THE BRIDGE

tag drone

Cities of Japan’s Fukuoka, France’s Bordeaux shake hands to support drone startups

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See the original story in Japanese. The cities of Fukuoka and Bordeaux (France) recently agreed to encourage startup activities in the drone field, including interaction of startups or business mapping as a part of a three-year cooperation plan which starts from 2017. In Bordeaux, flourishing startups activities in the drone field can be seen, such as the largest drone event in Europe called UAV SHOW which is held in every October. In addition, a Bordeaux City’s extra-departmental organization Bordeaux Technowest manages four large-scale areas especially for drones’ test-flying, providing an ideal environment to promote growth of drone startups. Due to the conclusion of the cooperative relationship, Fukuoka-based TrueBizon, providing consulting service utilizing drone, will be invited to UAV SHOW 2016 being held from October 12th to 13th. Truebizon had been chosen to a Fukuoka startup support program for overseas development named Global Challenge! STARTUP TEAM FUKUOKA also, and will take part in a startup tour including a visit to San Francisco from later this October to November. Prior to this cooperation, Kyusyu Drone Consortium was established within Fukuoka Directive Council (commonly known as Fukuoka D.C.), which is an industry / academia / public-sector / government / private-sector platform located near…

fukuoka-bordeaux-mayors-signing
Bordeaux city mayor Alain Marie Juppé and Fukuoka counterpart Soichiro Takashima signing the agreement

See the original story in Japanese.

The cities of Fukuoka and Bordeaux (France) recently agreed to encourage startup activities in the drone field, including interaction of startups or business mapping as a part of a three-year cooperation plan which starts from 2017.

In Bordeaux, flourishing startups activities in the drone field can be seen, such as the largest drone event in Europe called UAV SHOW which is held in every October. In addition, a Bordeaux City’s extra-departmental organization Bordeaux Technowest manages four large-scale areas especially for drones’ test-flying, providing an ideal environment to promote growth of drone startups.

Due to the conclusion of the cooperative relationship, Fukuoka-based TrueBizon, providing consulting service utilizing drone, will be invited to UAV SHOW 2016 being held from October 12th to 13th. Truebizon had been chosen to a Fukuoka startup support program for overseas development named Global Challenge! STARTUP TEAM FUKUOKA also, and will take part in a startup tour including a visit to San Francisco from later this October to November.

Prior to this cooperation, Kyusyu Drone Consortium was established within Fukuoka Directive Council (commonly known as Fukuoka D.C.), which is an industry / academia / public-sector / government / private-sector platform located near the Fukuoka urban area. In the consortium wherein TrueBizon participates along with QTNet, NEXCO-West, FAS Eco Energy, Aso and DJI Japan, various efforts to drive drone utilization or business creation are seen being carried out, such as drone operator development including training of controlling out-of-sight drones, demonstration of drone IoT (Internet of Things) network including utilization of experimental radio base stations, and establishment of a cooperation system during disaster conditions.

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Translated by Taijiro Takeda
Edited by “Tex” Pomeroy

Drones promise future excitements in Japan

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This is a guest post authored by “Tex” Pomeroy. He is a Tokyo-based writer specializing in ICT and high technology. The Consortium of Co-creation for Drone Society, based inside Keio University’s research institute at SFC, was established December 25th last year but on Thursday announced its plans for the future to the press. These include educating specialists and non-specialists alike as regards drones, to shore up the human resources situation, in particular for Japan. The Consortium was organized in the wake of legal restrictions being mulled by Japan in relation to drones. Its research team comprises Keio academics such as Internet/IoT guru Jun Murai and security issues analyst Ken Jimbo, as well as some leading-edge businesspeople, among two dozen other experts involved. Additionally, it will conduct research involving the use of drones in society while promoting drone business overall. Initially, the group aims to push drone racing activities specifically, at the press conference unveiling the holding of Aerial Grand Prix Japan. The February 14th event at Keio SFC is a “World Drone Prix in Dubai” qualifier. The drone business is seen expanding henceforth into fields like autonomous driving, 3D printing and logistics, arenas where startups can shine in. The new…

This is a guest post authored by “Tex” Pomeroy. He is a Tokyo-based writer specializing in ICT and high technology.


drone-consortium-1

The Consortium of Co-creation for Drone Society, based inside Keio University’s research institute at SFC, was established December 25th last year but on Thursday announced its plans for the future to the press. These include educating specialists and non-specialists alike as regards drones, to shore up the human resources situation, in particular for Japan.

The Consortium was organized in the wake of legal restrictions being mulled by Japan in relation to drones. Its research team comprises Keio academics such as Internet/IoT guru Jun Murai and security issues analyst Ken Jimbo, as well as some leading-edge businesspeople, among two dozen other experts involved.

drone-consortium-3

Additionally, it will conduct research involving the use of drones in society while promoting drone business overall. Initially, the group aims to push drone racing activities specifically, at the press conference unveiling the holding of Aerial Grand Prix Japan. The February 14th event at Keio SFC is a “World Drone Prix in Dubai” qualifier.

The drone business is seen expanding henceforth into fields like autonomous driving, 3D printing and logistics, arenas where startups can shine in. The new organization, which will hold a series of meetings in March, will be worthy of participation for those eyeing new opportunities even though the sky may not quite be the limit.

drone-consortium-2

Drone helicopter sushi: London restaurant capitalizes on Japan’s futuristic reputation

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We’ve previously written about how Japan has used technology to improve operations in sushi restaurants, for example, using iPads to take orders, or using IC tags on plates for quick calculation of bills. All this has made the process far more efficient. But one sushi restaurant in London might have jumped the shark when it comes to sushi tech, using a remote-control drone copter as a sort of flying tray to deliver orders to customers at their tables. It’s called the iTray (no points for originality there) and London’s Yo’ Sushi has been using it on a trial basis with plans to expand use to other locations if all goes well. The effort is part of the company’s promotion for a special Japan-inspired burger, which uses toasted rice instead of a bun [1]. According to The Daily Mail chef Mike Lewis thinks that alluding to Japan in this way will resonate with customers, noting “with the YO! Burger and iTray we know guests will feel like they’ve had a taste of the future.” This is an interesting notion, creating a faux-future that customers may think resembles Japan. Of course in actual fact, there is no such sushi helicopter in Japan…

daily-mail
Photo: Daily Mail

We’ve previously written about how Japan has used technology to improve operations in sushi restaurants, for example, using iPads to take orders, or using IC tags on plates for quick calculation of bills. All this has made the process far more efficient. But one sushi restaurant in London might have jumped the shark when it comes to sushi tech, using a remote-control drone copter as a sort of flying tray to deliver orders to customers at their tables.

It’s called the iTray (no points for originality there) and London’s Yo’ Sushi has been using it on a trial basis with plans to expand use to other locations if all goes well. The effort is part of the company’s promotion for a special Japan-inspired burger, which uses toasted rice instead of a bun [1].

According to The Daily Mail chef Mike Lewis thinks that alluding to Japan in this way will resonate with customers, noting “with the YO! Burger and iTray we know guests will feel like they’ve had a taste of the future.”

This is an interesting notion, creating a faux-future that customers may think resembles Japan. Of course in actual fact, there is no such sushi helicopter in Japan — not that I know of anyway. But Japanese companies can learn a lesson here: Even though the country has lots of economic problems recently, many people in the west still equate the Japan with a magical high tech future.

Brand Japan still has tons of global marketing potential, and that’s something many companies can take advantage of in this way.


  1. I’ve never seen such a hamburger bun here in Tokyo. Maybe it’s an Osaka thing or something.  ↩