Kazuo Yano

Fellow, Hitachi, Ltd.
CEO and Representative Director, Happiness Planet Inc.

He received his master's degree from Waseda University in 1984 and joined Hitachi, Ltd. in 1993. In 1993, he succeeded in the world's first room temperature operation of a single electronic memory, paving the way for the room temperature operation of nanodevices.
Since 2004, he has been conducting advanced research in big data analysis and wearable technology. He has been cited in over 4,500 papers and over 350 patent applications.
The multi-purpose AI "H" developed was applied in the fields of logistics, finance, distribution, and railroads, leading the use of AI in the industrial field.
He developed a technology to quantify happiness from physical exercise and established Happiness Planet, Inc. in 2020.
D. in Engineering, is a Fellow of the IEEE, and a member of the Institute of Electronics, Information and Communication Engineers, the Japan Society of Applied Physics, the Physical Society of Japan, and the Japanese Society for Artificial Intelligence. He is a member of the Institute of Electronics, Information and Communication Engineers, the Japan Society of Applied Physics, the Physical Society of Japan and the Japanese Society for Artificial Intelligence.
He has received numerous international awards, including the 2020 IEEE Frederik Phillips Award. Following his book "The Invisible Hand of Data", he published "The Age of Unpredictability" in 2021.

Mr. Shinji Yamada

Challenge Field Hokkaido Area Coordinator

D. (Materials Science), Graduate School of Engineering, University of Pennsylvania, USA. D. in Materials Science from the University of Pennsylvania, U.S.A. He was engaged in materials-related research and development, including materials nanotechnology and next-generation batteries, at the Research and Development Group, Hitachi, Ltd. In 2016, he opened four joint research centers in Japan, including Hokkaido University, to promote industry-academia collaboration for social innovation. He also serves as a judge for the SCORE project and the NoMaps Dream Pitch. Currently, he is the general area coordinator of "Challenge Field Hokkaido," an industry-academia fusion center creation project of the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry (METI).

Kazuo Yano

Fellow, Hitachi, Ltd.
CEO and Representative Director, Happiness Planet Inc.

He received his master's degree from Waseda University in 1984 and joined Hitachi, Ltd. in 1993. In 1993, he succeeded in the world's first room temperature operation of a single electronic memory, paving the way for the room temperature operation of nanodevices.
Since 2004, he has been conducting advanced research in big data analysis and wearable technology. He has been cited in over 4,500 papers and over 350 patent applications.
The multi-purpose AI "H" developed was applied in the fields of logistics, finance, distribution, and railroads, leading the use of AI in the industrial field.
He developed a technology to quantify happiness from physical exercise and established Happiness Planet, Inc. in 2020.
D. in Engineering, is a Fellow of the IEEE, and a member of the Institute of Electronics, Information and Communication Engineers, the Japan Society of Applied Physics, the Physical Society of Japan, and the Japanese Society for Artificial Intelligence. He is a member of the Institute of Electronics, Information and Communication Engineers, the Japan Society of Applied Physics, the Physical Society of Japan and the Japanese Society for Artificial Intelligence.
He has received numerous international awards, including the 2020 IEEE Frederik Phillips Award. Following his book "The Invisible Hand of Data", he published "The Age of Unpredictability" in 2021.

Haruki Nagata

Professor, Division of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering, Graduate School of Engineering, Hokkaido University

D. in Aerospace Engineering from the University of Tokyo. D. in Aerospace Engineering from the University of Tokyo. Specialized in space propulsion engineering. Organized the "Hybrid Rocket Research Group" as a research group within the Japan Society for Aeronautical and Space Sciences in August 1999. In April 2008, he received the Japan Society for Aeronautical and Space Sciences Award (Technology Award) for "CAMUI-type Hybrid Rocket Technology. He has played a pioneering role in the research and development of small hybrid rockets. He is one of the founding members of the University Space Engineering Consortium, a non-profit organization that supports practical space engineering education by university laboratories, and currently serves as vice president.

Moderator.

Shuichiro Takahashi

Representative Director, President and COO, Liverness, Inc.

D. (Life Sciences), Graduate School of Frontier Sciences, The University of Tokyo. He has been involved in RIVANESS since its establishment. After completing his graduate studies, he continued his research activities as a faculty member at the University of Tokyo, while at the same time he established a research institute at RIVANESS and built the foundation of its research and development business. He devised a business model for the "RIVANESS Research Grant," a unique research grant, and "L-RAD," a database of unused research ideas, and has initiated many projects involving industry, academia, and education.

Mr. Dai Otsuka

Basic Research Group, R&D Department, Development Division, Shikishima Baking Co.

