is the CEO of a Tokyo-based consulting company for the video game industry, called Kantan Games. Richard Solomon is the editor of his self-published Beacon Reports and Nikkei Asian Review, as well as a contributing writer of articles on Japanese startups for the Japan Times.
Serkan Toto, Freelance Journalist / Kantan Games CEO
Tim Romero is an entrepreneur who came to Japan twenty years ago, having since established four companies. He is also the host of a podcast program called Disrupting Japan. From CNET Japan, Ryo Fujii, an editor/writer covering Japanese web services and mobile carriers, also participated in the discussion.
What is the most interesting startup in Japan?
The discussion proceeded while referring to the results of a questionnaire that was completed by both Japanese and international writers and media partners.
The first topic of the questionnaire was “What is the most intersting startup in Japan?” Results from the questionnaire included Whill, a startup developing stylish electric wheelchairs, Eureka, a social matching service, Preferred Networks, promoters of the use of real-time machine learning technology in business, Wantedly, a business social network specializing in searching for interns, and others. There was also a percentage of responses from people who said “nothing particular comes to mind.”
Surely there are some startups among the questionnaire results that the discussion panel members recognize. Picking out Preferred Networks, Toto remarked that as for their field, the video game market,
Japan has reached maturity, but in the past year no significant startups have come out.
Richard Solomon, Beacon Reports
Solomon, who wrote about Whill three years ago, cited another recognized startup, C Channel, the video sharing social network founded by messaging app Line’s ex-CEO Akira Morikawa. He explained that he sees Japan’s startup scene as being in a transitional phase, until now remaining in a outdated post industrial revolution state, but is now right on the verge of moving to the next level.
On the other hand, Romero, citing crowdsourcing platform CrowdWorks and curated news app Smartnews as examples, sees Japan as having a lot of interesting startups. He explained that one main difference between the startup scene in the US compared to Japan, is that in Japan startups are often founded by entrepreneurs who have left positions at major Japanese companies and thus have a wealth of experience to draw on, making it easier for such startups to succeed.
CNET Japan’s Fujii made note of services that have moved into IoT territory, not limiting themselves only to the web. Especially in 2015, similarly to how mobile healthcare startup FiNC received funding from, for example, ANA (All Nippon Airways), looking back Fujii noted that this has been a year of progress in collaboration between startups and major corporations. He also added that cases where startups have been founded internally in large corporations are also increasing.
On what criteria do journalists choose startups?
The next topic for discussion was, “On what criteria do you choose startups to write articles about?” Questionnaire responses centered around criteria such as “originality” and “the entrepreneur’s vision”.
Serving as discussion moderator, The Bridge’s Masaru Ikeda
Discussion moderator Ikeda, a writer and journalist himself, pointed out that “there are startups that can’t very well differentiate PR from media.” Ex-writer for TechCrunch Toto agreed,
That’s true, there are people who misunderstand that difference. What writers and journalists are thinking about is the reader, what the reader is interested in. Why not try approaching media from the same point of view?
As a podcaster himself, Romero’s idea of journalism is a little bit different from journalism as information disseminated in text.
Podcasts are a type of media where you can directly hear the person’s voice, so I want to share that human aspect.
Japanese people, however, generally prefer not to display that “human aspect”, so therein lies somewhat of a challenge, Romero explained.
When searching for startups to write about, Fujii says he looks for “societal potential” and “ability to help large numbers of people overcome challenges”. If, say, some kind of progressive technology is created but we can’t see any concrete application for it in society, we won’t write about the technology on its own, Fujii explained. He also shared that at CNET Japan, they aren’t particularly picky about the scale of the companies they write about, rather, if it is determined that there is information that has some value to the world, they believe it should be shared equally whether it comes from major corporations or startups.
Ryo Fujii, CNET Japan writer/editor
A message to startups in Japan
The discussion’s final theme was, “What message would you like to send to startups in Japan?” One opinion that was frequently present in the questionnaire results was “Please issue press releases in English.” To this, all members of the discussion panel agreed.
Toto brought up what Japanese companies often consider “globalization”.
Hiring one foreigner and putting that person in charge of all international business… that’s not global.
Toto flatly stated.
Hire someone to do the work of globalization and you’ve created a total divide. Instead, companies should make their whole team global.
Moving on to Romero, he said with a wry smile,
I’ve lived in Japan for twenty years and my Japanese isn’t perfect, so I can’t blame anybody for not being able to speak English.
He asserted, however, that for companies that want to globalize, not only language but knowledge of the international market is what is really needed. Companies need to think more about what kind of value they can offer to the international community.
Tim Romero, Disrupting Japan
Closing out the discussion, CNET Japan’s Ryo Fujii, citing LINE’s success internationally as a precedent, expressed his opinion regarding globalization.
There have been a lot of companies that tried to expand into the US and failed, but why not first try moving into the Asian market, where at least the culture is somewhat similar?
The Bridge
Masaru Ikeda
