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How Japan’s most international Startup Summer School was created

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This is a guest post by Sushi Suzuki, Founder and Lead Organizer of Kyoto Startup Summer School. Sushi is a specially appointed associate professor at the Kyoto Institute of Technology and KYOTO Design Lab where he teaches Design Thinking, innovation, and entrepreneurship. He is responsible for ME310/SUGAR, a nine-month innovation program that originated in Stanford University and expanded globally. Previously, Sushi co-founded Paris Est d.school while teaching design innovation at École des Ponts ParisTech and was the Executive Director of the ME310 program at Stanford University. he also set up an innovation team for Panasonic Europe, was one of the co-founding members of i-kimono.com, a Japanese start-up company that handles antique kimono and accessories online. Sushi was born in Kyoto, Japan but spent over fifteen years in the US and over five in Europe and has traveled to over sixty countries. He holds a M.S. in Mechanical Engineering from Stanford University and a B.S. in Mechanical Engineering and B.A. in Studio Arts from Rice University. Kyoto Startup Summer School is a two-week entrepreneurship program hosted by the KYOTO Design Lab (D-Lab) at the Kyoto Institute of Technology. The program, conducted entirely in English, brings together over sixty participants, workshop facilitators,…

sushi-suzuki
Sushi Suzuki

This is a guest post by Sushi Suzuki, Founder and Lead Organizer of Kyoto Startup Summer School.

Sushi is a specially appointed associate professor at the Kyoto Institute of Technology and KYOTO Design Lab where he teaches Design Thinking, innovation, and entrepreneurship. He is responsible for ME310/SUGAR, a nine-month innovation program that originated in Stanford University and expanded globally.

Previously, Sushi co-founded Paris Est d.school while teaching design innovation at École des Ponts ParisTech and was the Executive Director of the ME310 program at Stanford University. he also set up an innovation team for Panasonic Europe, was one of the co-founding members of i-kimono.com, a Japanese start-up company that handles antique kimono and accessories online.

Sushi was born in Kyoto, Japan but spent over fifteen years in the US and over five in Europe and has traveled to over sixty countries. He holds a M.S. in Mechanical Engineering from Stanford University and a B.S. in Mechanical Engineering and B.A. in Studio Arts from Rice University.


Kyoto Startup Summer School is a two-week entrepreneurship program hosted by the KYOTO Design Lab (D-Lab) at the Kyoto Institute of Technology. The program, conducted entirely in English, brings together over sixty participants, workshop facilitators, and lecturers from around the world.

Why a Startup Summer School?

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A scene from Kyoto Startup Summer School
Image credit: Sushi Suzuki

Back in 2014, I was moonlighting with a German startup company called Yocondo that was working on creating a semantic product search engine to be used as a personal shopping assistant. The team was four brilliant engineers and me, a concept developer with mechanical engineering and Design Thinking backgrounds. Bootstrapping, we worked hard to develop proprietary technology and a product that would be useful to people. While the product was rapidly improving, we didn’t quite reach the explosive uptick in usage or meetings with investors for funding. After the unemployment pay for some of the team members ran out, the team disbanded. Another funny-named company in the startup graveyard.

Through this experience, I got to attend both Web Summit in Dublin and Slush in Helsinki, both world class startup events. Trying to network with investors and get attention from the media, we quickly realized that there was so much we didn’t know about the startup world. Engineers and designers have this mistaken belief that “if you build something good, users will come.” While we did read books and articles on startups, it didn’t quite sink in with us. I realized that being good at making things doesn’t necessarily make you a good entrepreneur.

Entrepreneurship and startups are buzzing around the world now, and more and more young people want to start companies. However, there is so much more one needs to learn than what is available in most universities. Going to engineering, design, business school will only give you a piece of the whole puzzle. This is why Kyoto Startup Summer School (KS3) was created, to give a comprehensive overview of entrepreneurship.

How is Kyoto Startup Summer School structured?

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Participants discussing during the workshop
Image credit: Sushi Suzuki

There are a lot of entrepreneurship programs and courses out there modeled after the Lean Launchpad model. Participants get together on day 1 with their ideas and form teams. After successive user interviews, mentoring sessions, and pitches over several weeks to months, the teams ultimately deliver a startup idea with a strong product-market fit. KS3 purposefully avoids this model and focuses more on a variety of content that entrepreneurs should know before founding. These are organized in modules of different lengths, taught by active entrepreneurs, professionals, and academics in the field.

At the core of KS3 are two multi-day workshops of Design Thinking and Lean Startup. The Design Thinking module focuses on the mindset of innovation, of being collaborative, user-centered, and experimental through rapid prototyping. For the last two years, we’ve been fortunate to have Anja Nabergoj, lecturer at the Stanford d.school teach this workshop. The Lean Startup module is about developing your idea to make sure you achieve good product-market fit through micro-experiments. Too many entrepreneurs keep making the wrong product with a misguided notion of what the customer wants, and both Design Thinking and Lean Startup help prevent this.

After the two big workshops, there are many smaller lecture and workshop modules. These modules could include sessions on investors-entrepreneur relations by the head of 500 Startups Japan, crowdfunding by the head of design and technology at Kickstarter, or “how to work with accelerators” by the managing director of Plug and Play Center Japan. One popular session from 2018 was focusing on corporate culture at startups by a researcher who did his Ph.D. on this topic. I teach a session on startup pitches utilizing my experience as the pitch coach for Slush Tokyo.

