Director, Kochi Prefecture; Director, Center for Industry-Academia-Government-Private Partnership
Hirochika Sawada
Joined the Kochi Prefectural Government in 1987. After joining the government, he completed the Regional Policy Course at the National Graduate Institute for Policy Studies. After serving as Director of the Planning and Promotion Division, Director of the Cultural Promotion Division, and Director of the Human Resources Division, he became Deputy Director of the Industrial Development and Promotion Division in 2016, in charge of population issues, comprehensive strategies, and regional development. He is also in charge of the management of the Industry-Academia-Government-Private Cooperation Center (commonly known as Kokopura) and various other measures to enable industry, academia, and government to work together to promote industry and solve regional problems.

Regional Development Division, LIVANES, Inc.
Masayuki Kishimoto
Born in Kochi Prefecture. M.S. (Science), Graduate School of Comprehensive Human and Natural Sciences, Kochi University. Joined LIBANES with the aim of realizing a society in which mathematicians play an active role. While communicating the fun of mathematics and science through the development of educational CSR programs in collaboration with companies, the development of math research experience classes, and the production of "someone", an introductory science booklet for junior high and high school students, he is also responsible for creating new businesses in Miyagi, Shiga, Osaka, and other regions.

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Group CEO and Representative Director, LIVERNESS Co.
Yukihiro Maru
D. in Applied Biotechnology from the Graduate School of Agricultural and Life Sciences at the University of Tokyo. 2002, while still a graduate student, he founded LIBANES with only undergraduate and graduate students in science and engineering. In 2002, while still in graduate school, he founded LIVERNESS, a business that offers "delivery laboratory classes in cutting-edge science" for the first time in Japan. He operates a "knowledge manufacturing business" that creates new knowledge by combining technologies and management resources that lie dormant in universities and local communities. As the instigator of one of Asia's largest venture ecosystems, he works to solve global-scale social issues by discovering deep tech from around the world. He is also an innovator involved in the launch of numerous deep tech ventures, including Euglena.

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Ohara Noen Co.
President and Representative Director
Yoshiaki Ohara
At the age of 25, he started farming in Aki City, Kochi Prefecture, where horticulture is popular. 31 years old, he transferred the management of his farm to another farmer and expanded its scale. When he participated in a study tour of the Netherlands conducted by Kochi Prefecture, he learned about environmental control technology, which he later introduced to increase yields. At the age of 37, he incorporated and established Ohara Noen Co., Ltd. and the following year, he expanded the scale of cultivation with next-generation greenhouses and challenged to grow peppers using nutrient solution cultivation. Currently, in addition to improving cultivation techniques, he is working on improving the working environment, working style, and studying management.

AGRIST Corporation
Director and COO
Yoshihiko Takahashi
Born in Yokote City, Akita Prefecture, he began designing at a printing company at the age of 10. After graduating from high school, he went to the U.S. by himself. Studied design, video, and web production at a university in Silicon Valley, USA. After returning to Japan, he established an advertising agency. He has achieved a great deal of success with government agencies and large corporations. Later, he started a crowdfunding project to develop human resources and rehabilitate vacant houses. In August 2018, he moved to Miyazaki Prefecture with his family. He established AGRIST to contribute to the future of humanity by solving global agricultural issues from rural Japan.

Agri Blue Corporation
President and Representative Director
Hiroshi Kajiyama
Realizing that weak light, about one-millionth of sunlight, greatly promotes plant growth and secondary metabolism, he began research on next-generation cultivation technology for leafy greens, fruit trees, seaweed, and microalgae. They aim to implement the technology in outdoor cultivation, institutional horticulture, and artificially-lit plant factories. After working at Hitachi, Ltd., the Institute of Industrial Science, the University of Tokyo, and the graduate school of Hiroshima University, he joined the Faculty of Science and Technology, Tokushima Bunri University in 2012. He holds a Doctor of Science. He specializes in surface physics and photophysics. During his time at Hitachi, he was exposed to Japan's first plant factory research, an experience that is useful today.