Born in 1987 (age 34), he graduated from Kyoto Prefectural University in 2010 and joined Shikishima Baking Co., Ltd. and was assigned to the Osaka Toyonaka Factory, where he was engaged in the production of the super-ripe roll and snack bread series.
In 2015, he enrolled in the Department of Food Science, Graduate School of Animal Science and Technology, Obihiro University of Agriculture and Veterinary Medicine through the in-house study abroad program. After completing his master's degree in 2017, he returned to Shikishima Baking Company and was assigned to the Research and Development Department (currently Basic Research Group). He then engaged in research on fermented seeds using Yumechikara lactic acid bacteria (patented), which he obtained through joint research with Obihiro University of Agriculture and Veterinary Medicine. Currently, he is conducting research to elucidate the processing suitability and taste of Yumechikara and other domestic wheat products.

Mr. Taijiro Kitagawa

Professor, Otaru University of Commerce Glocal Strategy Promotion Center, Deputy Director, Industry-Academia-Government Collaboration Promotion Division

After working at Hitachi, Ltd., he completed his MBA at Otaru University of Commerce, Graduate School of Commerce, majoring in Entrepreneurship. He then joined Oracle Corporation Japan, where he was appointed as an associate professor at Otaru University of Commerce in 2012, and became a professor there in 2006. He has been conducting research on regional revitalization through the utilization of Hokkaido's regional resources based on industry-academia-government collaboration, and on management strategies through supporting the overseas expansion of Hokkaido companies. He also teaches classes at business schools in recurrent education and develops management human resource development programs in the tourism and medical fields. Currently, he is also involved in the "Challenge Field Hokkaido," an industry-academia fusion base creation project of the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry, and the "Startup Cultivation Platform for Universities in Hokkaido," a social contribution acceleration program (SCORE) of the Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology.

Takumi Yoshida

Farm Manager, Research Supervisor, Saikou Farm

D. in Agricultural Science from the Graduate School of Agricultural and Life Sciences at the University of Tokyo, where he studied stress tolerance genes in plants. 2011, he joined LIVERNESS Co. He has been involved in educational projects such as Space Education Project, Self-sufficiency 2001 TP3T Project, Science Castle, as well as consulting and community development projects, serving as the general manager of the educational project for 5 years. He moved to Bihoro Town in the Okhotsk region in 2019 with a desire to become a farmer. He is currently undergoing training to become a new farmer, and plans to start farming as "Saikou Farm" in April 2022. He is planning projects related to education, research, and community revitalization centered on agriculture. He is also active as a writer, writing columns for newspapers. He is willing to try many things while he is still alive.

Moderator.

Aki Seno

Research and Development Division, LIVERNESS Co.

He holds a Master of Science degree from the Graduate School of Functional Biosciences, Osaka University. Since joining RIVERNESS in 2012, he has focused on educational development. He has extensive experience in developing programs for research projects involving collaboration between corporate people and junior and senior high school students in engineering, food production, and other fields, as well as developing research support programs for junior and senior high school students. He is involved in activities involving companies, schools, and local governments to pass on his own vision of work, which adults tend to lose sight of, to the children who will become the next generation of peers.

Mr. Jun Yasunaga

Advisor, SCSK Hokkaido Corporation

Born in Fukuoka in 1962. After graduating from university, he joined a local bank in the prefecture, and at the age of 28, he changed jobs to work for a beef cattle brokerage company, and from 1995 to 2004, he ran an IT company. During that time, he volunteered as the secretary general of the Munakata City Tourism Association. He then became the head of the Kanesaki Fishery Cooperative Association (now Munakata Fishery Cooperative Association). After retiring, he joined Top Farm Co. in November 2006 as General Manager of the General Affairs Department, retiring in March 2020, and assumed his current position in May 2020. （He also serves as an advisor to Top Farm Co. and Iwabuchi Livestock Breeding Co. in Chiba Prefecture.

Mr. Makoto Kubonouchi

President and Representative Director, Kankyo Daizen Co.

Born in Kitami City. After graduating from university, he worked for 18 years in ICT equipment sales and as a sales manager before joining the company in 2016. After serving as Representative Director and Senior Managing Director, he assumed his current position in February 2019. He has built an upcycling circulation system that uses microorganisms to decompose cow urine, which is a problem in Hokkaido, and uses the resulting liquid as a deodorant and soil improvement material.

Mr. Takashi Okubo

Professor, School of Advanced Co-creative Studies, Osaka University

The company was the first in the world to successfully develop a technology to convert methane and air into methanol and formic acid at room temperature and pressure. In July 2020, the company succeeded in producing methanol and formic acid from biogas, and is now further developing the technology for its social implementation. In July 2020, he succeeded in producing methanol and formic acid from biogas, and is now further developing the technology for social implementation. His areas of expertise are photochemistry, catalytic chemistry, and electron transfer chemistry.

Moderator.

Yosuke Miyauchi

Director, Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries Research Center, Riverness, Inc.
Representative Director, Agronome Research Institute, Inc.