Meetup session with local entrepreneurs
Image credit: Sushi Suzuki

The smaller workshops focus on introductions to more skill-based topics such as mechatronics prototyping with Arduino, introduction to software development or CAD, and storytelling for marketing. The goal of these modules isn’t to make the participants into experts in any single field but to provide foundational knowledge into many different fields that is important for creating startups. By getting a strong introduction, the participants will know what they have to learn in order to be successful when they take that leap into entrepreneurship.

In addition, throughout the two weeks, there are more fun events such as meetups with local entrepreneurs, visits to startups in the region, and morning yoga and meditation sessions. KS3 finishes with 54 hours of Startup Weekend where participants can flex their muscles and apply everything they’ve learnt. This session is co-organized with the SW Kyoto community and brings in local members as well.

Who comes to Kyoto Startup Summer School?

KS3 started in 2016 as a two-day beta test with four lecturers and a dozen participants. Most of the participants were local as we only advertised the program a month in advance. In 2017, we expanded the program to two weeks and spread the word to all corners of the world. I remember thinking: “will people really come to Japan for a two-week program on entrepreneurship?” Sure enough, we had 199 applicants from 51 countries that year from which we selected 35 people, and people really did come from around the world. 2018 was just as popular. Some participants came from Brazil, Chile, and Egypt, places very far from Japan. We even had a candidate from Iraq but he was not able to get a visa.

On the other hand, we don’t get nearly as many applications from Japanese students. Originally, we thought the applicant pool may be 40-50% Japanese, but in the last two years, it’s been about 3-5%. We knew the language barrier will scare off a lot of people, but we’re starting to realize that there isn’t much of a summer school culture in Japan. Getting more Japanese participants is definitely a challenge for the future.

Countries where everyone involved in KS3 have come from
Image credit: Sushi Suzuki

In 2018, we also opened up the first week of the program to corporate participants. The two core workshops on Design Thinking and Lean Startup are actually applicable for companies and employees trying to develop new products, services, and businesses. We had several companies send their employees to be trained in these methodologies and we hope to expand this in the future.

One of the greatest satisfactions we’ve gained from running KS3 has been the community we’ve been able to form every year. Every year we create a Facebook group with all the participants and we see that many of them continue to interact after the summer school. Many people come from countries where the startup movement is still in its infancy and connecting with like-minded passionate people around the world is empowering. We’ve also been getting a lot of great feedback, both positive and constructive. We’re continuing to improve every aspect of KS3 and looking forward to those who will join us this year!

 

Makers Boot Camp opens international makerspace in Kyoto

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See the original story in Japanese. Kyoto-based Darma Tech Labs (DTL), known for organizing a hardware-focused startup accelerator Makers Boot Camp (MBC), announced earlier this month that it opened an international makerspace named Kyoto Makers Garage (KMG) jointly with Advanced Science, Technology & Management Research Institute of Kyoto (ASTEM) and Kyoto Research Park (KRP). In commemoration of the establishment, they held an opening party inviting Mayor of Kyoto City Daisaku Kadokawa at KMG the same day. KMG was built reforming the garage next to the Kyoto Central Wholesale Market and consists of four elements: “co-working space” usable as share office, “maker space” for manufacturing, “event space” and “gallery space”; in partnership with accelerators focusing on hardware startup outside Japan (such as Usine IO of Paris and Fab Foundry of New York), KMG plans to actively hold hackathon or meet-up events as a hub for entrepreneurs or creators from all over the world. The maker space of KMG is equipped with fused deposition modeling-type 3D printer (additive manufacturing equipment), laser cutter and desktop CNC milling device. Users have to attend charged lecture in advance when using the equipment. KMG also provides service in English to support hardware startups and entrepreneurs from…

Inside the venue
Image credit: Kyoto Makers Garage

See the original story in Japanese.

Kyoto-based Darma Tech Labs (DTL), known for organizing a hardware-focused startup accelerator Makers Boot Camp (MBC), announced earlier this month that it opened an international makerspace named Kyoto Makers Garage (KMG) jointly with Advanced Science, Technology & Management Research Institute of Kyoto (ASTEM) and Kyoto Research Park (KRP). In commemoration of the establishment, they held an opening party inviting Mayor of Kyoto City Daisaku Kadokawa at KMG the same day.

KMG was built reforming the garage next to the Kyoto Central Wholesale Market and consists of four elements: “co-working space” usable as share office, “maker space” for manufacturing, “event space” and “gallery space”; in partnership with accelerators focusing on hardware startup outside Japan (such as Usine IO of Paris and Fab Foundry of New York), KMG plans to actively hold hackathon or meet-up events as a hub for entrepreneurs or creators from all over the world.

Daisaku Kadokawa, Mayor of Kyoto City, makes a speech at the opening party.
Image credit: Makers Boot Camp

The maker space of KMG is equipped with fused deposition modeling-type 3D printer (additive manufacturing equipment), laser cutter and desktop CNC milling device. Users have to attend charged lecture in advance when using the equipment. KMG also provides service in English to support hardware startups and entrepreneurs from abroad.

The establishment of KMG was realized through the acceptance of DTL’s proposal by the municipal participation program for citizens, Machizukuri Otakara Bank, managed by Kyoto City. Access to KMG is 10 minutes on foot from Tanbaguchi Station of JR West San-in Main Line, or 5 minutes from Sichijo-senbon Bus Stop of Kyoto City Bus. It is open from 11 am to 6 pm on weekdays.

