Courses & Events

Japan and the Bay Area: Developing Entrepreneurial Business Partnerships in the New Japan

Thursday, Feb 20, 2020

02:30 pm - 06:00 pm

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Produced by the Bay Area Council Economic Institute in cooperation with the US-ATMC and with sponsorship from the Consulate General of Japan in San Francisco

 

We invite you to a groundbreaking conference organized by the Bay Area Council Economic Institute with the US-Asia Technology Management Center (USATMC), on innovation, startups and technology development in Japan, and the bridge connecting Bay Area/Silicon Valley companies to Japan’s changing ecosystem.

The conference builds on a program organized at Stanford in March 2019 on Japan’s technology, innovation and startup footprint in the Bay Area, and a report released by the Bay Area Council Economic Institute in December 2019 that assesses the changing role of Japanese corporations in the region and how the strategies being pursued here link to transformation strategies being adopted at home. This new program will focus on current developments in Japan, including trends, issues and opportunities for partnership in the Japanese market.

Speakers will include founders and investors from both the Bay Area and Japan. Confirmed panelists and presenters include Dr. Kenji Kushida (Research Scholar, Japan Program, Shorenstein Asia-Pacific Research Center), Dr. Richard Dasher (Director, US-Asia Technology Management Center), Dr. Sean Randolph (Senior Director, Bay Area Council Economic Institute), Tak Onishi (Partner, World Innovation Lab), Akiko Naka (Co-Founder and CEO, Wantedly), Christian Sanz (Co-Founder and CEO, Skycatch), and Neeti Mehta (SVP, Automation Software).

Program:

2:30	Registration Opens
3:00	Welcome Remarks: Hon. Toru Maeda, Consul General of Japan
3:15	Presentation: Japan in the Bay Area: Collaboration and Transformation Dr. Sean Randolph, Senior Director, Bay Area Council Economic Institute
3:30	Panel: Understanding Japan’s Changing Innovation and Startup Ecosystem Dr. Kenji Kushida, Research Scholar, Japan Program, Shorenstein Center, Stanford (Moderator) Akiko Naka, Co-Founder & CEO, Wantedly Masayuki Ogata, COO, Freee Tak Onishi, Partner, World Innovation Lab – SLIDES
4:40	Break
4:50	Panel: Leveraging Opportunities: Bay Area/Silicon Valley Partnerships in Japan Dr. Richard Dasher, Director, US-Asia Technology Management Center, Stanford (Moderator) – SLIDES Christian Sanz, Co-Founder & CEO, Skycatch – SLIDES Neeti Mehta Shukla, Senior Vice President, Automation Anywhere Kevin Kuhn, VP & General Manager, Mitsubishi Corporation (Americas)
6:00	Informal Reception

Speaker Bios:

The Honorable Toru Maeda, Consul General of Japan in San Francisco

Recently appointed as Consul General of Japan in San Francisco, Consul General Maeda joined the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Japan in 1985. He has served as Minister/Deputy Chief of Mission at the Embassy of Japan in Myanmar, Minister at the Embassy of Japan in Indonesia, Minister at Permanent Mission of Japan in Geneva, Switzerland, and both SVP and Director General, General Affairs Department of JICA.

Dr. Sean Randolph, Senior Director, Bay Area Council Economic Institute

Dr. Randolph is Senior Director of the Bay Area Council Economic Institute, where he served as President & CEO from 1998- 2015. In this capacity he also provides executive management to the Bay Area Science and Innovation Consortium (BASIC). He has previously served as director of international trade for the State of California (1994–98), Managing Director of the RSR Pacific Group as well as held positions in the U.S. Government, where he served on Congressional staffs (1976–1980), and the White House staff (1980–1981).

Dr. Kenji Kushida, Research Scholar, Japan Program, Shorenstein Asia-Pacific Research Center, Stanford (Moderator)

In addition to his work at APARC, Kushida is an affiliated researcher at the Berkeley Roundtable on the International Economy.

HIs research interests are in the fields of comparative politics, political economy, and information technology. He has four streams of academic research and publication: political economy issues surrounding information technology such as Cloud Computing; institutional and governance structures of Japan’s Fukushima nuclear disaster; political strategies of foreign multinational corporations in Japan; and Japan’s political economic transformation since the 1990s.

Akiko Naka, Founder & Chief Executive Officer, Wantedly

Wantedly, Inc., the professional social networking service, was started by Naka in her apartment. Following Wantedly’s official launch in February 2012, it grew to become the leading professional social networking service in Tokyo. She believes that social products enable people to change their life. Prior to Wantedly, she was a growth coordinator at Facebook Japan, contributing in the marketing and product development in Japan. Before joining Facebook, she worked at Goldman Sachs in equity sales.

Masayuki Ogata, Director & Chief Operating Officer, Freee

Ogata joined the Japanese government’s Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications (MIC) after graduating with a BA from the University of Tokyo. He was posted to the Cabinet Office, and Ministry of Foreign Affairs, and earned an LLM from Stanford University, an MBA from Hong Kong Science and Technology University. After leaving the government, Ogata joined the consulting firm Accenture as a project manager, before joining Freee.

Tak Onishi, Partner, World Innovation Lab

Responsible for managing and developing WiL’s investment portfolio, Tak has over 20 years of experience in the financial management of internet, media, and telecom companies. Prior to joining WiL, he served as Managing Director of the Investment Banking Division of Mizuho Securities. In the company’s earlier years as the Industry Bank of Japan, Tak served as a primary research analyst, cultivating new business opportunities with foreign branches, providing him with the expertise needed to guide WiL’s portfolio companies in entering new global markets.

Dr. Richard Dasher, Director, US-Asia Technology Management Center, Stanford (Moderator)

Dr. Dasher has directed the US-Asia Technology Management Center since 1994, and he has been Executive Director of the Center for Integrated Systems since 1998. He holds Consulting Professor appointments at Stanford in the Departments of Electrical Engineering, Asian Languages and Cultures (Japanese business), and at the Asia-Pacific Research Center for his work with the Stanford Program on Regions of Innovation and Entrepreneurship and is also a faculty adviser to student-run organizations such as the Asia-Pacific Student Entrepreneurship Society and the Forum for American/Chinese Exchange.

Christian Sanz, Founder & Chief Executive Officer, Skycatch

Christian is a serial entrepreneur and U.S. Navy Special Forces veteran with over 20 years of experience in software engineering and technical leadership. Prior to founding Skycatch, Christian launched several successful startups and established one of the largest and most popular drone competitions in the world, Drone Games.

Neeti Mehta Shukla, Senior Vice President, Brand Strategy & Culture Architect and Co-Founder, Automation Anywhere

Neeti is one of only 5 women globally who have founded companies worth over 2 billion dollars. She brings over 20 years of business management, technology marketing and entrepreneurial experience from a wide variety of industries. Neeti is a visionary and a vocal advocate of “bot ethics” in a world moving decisively towards artificial intelligence (AI) based and disruptive technologies.

Kevin Kuhn, Vice President & General Manager, Mitsubishi Corporation (Americas)

Mr. Kuhn leads a team that is focused on bringing new technologies and business models into Mitsubishi Corporation (Americas) and its’ affiliates. He has 30 years of experience with Mitsubishi Corporation (Americas) and Mitsubishi International Corporation. Since 2005, Mr. Kuhn’s work has focused on the evaluation and early execution of investment and business opportunities. His specialty is cleantech where he has worked with food, energy and power related technologies.