Kagawa Forum 2023] The Role of CTO in Manufacturing Ventures / December 9, 2023, 13:00-13:50

A panel discussion, "What is the Role of a CTO in a Manufacturing Venture?" (session partner: KOBASHI HOLDINGS Co., Ltd.) will be held at Kagawa Forum 2023, a super interdisciplinary conference hosted by RIVERNESS.

Hyper Interdisciplinary Conference Kagawa Forum 2023

We will have a program of discussions among researchers, startups, and large companies from a variety of perspectives, not limited to the themes of this session. For more information, please refer to the conference website.

What is the Role of the CTO in a Manufacturing Venture?
Session Partner KOBASHI HOLDINGS Co.

Date: Saturday, December 9, 2023, 13:00-13:50
Place: Sunport Hall Takamatsu Symbol Tower Exhibition Hall

Japan is experiencing a wave of university-launched venture creation due to various measures, including the "Five-Year Plan," a policy to strengthen startup development. With the increase in the number of ventures established, attention has focused on entrepreneurial education and the development of CEO and CFO personnel at universities and other institutions in order to increase the number of management personnel to promote the venture business. However, when considering the growth of R&D and manufacturing ventures, what is really needed is the development of CTOs. In this session, we will discuss how to discover edgy young human resources and how to nurture these gemstones as CTOs, with a focus on KOBASHI ROBOTICS Corporation, which has been involved in hands-on support for numerous manufacturing ventures from a CTO standpoint.

speaker

Mr. Kazuya Inada
General Manager, Knowledge Manufacturing Department, KOBASHI ROBOTICS Co.

Born in Ehime, Japan in 1985. After completing graduate studies at Okayama University, he worked at Honda R&D Co., Ltd. from basic research to the mass production development of automobiles. He then joined ITID Corporation, where he was engaged in planning and development support for the manufacturing industry and planning support for local governments. He has been a member of KOBASHI ROBOTICS since 2022, sharing the management philosophy of "Cultivating the Earth", which aims to solve social issues. He is working on the formation of an ecosystem to support manufacturing that revolves around startups.

Mr. Hiroya Sato
Senior Research Administrator, Director, Industry-Academia-Government Collaboration Division, Research Promotion Organization, Okayama University

After graduating from Kyoto University with a B.S. in Electronic Engineering (1985), he joined Sharp Corporation. He experienced TRL2-9 as a researcher to management manager in the fields of both devices and products (systems). During that time, including study abroad experiences at MIT and the start-up of the Kameyama TV factory, he also saw different cultures in countries such as Japan, US, China, and the Philippines in R&D, sales, and factory management. Later, as a planning and strategic leader of the power semiconductor project of Prof. Hiroshi Amano of Nagoya University (Nobel Prize in Physics 2014), he managed a budget of over 10 billion yen in 5 years, which is unprecedented for a university, and was involved in the entire process from the creation and institutional design of various national projects and the construction of the research building. Currently, in addition to managing industry-academia-government co-creation activities at Okayama University, he is involved in the commercialization of next-generation device materials on a pro bono basis.

Mr. Toru Miyake
President and Representative Director, Mirai Kikai Co.

Miraikikai, Inc. was established in 2004 as a spinoff venture from Kagawa University. In 2013, the company announced the successful demonstration test in the Middle East using its principle prototype model of a solar panel cleaning robot. In 2015, they were selected for the NEDO STS project "Research and Development of Cooperative Optimization and Remote Maintenance and Operation System for Human-Robot Collaboration". In 2018, Miraikikai raised about 700 million yen from Shikoku Electric Power Co. and 8 other investors. In 2020, they achieved a large-scale delivery of solar panel cleaning robots to Dubai, UAE. Currently, the company is expanding its business into the domestic cleaning and livestock breeding fields by utilizing its accumulated knowledge.

[Moderator]
Yukihiro Maru
Group CEO and Representative Director, LIVERNESS Co.

Dr. Maru acquired his PhD in Agriculture from the Graduate School of Agricultural and Life Sciences, The University of Tokyo. In 2002, while still a graduate student, he founded Leave a Nest with only undergraduate and graduate students of science and engineering. He has developed Japan's first "Science Delivery Experimental Workshop" into a business. He runs a "knowledge manufacturing business" that creates new businesses by combining technologies and knowledge from different fields. As the instigator of one of Asia's largest deep-tech venture ecosystems, he works to solve global issues by discovering deep issues from around the world. He has also been involved in the launch of numerous ventures, including Euglena.

Registration for auditing and participation is now open.

We look forward to welcoming many people from academia, venture companies, large corporations, town factories, local governments, junior high and high school students, and others to the Hyperdifferent Fields Conference.

Click here to register to attend or participate.

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