Translated by Taijiro Takeda
Edited by “Tex” Pomeroy

From Monozukuri Hub Meetup in Kyoto: Entrepreneurship for Youth and Students in Japan

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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 professional photographer Taiga Tamura of Tamura Shashinkan. February was a busy time for Makers Boot Camp. Just one day after HackOsaka, when we supported Monozukuri Hardware Cup 2017, the first pitch contest for hardware startups in Japan, we also had the opportunity to invite special guest speakers from three different hubs of the world. After a very busy schedule in Osaka, some of them had the chance to stop by and bring their personal insights to our Monozukuri Hub in Kyoto. I was in charge of introducing the meetup topic and its relevance for students – a considerable amount of the population in Kyoto and the highest concentration in Japan – to engage in startup communities, share their ideas, learn about experiences and question the status quo. There were many new faces in the audience, as the idea was to focus on young people considering their next life choices. The first question I raised at the event was…

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Sabrina Sasaki

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 professional photographer Taiga Tamura of Tamura Shashinkan.


February was a busy time for Makers Boot Camp. Just one day after HackOsaka, when we supported Monozukuri Hardware Cup 2017, the first pitch contest for hardware startups in Japan, we also had the opportunity to invite special guest speakers from three different hubs of the world. After a very busy schedule in Osaka, some of them had the chance to stop by and bring their personal insights to our Monozukuri Hub in Kyoto.

I was in charge of introducing the meetup topic and its relevance for students – a considerable amount of the population in Kyoto and the highest concentration in Japan – to engage in startup communities, share their ideas, learn about experiences and question the status quo. There were many new faces in the audience, as the idea was to focus on young people considering their next life choices.

The first question I raised at the event was “Why Kyoto?”. There’re so many unique things about the city that it’s hard to define its industry in a few words, specially considering the diversity in terms of Art, Design and Architecture. Kyoto is a dynamic spot where innovation and creativity have been part of all sectors, and we’re lucky to be able to benefit from all those ventures that still impact our daily life.

A city where modern & famous companies like Nintendo, Kyocera and Omron coexist with an intensive and traditional craftsmanship activity, reference in industrialized countries for best practices, as in pottery, textile and culinary. Kyoto yearly hosts many visitors and Foreign Exchange students interested to get inspired and collaborate with the local ecosystem for creation and renovation. In that sense, connecting students from different universities to outsiders can facilitate our dialogues to promote alternative ways of making new things.

Sam Lai, Taiwan-based Managing Director of Yushan Ventures joined the audience as our special guest.

Our city has been a great environment for us! Makers Boot Camp shares the Japanese worldwide know-how with industrial best practices that come from this background, as our Co-Founders met thanks to this ecosystem. With our mentors and manufacturers, we provide startups the support they need to build the basis for a new business.We also have young professionals as part of our network and we’d like to get to know more student’s projects. We can start helping with some basic advise for the ones considering building a new product.

But in terms of requirements, how could we define a “right” person to become a maker or join a startup? There’s no such thing as the “right personality” or a specific expertise needed to join a startup, as you can always improve your skills. First of all, makers are all about discovering, trying new things and finding what they’re passionate about. In the end, what makes the difference is not an individual skill but the team work results, so sharing is part of our routine as a startup.

Looking at the steps of a hardware startup, represented as in a videogame with different stages, in order to move to the next one, you must achieve a certain level in the current one. In this sense, the part where most makers struggle to continue “playing the game” is when they have to make  a professional prototype, a stage we call “Design for Manufacturing” (DFM). That’s the part we can support startups with our prototype experts and we’d like to invite all students to experiment new things within our hub.

Ajay Revels, Polite Machines

Our first guest speaker was Ajay Revels (Polite Machines– NYC), who introduced her current work at as a researcher trained in design thinking, helping different teams uncover and develop products and services that people will love. She’s an anthropologist for business, daily analysing systems like universities, homes, offices, and even hospitals, observing and interviewing people to understand and validate possible problems. Then she maps all problems (like in a subway map) and provides insights for entire teams to see a holistic picture of a specific problem, as an example. She pointed out they’re three key questions to start with, when you have an idea for a new project:

  • Do I have a real problem to solve?
  • Can I make a product to solve this problem?
  • If so, what kind of value does my product add? (Proposition)

With startups, Ajay runs experiments to test if there is a product solving a real problem, and if people are willing to pay for this product. She applied some of her recent examples after observing people interacting in Kyoto.

Some startups work for traditional charity, just solving a problem without making money out of it. Others are part of a professional business, so there must be a profit to be given in return to investors. And there’s also the area of social entrepreneurship, that is a hybrid right in between the other two, when both making money and supporting the community are part of the core goals.

There’re many models that can be used to measure a startup achievement –  a broad concept of success could be applied in different ways, depending on the specific purpose defined by its stakeholders.

Jeffrey McDaniel, Innovation Works

The second speaker was Jeffrey McDaniel  (Innovation Works) who came from Pittsburgh (PA, US) to take part in Monozukuri Hardware Cup as the head of the Judges. He represents one of the main hardware startup ecosystems in the world, part of Alphalab Gear Hardware Cup. His role as Executive in Residence consists of spending a lot of time with early stage companies, as a mentor for founders and entrepreneurs.

Like Ajay, Jeff clarified the two basic things you need to start a company: a good idea that is able to solve a problem and find out who’s willing to pay for it.

Pittsburgh used to be known as the “Steel City”: 80% of the total amount of the metal in US used to be from the region, but nowadays it represents only 5%. The area has been an important hub for the American industry and the city managed to survive thanks to its qualities of reinventing itself. Combining natural resources with people’s talents and technologies, Pittsburgh could complete a triangle that allows ways to redefine success in its own way. Locals had to learn how to adapt to the economic changes and develop innovative skills with available resources, a survival skill very similar to what happened in Japan.

