Courses & Events
Space Businesses in Japan: Tech Transfer and the Emerging Startup Ecosystem
Tuesday, Jun 4, 2024
04:30 pm - 05:50 pm
Please join us for our 2024 Spring seminar series on “Entrepreneurship in Asian High-Tech Industries.” Each year, this series surveys the most recent trends, patterns, and challenges of entrepreneurship in Asia and their relevance to Silicon Valley and the U.S. Guest speakers include entrepreneurs, investors and mentors, and other experts on the current entrepreneurial ecosystems of major Asia economies.
For our final session in our series, we’ll hear from Dr. Naohiko Kohtake, Professor at Keio University and Director of Space Service Innovation Laboratory, Inc., Dr. Yuya Nakamura, Founder & CEO of Axelspace, and Shota Deguchi, Sales Director of Digital Blast and Visiting Scholar at US-ATMC. They’ll provide their perspectives on space technology transfer, developing manufacturing in space, the commercialization of space data, and micro-satellite operations. The panel will be moderated by Dr. Richard Dasher, Director of the US-Asia Technology Management Center.
Our seminars are being offered in a hybrid format.
Agenda:
- 4:30 pm – 5:50 pm Discussion
- 5:50 pm – 6:30 pm Networking Reception with light refreshments
To attend in-person, please register at https://www.eventbrite.com/e/space-businesses-in-japan-tech-transfer-and-the-emerging-startup-ecosystem-tickets-901701512497?aff=oddtdtcreator.
Zoom registration: https://stanford.zoom.us/meeting/register/tJIsf-GrpjsjG9E0Dn6064S7fgf6zPDLT6So
Details
Venue:
- Stanford University, Bishop Auditorium, 518 Memorial Way, Stanford, CA 94305 [Google Map]
Parking options:
- Memorial Way, Stanford, CA 94305 [Google Map]
- Lasuen St. and Roth Way, Stanford, CA 94305 [Google Map]
- Please check parking signs carefully to ensure that permitted parking (A or C) and metered spaces are free after 4:00 pm. Paid parking is enforced around The Oval until 6:00 pm.
Speakers
Dr. Naohiko Kohtake
Professor at Keio University and Director of Space Service Innovation Laboratory, Inc.
Naohiko Kohtake is a professor and current director of Sensing and Design Laboratory at Keio University where he is responsible for space system engineering and intelligent systems. He has worked in research and development on avionics systems for the H-IIA rocket at Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency, ubiquitous computing systems at Keio University, and on-board software at European Space Agency. He was a visiting researcher of user interfaces at Sony Computer Science Laboratories and an associated senior engineer at Digital Innovation Center in Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency working on software independent verification and validation for satellites and the International Space Station.
Dr. Yuya Nakamura
Founder & CEO, Axelspace
Dr. Yuya Nakamura is the President and CEO of Axelspace Corporation, a microsatellite startup based in Tokyo. In 2007, he earned a Ph.D. in aerospace engineering from the University of Tokyo, where he was actively involved in 3 student-led satellite projects. Based on this experience, he co-founded the company in 2008 after serving as a project researcher at the university for 1.5 years. Since the establishment, he has led several successful microsatellite projects including “RAPIS-1”, the Japan’s first government satellite developed by a startup company. He has been a member of the Committee on National Space Policy since 2015.
Shota Deguchi
Sales Director, Digital Blast KK and Visiting Scholar, US-ATMC
Shota Deguchi is a visiting scholar at the US-Asia Technology Management Center for 2023-2024. He focuses on the role of academic institutions in creating an innovation hub for start-ups and large companies with the aim to support emerging entrepreneurs and drive open innovation.
He is the Director of Marketing & Business Development at Digital Blast, a Tokyo-based space-tech start-up, where he was one of the founding members and contributed to the company’s growth over the course of 5 years. Prior to his current role, he was a consultant at IBM Japan with expertise in FinTech and InsurTech, helping his clients’ new business development.
His professional experiences to date convinced him of the importance of strengthening collaboration between start-ups and large companies and creating new, innovative business models in an unprecedented manner.
Shota was an active member of AIESEC, a global youth leadership organization, where he supported and collaborated with more than 1,000 global youths with prospects to rise as future leaders.