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Agronome Research Institute, Inc.
President and Representative Director
(Leave a Nest Co.,Ltd.)
Yosuke Miyauchi
D. (Agronomy), Graduate School of Horticulture, Chiba University. In graduate school, he worked with local researchers in Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region to establish high-yield cultivation technology for soybean. At RIVANES, he is involved in research projects based on his experience, and in 2019, he established the Agriculture, Forestry, and Fisheries Research Center to actively promote cross-sectional research in the field of agriculture. In the same year, he became the president of Agronome Research Institute, Inc. to conduct projects and research on the realization of fully cyclical agriculture for sustainable food production.

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Session 3 Panel Discussion
Businesses utilizing unutilized resources that are circulating local resources

Various unused resources are generated in the production and processing of agricultural products. These resources remain unutilized due to cost, but through the collaboration of technology and businesses, some of them have become resources and new businesses have been born. In this session, Mr. Yamashita of Kochi Agricultural Cooperative will talk about the current issues regarding yuzu juice residue, one of the unutilized resources generated in the prefecture, and Mr. Sakai of Farmen Station, who grows high-yield rice in fallow rice fields to produce functional ethanol, will discuss the commercialization of ethanol made from apple juice residue in partnership with Farmen Station. Mr. Sakai from Farmen Station, who grows high-yield rice in fallow fields to produce functional ethanol, and Mr. Toriumi from East Japan Railway Company, who worked with Farmen Station to produce ethanol from apple juice residue and commercialize it, will discuss the possibility of utilizing unused resources.

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Kochi Agricultural Cooperative
Agricultural Products Sales Section, Agriculture and Livestock Department, Agriculture and Marketing Division
full-time section manager
Tsukasa Yamashita
In October 1998, it was merged into Tosa Aki Agricultural Cooperative Association, and on January 1, 2019, two federations of 12 JAs were merged into Kochi Agricultural Cooperative Association. Kochi Prefecture boasts the largest production of yuzu in Japan, and 7,000 to 8,000 tons of yuzu balls (raw material) for processing are brought to JA plants annually. He is involved in the marketing of yuzu for processing, and aims to promote the commercialization of its juice, peel, seeds, and other products.

Furmen Station Co.
CEO
Rina Sakai
The company is developing a regional recycling system to produce ethanol and distillation lees from unused resources. Rice-derived organic ethanol and distillation lees are sold to major cosmetics manufacturers as raw materials for cosmetics and sundries, and original products are planned and sold to major select stores. The company is developing a small-scale, self-sustainable regional recycling system with zero waste, both domestically and internationally. Currently, rice is the raw material, but in the future, the company aims to create a platform for value-added products by using a variety of raw materials.

East Japan Railway Company
Business Development Group, New Business and Regional Revitalization Division, Business Creation Headquarters
Taro Toriumi
Born in Tachikawa City, Tokyo, he joined East Japan Railway Company in 2003. After working as a station attendant and conductor in Yamagata Prefecture, he joined the International Division, where he was involved in overseas railroad projects such as the Indian High Speed Rail, etc. From 2018, at the Business Creation Division, he has been in charge of promoting collaboration with startup companies in the JR East Startup Program, food recycling and biogas power generation projects with the JFE Engineering Group, and a partnership with the German next-generation indoor vertical farming startup Infarm. He is also in charge of the food recycling and biogas power generation business with the JFE Engineering Group, and the partnership with Infarm, a next-generation indoor vertical farming startup in Germany.

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Leave a Nest Co., Ltd.
Representative Director, Group CEO
Yukihiro Maru
D. in Applied Biotechnology from the Graduate School of Agricultural and Life Sciences at the University of Tokyo. 2002, while still a graduate student, he founded LIBANES with only undergraduate and graduate students in science and engineering. In 2002, while still in graduate school, he founded LIVERNESS, a business that offers "delivery laboratory classes in cutting-edge science" for the first time in Japan. He operates a "knowledge manufacturing business" that creates new knowledge by combining technologies and management resources that lie dormant in universities and local communities. As the instigator of one of Asia's largest venture ecosystems, he works to solve global-scale social issues by discovering deep tech from around the world. He is also an innovator involved in the launch of numerous deep tech ventures, including Euglena.

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