There are also many universities in Pittsburgh, thanks to its prosper history  – and a lot of money stayed there, helping new entrepreneurs to get support in order to take risks and start new projects. In this sense, the local ecosystem played a key role in the development of innovative initiatives, and the city is now a strategic hub for high tech companies like Google and Uber, who’s testing its self-drive pilot cars there.

Adrien Sedaka, Timescope

As the main purpose of our events is always giving visibility to startups, we also had two French entrepeneurs representing the diversity of one of the main global hubs for IoT startups.

Adrien Sedaka (Timescope) from Paris, studied business at ESCP Europe, where he began his career in consulting. During 5 years, he assisted C-level managers of SMEs and large groups on business and marketing issues.

In 2010, he visited Pompeii with Basile Segalen, his childhood friend. The tour took place in the high season, when the historical place becomes full of crowds, and they couldn’t have an experience  as they had dreamt about. They ended up frustrated, realizing the difficulties of projecting themselves into the magic of such a historical place. The idea of developing an immersive tool designed for outdoor public places was born there, after their own frustration.

In 2014, after the new progress of VR technologies, they decided to develop Timescope: the first self-service virtual reality terminal. After a year of development, the time machine was tested at the Bastille, one the most powerful historical sites in French history. Adrien and his team are now scaling-up the company, preparing new installations in 2017, and considering how they could implement this new service into Japanese historical sites.

Adrian wrote a few notes to share with the students interested to join a startup:

  • Choose careful who you want to work with, as a partnership is like a wedding.
  • Work with people who are really motivated and do care for them.
  • Try to execute your idea as fast as possible.
  • Don’t minimize the skills you don’t have: either work on those skills or partner with someone who can assist you with what you need.
Régis Duhot, Parkisseo

Régis DuhotParkisseo Founder & CEO, defines himself as a “fifty years old « young » start-upper”, who started his company after 25 years in finance and accounting areas, working for several multinationals, mostly in electronics.

As most of urban citizens in the world, Régis wastes a significant part of his days looking for a place to park his car. This is how he decided to focus on this issue with a new solution: a clever car system that helps drivers to find available parking spots easily, without wasting time.

Parkisseo offers a complete solution, with a connected device that will allow cities to be smarter, facilitating the routine of its citizens. Easy to use, simple to instal (wireless), the startup offers advantages for both drivers and car park owners.

Sushi Suzuki, Associate Professor at Kyoto D-Lab and Makers Boot Camp Adviser

Sushi Suzuki, Associate Professor at Kyoto D-Lab and Makers Boot Camp Adviser, invited students & startups to join Kyoto Startup Summer School.

We invited Eiji Takahashi to present his student startup project: Untilet.

Eiji studies polymeric glass transition at Kyoto Institute of Technology, and at the same time he is also interested in data science. Leading the development as a CTO, from early stage into the IoT device development team, he recently helped to create an entrepreneurial department within his university.

His first project, Untiled, consists of a device that can recognize unpleasant odor and recommend users who suffer from stuffy nose to change their daily habits. Connected to the mobile app, the sensors can capture specific substances in the air.

Eiji gave a demo trial about his device, which was under development.

In the end, he joined a panel discussion with other students and professors who explained the challenges to develop a startup project as a university student.

Ajay also invited the International guests, both startups and Jeff, for a panel discussion about their next steps and insights.

We had a Q&A session when the audience had the chance to ask questions to students, startups and experts.

Before the end, there was a special closing message from our first supporter Allen Minner, Chairman and Group CEO of Sunbridge. He is a serial-entrepreneur, known for being a mentor and also angel investor for Japan-based startups, including Makers Boot Camp.

Makers Boot Camp’s Narimasa Makino (left), Sunbridge’s Allen Miner (right)

Allen highlighted the potential of our local community and Monozukuri Hub current achievements lead by a generation of new entrepreneurs like our CEO Narimasa Makino, encouraging more students to learn English and try new projects.

ConnectFree’s Chris Tate (front left), FabFoundry’s Nobuhiro Seki (front right)

There was a networking session, where attendees & speakers could interact and test the startups devices.

L to R: Sushi Suzuki, Tatsuya Tsubuki, Shohei Nakamura

Associate Professors Sushi Suzuki and Tatsuya Tsubuki from Kyoto Institute of Technology joined Researcher Shohei Nakamura from Osaka University.

Kyoto’s Makers Boot Camp accelerator launches $17.5M fund to back IoT startups

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See the original story in Japanese. Kyoto-based Darma Tech Labs, which runs the Makers Boot Camp (MBC) hardware startup-focused accelerator, announced in Kyoto on Tuesday that it is forming an investment fund worth 2 billion yen (nearly $18 million US) with having Kyoto Bank (TSE: 8369) as an anchor limited partner. In addition to Narimasa Makino, CEO of Darma Tech Labs, Shingo Nadaka the Deputy Director of local manufacturing organization Kyoto Shisaku Net, and Director Masatoshi Takeda (also Director of Darma Tech Labs), and Masahiko Naka, the Executive Director of Kyoto Bank also attended the press briefing held on that day. The fund is called MBC Shisaku No. 1 Investment LP and its redemption period is 10 years. They will intensively invest in early stage hardware startups in Japan, North America, and Europe. Priority investment areas include IoT, robotics, sensing, networking, big data analysis, medical devices, nursing care, lifestyle, environment and energy. Along with forming this fund, Mikuni Kimura, the former chief investment officer for Future Venture Capital, along with certified public accountant Manabu Kuwahara will participate as managing directors at Darma Tech Labs, and expanding their field of partners by joining with New York City-based FabFoundry, the CEO Nobuhiro…

From left: Shingo Nadaka (Deputy Director of Kyoto Shisaku Net), Masatoshi Takeda (Director of Darma Tech Labs/ Director of Kyoto Shisaku Net), Narimasa Makino (CEO of Darma Tech Labs), Masahiko Naka (Executive Director of Kyoto Bank)
Image credit: Darma Tech Labs

See the original story in Japanese.

