TechBiz Pitch Battle in “Mechaverse”
-Towards Overseas Expansion of Japanese Content Technologies-

Koji Tanabe

Specially Appointed Professor, Professor Emeritus at Tokyo Institute of Technology

Professor Tanabe is Professor Emeritus of Tokyo Institute of Technology and still in charge of lecturing on Standardization Strategy. He also conducts non-executive directors of Riken Corp., director of Business Model Society, representative of WAA(We Are Asian) Community. He had been a professor of Graduate School of Innovation Management at Tokyo Institute of Technology for 12 years since 2005.
Prior to academic carrier, he had engaged with innovation & technology policy, computerization of administration, and statistics development in METI. He was seconded to Singapore for promoting cooperation between Asian countries and Japan in the IT field.
Ph. D. of Tokyo Institute of Technology in 2003.

8 companies selected for TechBiz2021

【1】 Nangoku R/Studios “WHITEROOM”

【2】 Spacial Inc. “AirReal 3D Display (Spacial)”

【3】 D’Arts, Inc. “HatchPotVR”

【4】 mplusplus Co., Ltd. “Wireless Movie Transfer System for Real Time LED Lighting Controller”

【5】 Holoeyes Inc. “Holoeyes Edu”

【6】 Kashika, Inc. “Katachi Space”

【7】 ARDe Co., Ltd. “ARDe- Augmented Reality for Work management”

【8】 Parity Innovations Co, Ltd. “Parity Mirror®”

CHAN Wei Siang

Executive Director, Toyonaka Investment and Consultancy Pte Ltd.

Professor Tanabe is Professor Emeritus of Tokyo Institute of Technology and still in charge of lecturing on Standardization Strategy. He also conducts non-executive directors of Riken Corp., director of Business Model Society, representative of WAA(We Are Asian) Community. He had been a professor of Graduate School of Innovation Management at Tokyo Institute of Technology for 12 years since 2005.
Prior to academic carrier, he had engaged with innovation & technology policy, computerization of administration, and statistics development in METI. He was seconded to Singapore for promoting cooperation between Asian countries and Japan in the IT field.
Ph. D. of Tokyo Institute of Technology in 2003.

Minoru Hatanaka

Chief Curator, NTT Intercommunication Center [ICC]

Masafumi Kawai

Worked at the Norinchukin Bank for 10 years and was involved in alternative investment businesses for credit products such as corporate bonds and credit derivatives in the Western market, and structured products such as structured bonds and securitized products. After that gained experience in M&A advisory work at KPMG FAS, and joined the Development Bank of Japan in 2011. In addition to being in charge of ALM in the finance department of the bank, engaged in LP investment in overseas PE funds and domestic institutional investor business at DBJ Asset Management, contributing to the expansion of the company's AUM. Since 2017, has been transferred to DBJ Capital and is engaged in investment in domestic venture companies during the seed/early period and LP investment in domestic and overseas VC funds as a venture capitalist. From 2021, as the director of the company's investment department, in addition to formulating investment strategies and making investment decisions, will also focus on supporting collaboration between large DBJ Group business partners and investee venture companies. Joined Genesia Ventures, Inc. in September 2021. Graduate of the Tokyo University Faculty of Economics and holds an MBA degree from the UCLA School of Management.

Phil Keys

Manager, Marketing Communications, Intertrust Technologies

Phil Keys is a Senior Manager Marketing Communications for Intertrust Technologies. He is a veteran technology industry observer, marketer, connector, and writer based in Silicon Valley. In addition to 13 years of experience as a Silicon Valley Correspondent for Nikkei Business Publications, Phil has worked for technology companies in both the US and Japan. He is a columnist for the Nikkei Industrial Journal and a member of the Innovation Advisory Council of the Japan - U.S. Innovation Awards Program jointly run by Stanford University and the Japan Society of Northern California. Phil has spoken publicly in events in Tokyo and Silicon Valley as well as moderated panels in Silicon Valley. He holds a B.A. from the University of California at Berkeley and attended International Christian University in Tokyo.

Jacki Morie

XPRIZE Advisor, Board of Advisors of Virtual World Society

Jacquelyn Morie’s 30 years of researching & creating meaningful VR experiences includes multi-sensory techniques for VR that can predictably elicit emotional responses from participants. Her company All These Worlds, LLC is active in social VR, Mindfulness, storytelling & stress relief applications. In 2016 she concluded a project for NASA called ANSIBLE, a full virtual world ecosystem designed to provide psychological benefits for future astronauts who will undertake extremely long isolated missions to Mars. It was tested in the HISEAS analog facility in Hawaii, with a team of 6 scientists sequestered for a year to simulate the conditions of isolation on Mars, including long communications delays. She also investigates the use of personal avatars for how they affect our human selves. She invented a novel scent release device RemniScent, to aid in the evocative power of VR experiences.