D. (Agronomy), Graduate School of Horticulture, Chiba University. In graduate school, he established high-yield cultivation technology of soybean in Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region. In 2019, he established the Agriculture, Forestry, and Fisheries Research Center to actively promote cross-sectional research in the field of agriculture.

Mr. Shuichi Tanaka

President and Representative Director, North Sun Farms, Inc.

Born in Nakasatsunai Village, Hokkaido, he completed his graduate studies at Obihiro University of Agriculture and Veterinary Medicine in 1985 and joined Nippon Nosan Industry Co. He was in charge of sales and R&D, focusing on cattle feed. Later, he was involved in ISO and GMP establishment for feed manufacturing plants in the Quality Assurance Department, and from April 2021, he has been in his current position at Nosan Farm Corporation, which was established to develop feed for dairy cattle and foster human resources related to feed and dairy farming. He introduced milking robots and researches dairy farming management from various perspectives.

Mr. Yoichiro Kawamura

Director, Kawamura Trading Co.

He is the fifth-generation successor to a small- to medium-sized company in Tokyo that has been in business for more than 100 years. He holds a master's degree from Waseda University Graduate School (MBA) and is a practitioner who promotes the creation of a society that is good for livestock, people, and the earth, with a focus on animal resources under the slogan of "Animal Respect. As a sustainable way to utilize leather, he established a leather sharing workshop called KAWAMURA LEATHER, and its sales exceeded 200 million yen in its fourth year of operation. He is currently conducting joint research with the University of Tokyo to develop and market tannin feed that is gentle to both animals and people. In addition to tannin feed, he has launched various projects such as research on compost and research and development of cured ham, aiming for Animal Respect.

Mr. Kazuo Miyashita

Specially Appointed Professor, Center for Industry-Academia Collaboration, Obihiro University of Agriculture and Veterinary Medicine

He has been conducting research on fats and oils as functional nutrients, fish eggs, and seaweeds at the Faculty of Fisheries, Hokkaido University, and has been a specially appointed professor at the Faculty of Animal Science and Technology, Obihiro University of Agriculture and Veterinary Medicine since 2021.

Moderator.

Yoshifumi Kawana

General Manager, Research and Development Division, Liverness Inc.
Director, Agronome Research Institute, Inc.

D. in Environmental Studies from the Graduate School of Environment and Information Studies, Yokohama National University. lecturer at Yokohama National University VBL since 2008, representative of LD Factory, Inc. and director of Mylops, Inc. director of Rivanes Regional Development Division since November 2014 and of Agronome Research Institute, Inc. since 2017. and is currently the General Manager of the Research and Development Division of Rivanes, Inc. He is involved in launching new businesses related to agriculture, forestry, and fisheries, including plant factory business, food and beverage business, and agri-tech venture support.

Mr. Masaki Takao

President and Representative Director, Nihon Kankyo Sekkei Co.

Born in 1980, he entered the Faculty of Engineering (Chemical Engineering) at Tokyo Institute of Technology in 2000. After graduating from Tokyo Institute of Technology in 2000, he entered the graduate school of the University of Tokyo in April 2004, where he majored in technology management. After leaving the graduate school, he established Nippon Kankyo Sekkei Inc. in January 2007 and became its Senior Managing Director. In 2014, he began developing technology for polyester recycling, and the following year, in 2015, he was involved in the construction of the Kitakyushu Hibikinada Plant, which introduced polyester technology. Since then, he has led the acquisition of Pet Refine Technology companies as well as capital alliances with partners.

Mr. Takashi Tanaka

Director and CTO, Sagri Corporation

In 2017, he was appointed as an Assistant Professor at the Faculty of Applied Biological Sciences, Gifu University. Joined Sagri as CTO to accelerate social implementation of research results from academia. He is responsible for the commercialization of soil and crop sensing technology in the agricultural field. Demonstrated soil analysis based on data obtained from satellites in Shinshinotsu Village.

Mr. Shinya Araiso

President and Representative Director, Lattera Inc.

Born in Sapporo, Hokkaido. Graduated from Hokkaido Institute of Technology (now Hokkaido University of Science). In 2013, he returned to Sapporo to conduct research and development of aseptic artificial soil based on the results of his research at Hokkaido University. In 2016, he won the No Maps NEDO Dream Pitch Judges' Special Award, X-Tech Innovation 2016 Special Award, and in 2017, the EY Japan HUB National Venture Business Meet Up in 2017 Audience Award.

Moderator.

Miho Tanaka

Incubation Manager, Open Innovation Promotion Office, Group Marketing Department, Nihon Unisys, Ltd.

Born in Sapporo. Joined Nihon Unisys as a financial systems engineer. He has been in charge of company-wide marketing after working in sales, consulting, and corporate planning. Currently, he is working on new business creation in the industry-government-academia ecosystem created with client companies, partners including venture companies and start-ups, and local governments.