Kyoto-based Darma Tech Labs, which runs the Makers Boot Camp (MBC) hardware startup-focused accelerator, announced in Kyoto on Tuesday that it is forming an investment fund worth 2 billion yen (nearly $18 million US) with having Kyoto Bank (TSE: 8369) as an anchor limited partner.

In addition to Narimasa Makino, CEO of Darma Tech Labs, Shingo Nadaka the Deputy Director of local manufacturing organization Kyoto Shisaku Net, and Director Masatoshi Takeda (also Director of Darma Tech Labs), and Masahiko Naka, the Executive Director of Kyoto Bank also attended the press briefing held on that day.

The fund is called MBC Shisaku No. 1 Investment LP and its redemption period is 10 years. They will intensively invest in early stage hardware startups in Japan, North America, and Europe. Priority investment areas include IoT, robotics, sensing, networking, big data analysis, medical devices, nursing care, lifestyle, environment and energy.

Along with forming this fund, Mikuni Kimura, the former chief investment officer for Future Venture Capital, along with certified public accountant Manabu Kuwahara will participate as managing directors at Darma Tech Labs, and expanding their field of partners by joining with New York City-based FabFoundry, the CEO Nobuhiro Seki will be appointed as a director of Darma Tech Labs.

Darma Tech Labs, the facilitators of MBC, also regularly holds Monozukuri Hub Meetup at the co-working space MTRL Kyoto (Material Kyoto) to focus on creating a community of hardware startups. At the Monozukuri Hardware Cup, held for the first time in Osaka in February, eight hardware startup teams from Japan came, with the three teams of QD Laser, PLENGoer, and VAQSO, being invited to the Hardware Startup Pitch Competition put on by the Pittsburgh-based hardware startup AlphaLab Gear.

Translated by Amanda Imasaka
Edited by Masaru Ikeda

From Monozukuri Hub Meetup: The Power of Storytelling

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This is a guest post by Joey Ho Nihei, a volunteer supporter for Kyoto-based hardware startup accelerator Makers Boot Camp as well as a student from National University of Singapore (Department of Global Studies). 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 Bootcamp is Japan’s leading hardware accelerator and the organizer of the wildly successful Monozukuri Hub meetups. These meetups aim to build, support and inspire a community of makers by acting as a platform for international collaboration and knowledge exchange. In the latest edition of 2016 Monozukuri Hub meetup titled “The Power of Storytelling”, Makers Bootcamp has brought together some of the tech industry’s most seasoned storytellers, investors and start-up founders for an evening packed with insights on how to build and leverage on compelling stories for startups. This meetup largely revolved around the theme of how powerful and effective storytelling is quintessential to startups in every single way — from picking investor’s initial interest to effectively projecting a startup’s value to consumers. Simply put, storytelling is a powerful tool that must be harnessed by startups in order to secure not only investments…

Joey Ho Nihei

This is a guest post by Joey Ho Nihei, a volunteer supporter for Kyoto-based hardware startup accelerator Makers Boot Camp as well as a student from National University of Singapore (Department of Global Studies). 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 Bootcamp is Japan’s leading hardware accelerator and the organizer of the wildly successful Monozukuri Hub meetups. These meetups aim to build, support and inspire a community of makers by acting as a platform for international collaboration and knowledge exchange.

In the latest edition of 2016 Monozukuri Hub meetup titled “The Power of Storytelling”, Makers Bootcamp has brought together some of the tech industry’s most seasoned storytellers, investors and start-up founders for an evening packed with insights on how to build and leverage on compelling stories for startups.

This meetup largely revolved around the theme of how powerful and effective storytelling is quintessential to startups in every single way — from picking investor’s initial interest to effectively projecting a startup’s value to consumers. Simply put, storytelling is a powerful tool that must be harnessed by startups in order to secure not only investments but also its survival.

Three main perspectives dominated the evening’s presentations: the perspectives of the story consultant, the investor and the startups. The beauty of this meetup was in seeing the storytelling process from these closely related yet distinct perspectives.

The evening was kicked-off by Sabrina Sasaki from Makers Bootcamp who succinctly introduced the art of storytelling and its significance to a startup’s growth to get everyone warmed up for the magic that was about to happen in the following presentations. Her presentation served as an easily digestible introduction to those unacquainted to the art of storytelling (myself included). One key message that she conveyed in her presentation was how stories play a crucial role in a startup’s marketing and how it is no less important than building a revolutionary product.

Björn Eichstädt, Managing Partner, Storymaker

The first speaker for the evening, Storymaker‘s Björn Eichstädt, offered the perspective of the consultant, sharing snippets from his vast experiences managing a story-oriented communications consulting, PR and digital communications firm. He spoke about how having a powerful story to communicate a company’s identity and value is increasingly important in a world constantly bombarded with a multitude of information, and how originality (instead of jumping onto trends) is the only real way ahead. One of his sharings that left a particular impression on his audience was when he drew parallels between a story and dashi (Japanese soup stock), saying “a story is just like dashi – it can only be made with the right ingredients, and this dashi can be expressed in so many different ways. If customers and the media like it, they will retell it”.