Dr. Morie has advanced degrees in both Fine Art and Computer Science. Her career also spans exceptional accomplishments in education, developing digital media programs at the Ringling College of Art and Design, the University of Central Florida, the Walt Disney Animation Studios, VIFX, Blue Sky and Rhythm and Hues, and Otis College of Art and Design. She was instrumental in the creation of the University of Southern California’s Institute for Creative Technologies (ICT), where she served as a Senior Researcher for 14 years.

She is currently on the board of directors of several future-oriented immersive media companies, and is also a senior technical advisor to the XPRIZE’s ANA Avatar Prize, which challenges teams to create a robotic avatar people can inhabit from a distance. Her new 22-chapter book, co-edited with Kate McCallum, The Handbook of Research on the Global Impacts and Roles of Immersive Media, was published by IGI Global in early 2020.

Shan Lu

Novarizer CEO

Shan is a contracted consultant by JETRO to help Japanese enterprises build partnerships and utilize investment resources to access the Chinese market.
Shan Lu was born and raised in China and started his professional practice in the United States.
Shan is the CEO of Novarizer Institute, a leading technology commercialization platform with HQ in Hong Kong and offices in Shenzhen/Dongguan, China.
From 2016 to 2019, Shan was the founding partner of LeaguerX, the technology investment and acceleration arm of the Research Institute of Tsinghua University in Shenzhen. LeaguerX formed international partnerships with leading universities and government agencies and served hundreds of multinational enterprises accessing the Chinese market.
From 2014 to the present, Shan has been the co-founder of Startup Salad, the largest and most active startup community in China. Startup Salad has supported thousands of entrepreneurs to validate business opportunities with investors, suppliers, and customers.
From 2010 to 2014, Shan was the deputy director of the Technology Transfer and Investment Banking Division in Shenzhen United Property and Share Rights Exchange (UPEX), a primary over-the-counter market in southern China trading equity, intellectual property, and public resources.
Shan is a visiting scholar and lecturer at the Southern University of Science and Technology (SUSTech) to support the Technology Commercialization and Entrepreneurship curriculum.

Hiroyuki Ohnishi

CEO, Technology Seed Incubation Co., Ltd.

Manager of Sendai branch and team leader of private equity investment at Japan Asia Investment Co., Ltd. (JAIC). Participated in the establishing TSI as core member and assumed CEO. Major IPO that he participated are; Nihon Eslead Corporation, Takasho Corporation, JSS, Shoei and etc., Made decision to take over Ion Engineering Research Institute Corporation, established by NEDO, Japan government organization, and succeeded in its corporate restructuring and commercialization of the business. Currently, Chairman and director of Ion Technology Center Co., Ltd., corporate auditor at AXIOHELIX Co. Ltd.

Nobuyuki Tsuji

Partner, PricewaterhouseCoopers Aarata LLC

Having experienced planning new services and developing IT systems at a major home appliance maker, Nobuyuki Tsuji joined ChuoAoyama PricewaterhouseCoopers Financial and Risk Management Co., Ltd . in 2003 and then moved to PricewaterhouseCoopers Aarata in 2006.
His previous role was to give advice on IT governance, information security and organization management for companies engaged in technology-based business.
In recent years, he has been at the forefront of business addressing social issues such as regional revitalization and helping companies in DX and cloud transformation.
He has been providing support for startups and social entrepreneurs, and has served as a business contest judge and an organizer of a coaching accelerator program.

Mariko Nishimura

Founder and CEO, HEART CATCH Inc.

Graduated from International Christian University in Tokyo JAPAN, Mariko Nishimura started her career as an IT engineer at IBM Japan.
After her career at Adobe Systems as a field marketing manager and Bascule Inc. as a producer, she founded HEART CATCH Inc. in 2014. As a producer who connects business, creative and technologies beyond borders, she starts not only projects of her own company but various projects ranging from start-up, other companies, and government projects.
J-Startup supporters, Art Thinking Improbable Workshop Executive Producer, a committee for METI Study Group for Creativity for the Fourth Industrial Revolution, an Adjunct Professor at Musashino Art University.

Tadaaki Hashizume

Certified Incubation Manager New Energy and Industrial Technology Development Organization (NEDO) Innovation Promotion Department, Startup Group

Dropped out of the Waseda Graduate School doctoral course. After working for a major IT group, Japan Agency for Marine-Earth Science and Technology (JAMSTEC), Chamber of Commerce and Industry, and an organization for industrial promotion, he engaged in the operation of various public support projects for R&D-type startups at NEDO.