See also:

James Riney, Head of 500 Startups Japan

James Riney, Head of 500 Startups Japan, followed Björn’s sharing by presenting the investor’s perspective to story-telling: What are investors really looking out for when they listen to pitches? One theme that he constantly emphasised on was the need for simplicity when presenting their idea and value and the need to earn trust and confidence quickly in the little bit of time they have to present to investors. The best way to do this, he advices, is to highlight the key strengths of the startup either in terms of traction, team, target market, media coverage or fundings from highly sought-after investors and funds. Simply put, all you need to do is to convey “why this? why now? And why you?”  and just KISS (Keep-it-simple-stupid). He also highlighted the importance of keeping things simple when startups ask for funding — just share with investors how much you need, what you will use it for, and how long this is going to last you.

See also:

The second half of the presentations saw Atsushi Nakanishi (AT) and Shota Takase sharing the stories of Dfree and Blincam respectively. Their stories were living proof of how startups can effectively leverage on powerful stories in order to propel their startups forward.

Atsushi Nakanishi, CEO of Dfree

Dfree CEO Atsushi Nakanishi has pooped his pants before — and he’s not ashamed to share it with the world because that was exactly what inspired the world’s first wearable device that aims to maintain every human’s dignity by using ultrasound to monitor changes in the body to predict toilet timings. His product’s vision to create “a world where nobody has to soil their pants” was as revolutionary as the way he presented his story — he began by asking the audience if “anyone pooped their pants before?” ensuing in a roar of laughter. Such personal, relatable anecdotes peppered with embarrassing examples have proven to be a key element in storytelling which values originality and surprise elements. To close his presentation, he shared Dfree’s future trajectories — a trajectory that would vastly change the way everyone lives in the future by “predicting everything” from toilet timings, appetites, menstrual cycles, aging and even one’s lifespan.

See also:

Shota Takase, CEO & Founder of Blincam

The last presentation for the evening was by Shota Takase, CEO & Founder of Blincam. Blincam’s story started by coincidence at a Startup Weekend session and has since been fueled by Shota’s strong desire capture natural and beautiful photographs of his family. The key inspiration behind Blincam was how Shota could never take candid photographs of his daughter because she would always make funny faces at the camera when she knew her photo was being taken. This desire to capture candid, beautiful pictures of our own children resonated with many people and this vision-turned-startup was what Blincam was all about: A wearable, hands-free camera that captures candid pictures with a blink of an eye. Shota then carried on to share every step of his journey from starting up in a garage all the way to securing a whopping 2640% of funding in Makuake and another 150% in Indiegogo just recently.

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This event saw some of the most insightful stories and had some of the industry’s most seasoned storytellers and listeners (investors). Makers Bootcamp would once again like to extend our warmest regards to every single person who participated and we hope this meetup enriched you as much as it did for us! We hope to see everyone again soon!

Click here if you would like to check the presentation deck from all speakers, with detailed information about each one.

Kyoto’s Makers Boot Camp partners with La French Tech to help more IoT startups grow

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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. Last week we took part of the closing event of France Japan Innovation year: a special forum when an official mission from France visited Japan to validate bilateral business opportunities. The event happened on December 6th and 7th at Knowledge Capital – Grand Front Osaka (Umeda) , as the outcome of two years of collaboration, when the parts involved had the chance to showcase, all in the same space, their next steps and also new opportunities in innovation between both countries. Makers Boot Camp had a booth area together with KSN (Kyoto Shisaku Net), our prototype experts, a network of SMEs who support small lot production for startups creating a new product. KSN has already clients from France, and they also count on some French team members to support French startups. We shared our area side by side with Kyoto VR, a brand new startup working on combining both arts and technology for…

sabrina-sasaki-150x150This 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: Olivier Ginepro, Economic Counselor for the French Embassy of Japan,
Narimasa Makino, Makers Boot Camp CEO

Last week we took part of the closing event of France Japan Innovation year: a special forum when an official mission from France visited Japan to validate bilateral business opportunities. The event happened on December 6th and 7th at Knowledge Capital – Grand Front Osaka (Umeda) , as the outcome of two years of collaboration, when the parts involved had the chance to showcase, all in the same space, their next steps and also new opportunities in innovation between both countries.

Our team had a prototype expert support from Emery Delmotte, French team member of KSN,
part of Saijo Inx Sales Team.
Thierry Dana, French Ambassador to Japan, visited our booth,
when Emery highlighted all the close ties between France and KSN.

Makers Boot Camp had a booth area together with KSN (Kyoto Shisaku Net), our prototype experts, a network of SMEs who support small lot production for startups creating a new product. KSN has already clients from France, and they also count on some French team members to support French startups.

We shared our area side by side with Kyoto VR, a brand new startup working on combining both arts and technology for a unique virtual reality experience. Recently, they exhibited a demo session at Nuit Blanche, a French event in Kyoto, with a special project involving IoT for cultural initiatives. Paris and Kyoto are already sister-cities in the fields of Fine Arts and Architecture and IoT should also be considered for the next projects.

Makers Boot Camp team with all the invited startups for the pitch session: Atmoph, PLENGoer and Kyoto VR.
Atmoph team members Chikaku Kato, Customer Relations, and Kyohi Kang, CEO and Co-Founder,
introduced their smart window already available for sale in Paris and other overseas markets.
PLENGoer team with their open-source robots that will be in a tour to US for CES 2017.
For Japanese makers like them, France is also a key market they plan to expand to.

During the two days of the event, there were sessions with key industry players from both countries, as Valeo, Michelin, Orange and Dassault Systems, Toyo Aluminium, SynphaTech Japon, and also a special session day focused on IoT startups. The purpose of the event was to bring stakeholders involved on the current discussions between France and Japan in order to achieve a plan for concrete actions in the next years.

With this spirit, Makers Boot Camp signed an MoU (Memorandum of Understanding) with La French Tech, represented by The French Embassy of Japan.

In May 2016, on behalf of Makers Boot Camp, I was invited to attend two outstanding hardware events in France: Connected Conference and Innorobo. It is clear the potential of disruptive projects in robotics and healthcare being created in France, so we’d like to partner with local players interested to reach a global market with high quality. Currently, there are players from both Japan and France willing to promote an exchange of technologies and resources.

From the French local governments,
Aix-Marseille Provence and Occitanie sent their representatives from both private and public sectors.

From Toulouse city, Julien Toulouse paid us a visit to our ecosystem in Kyoto, including our KSN factories with French team members involved. The tour was a way to illustrate Japanese small lot capabilities for French startups.

On Japanese side, Kansai representatives from local government and companies were also supporting the event. We hope the players involved can commit to a more active role in both countries, fomenting IoT industry all over the world.

From Monozukuri Hub Meetup: DFM and prototype experts meet hardware startups

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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-150x150
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.


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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.

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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.

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Jean-Dominique Francois, La French Tech Tokyo

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.

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Akihiko Tanaka, Dassault Systems

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.

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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.

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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.

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Antoine Andrieu, Hilltop

Antoine Andrieu works for the Development Department at Hilltop.

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.

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The final session with the experts was moderated by Sushi Suzuki | Kyoto Institute of Technology, Kyoto Design Lab Associate professor. Sushi’s link to Paris comes from when he co-founded Paris Est d.school, teaching design innovation at École des Ponts ParisTech.

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.

From Monozukuri Hub Meetup: Accelerators vs. Incubators, which one should you go for?

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This is a guest post by Chi Chia Huang, an intern 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 professional photographer Kengo Osaka. With the good weather and a couple of nice beers in MTRL Kyoto on September 12th, we kicked off the meetup with a presentation from Naonobu Yamamoto, who is the CEO of Kpnetworks. Following the second presentation by Daigo Sakaida, an open innovation initiative senior principal at Accenture, anchoring the meetup, John Kat, a technology specialist from the British government in the Department of International Trade, shared his insights about what a government can do to support startups and the ecosystem. We were also glad to have our last speaker Keiji Tokuda, the founder and CEO of Keigan, with Keigan’s establish day on this day. Yamamoto presented on the business model of Kpnetworks, and talked about the importance of accelerator program in the startup ecosystem. He also shared his experience with several accelerators. Sakaida discussed the difference between accelerators and incubators. With his clear explanation, we could understand the concept of these two different…

chichia-huang-150x150This is a guest post by Chi Chia Huang, an intern 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 professional photographer Kengo Osaka.


monozukuri-hub-meetup-20160912-panel-1

With the good weather and a couple of nice beers in MTRL Kyoto on September 12th, we kicked off the meetup with a presentation from Naonobu Yamamoto, who is the CEO of Kpnetworks. Following the second presentation by Daigo Sakaida, an open innovation initiative senior principal at Accenture, anchoring the meetup, John Kat, a technology specialist from the British government in the Department of International Trade, shared his insights about what a government can do to support startups and the ecosystem. We were also glad to have our last speaker Keiji Tokuda, the founder and CEO of Keigan, with Keigan’s establish day on this day.

monozukuri-hub-meetup-20160912-kpnetworks
Naonobu Yamamoto, CEO of Kpnetworks

Yamamoto presented on the business model of Kpnetworks, and talked about the importance of accelerator program in the startup ecosystem. He also shared his experience with several accelerators.

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Daigo Sakaida, open innovation initiative senior principal at Accenture

Sakaida discussed the difference between accelerators and incubators. With his clear explanation, we could understand the concept of these two different programs. Accelerators are usually a short term program for several months; in contrast, Incubators are mostly long term programs from one to three years. He suggested startups still in seed stage to join incubator programs, and startups in early stage to consider joining accelerator programs. Also he brought up to date numbers showing the startup ecosystem in Japan, pointing out there is still an opportunity for growth.

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John Kat, technology specialist from the British government in the Department of International Trade

Kat shared his tips and tricks to overcome the common challenges of startups including networking, funding, management, and marketing. He also emphasized that British government has developed great program to connect researchers from academic world with industrial experts to assist startups and innovation.

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Keiji Tokuda, founder and CEO of Keigan

Tokuda gave several advice to startups from his business experience and suggested to seek opportunity of collaboration with government.

During the panel discussion, presenters had different insights about how to manage the fund they raised and about how to convince investors to invest them.

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Kat gave an interesting comment:

After meeting several venture capitalists, talking with potential investors but you got turned down by all of them…instead of keep trying more to convince the sharks, you should find out the reasons why you got rejected. That is to say, your business model is not completed yet. Try to figure out the bugs and revise them, then seek for the investors again.

Special thanks to Makers Boot Camp and Kyoto city government for holding the amazing meetup. I can’t wait for the next Monozukuri meetup on 12th October, to discuss the major failure for hardware startups: “Design for Manufacture.”

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Capitalizing on culture: Can new $60M fund help make Kyoto an innovation center?

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As we return from our trip down to Osaka for B Dash Camp, there’s more news emerging from Western Japan, this time from Kyoto. A new venture fund of $60 million was officially announced today, initiated by Kyoto University with the goal of supporting entrepreneurial activity from that university and the Kyoto area. The sectors of focus for the fund will be information/communication technology, life science and biotech, agricultural food, and environment and energy. Kyoto University has designated the newly formed Miyako Capital to manage the fund. I recently had a chance to speak with Hiroaki Okahashi (managing partner) and Kenshin Fujiwara (partner) to learn more about this initiative. Their team will also include director Norihiko Ishihara, and the president of the company will be Satoshi Yamaguchi, who brings much cross-border experience from his years at JAFCO. Unlike many VCs with primarily a finance background, many on the Miyako Capital team have experience starting and managing companies, which they see as a big differentiation with other VCs. A Cultural Edge Kyoto is typically known as a prime sight-seeing spot, rich in history, with a unique aesthetic, and a zen atmosphere. Okahashi explains that he’s very interested in Western Japan, in…

Miyako Capital's Kenshin Fujiwara, Hiroaki Okahashi
Miyako Capital’s Kenshin Fujiwara, Hiroaki Okahashi

As we return from our trip down to Osaka for B Dash Camp, there’s more news emerging from Western Japan, this time from Kyoto. A new venture fund of $60 million was officially announced today, initiated by Kyoto University with the goal of supporting entrepreneurial activity from that university and the Kyoto area. The sectors of focus for the fund will be information/communication technology, life science and biotech, agricultural food, and environment and energy.

Kyoto University has designated the newly formed Miyako Capital to manage the fund. I recently had a chance to speak with Hiroaki Okahashi (managing partner) and Kenshin Fujiwara (partner) to learn more about this initiative.

Their team will also include director Norihiko Ishihara, and the president of the company will be Satoshi Yamaguchi, who brings much cross-border experience from his years at JAFCO. Unlike many VCs with primarily a finance background, many on the Miyako Capital team have experience starting and managing companies, which they see as a big differentiation with other VCs.

A Cultural Edge

Kyoto is typically known as a prime sight-seeing spot, rich in history, with a unique aesthetic, and a zen atmosphere. Okahashi explains that he’s very interested in Western Japan, in particularly Kyoto, where famous technology innovators like Steve Jobs and Larry Ellison have sought and found inspiration. He adds that the city’s cultural edge helps “give it the potential to be a center of innovation,” a place where cultural authenticity and new business ideas can merge.

Kyoto's Kinkakuji, or Golden Pavillion, one of many cultural attractions
Kyoto’s Kinkakuji, or Golden Pavillion

Of course, the image of an industrial East (Tokyo) contrasted with a creative-minded West sort of brings to mind the dichotomy that exists in the US.

Kyoto, of course, has a long way to go, but Kyoto University is renowned for its advanced research, even beyond Japan’s borders. Okahashi says that while Miyako Capital’s first few investments will likely be from Kyoto University (or some Kyoto entrepreneurs), they will not limit their investment criteria domestically:

If there are any companies that might represent synergies by adding the Kyoto brand or Kyoto University technology, we are willing to invest in technologies outside Japan.

He adds that there are many potential investors to this fund, like manufacturers looking for new technologies and businesses, lacking the experience to invest or source such businesses. Miyako Capital will aspire to fill that gap for them, given that they have access to IP derived and accumulated at Kyoto University.

In the technology world these days, Kyoto is perhaps best known as the home of giant companies like Nintendo and Kyocera. But it is also the home of internet company Hatena, which has a new office in Tokyo leading to its expected IPO coming soon [1]. Fujiwara says that that’s the kind of movement that they’d definitely like to see more Kyoto companies follow. When I inquired about promising Kyoto startups these days, both he and Okahashi pointed to Nota, whose Gyazo screenshot service is currently seeing heavy use by many here in Japan.

Both Okahashi and Fujiwara say they would like to see more entrepreneurs coming to Kyoto as well, and I really don’t think that’s a very difficult sell. Kyoto is a pretty incredible place, and I think given the chance, entrepreneurs the world over would love a chance to spend some time there. Hopefully this new fund can be a catalyst for more interest in the city — via Kyoto University — from both here in Japan as well as abroad.


  1. Coincidentally, we had a chance to hear Nintendo president Satoru Iwata speak earlier this week in Osaka. You can read all about that here. My personal favorite Kyoto company right now is game developer Ponos. Their Battle Cats game is incredible. We’re also big fans of QOOQ and its Yesterscape app.  ↩

Kyoto startup unveils a simple alternative to Google Reader

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As many of our readers likely already know, Google will retire Google Reader on July 1st. More than a few startups and developers around the world have put forth alternatives to the dying de-facto standard. Which one will emerge as the new front runner? Kyoto-based startup Modelor today unveiled a new RSS reading app called Presser, which is available both on the web and for iOS. It will follow with versions for Android, Mac, and iPad soon. The Presser team is mostly comprised of students attending Kyoto University. In addition to the general RSS reading feature, the app will learn your preferences and recommend several news articles you may like every day. Modelor was founded by Kyoto-based UI/UX designer Yosuke Nishida. He previously co-founded and worked with Reventive, the startup behind Close, a social networking app. He recently decided to begin his own startup, as Reventive recently managed to secure funding from Mixi.

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As many of our readers likely already know, Google will retire Google Reader on July 1st. More than a few startups and developers around the world have put forth alternatives to the dying de-facto standard. Which one will emerge as the new front runner?

Kyoto-based startup Modelor today unveiled a new RSS reading app called Presser, which is available both on the web and for iOS. It will follow with versions for Android, Mac, and iPad soon. The Presser team is mostly comprised of students attending Kyoto University.

In addition to the general RSS reading feature, the app will learn your preferences and recommend several news articles you may like every day.

Modelor was founded by Kyoto-based UI/UX designer Yosuke Nishida. He previously co-founded and worked with Reventive, the startup behind Close, a social networking app. He recently decided to begin his own startup, as Reventive recently managed to secure funding from Mixi.

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