The Association of Hyperdisciplinarity Aichi Forum 2026

Schedule

Thursday, January 15, 2026 09:30-18:00

Venue

STATION Ai
1-2-32, Tsurumai, Showa-ku, Nagoya, Aichi, Japan ACCESS

Organizer

CoLORS PROGRAM Promoter: LEVANES Corporation *This program is part of "CoLORS", a project to promote diversity in the startup ecosystem organized by Aichi Prefecture. CoLORS", a project to promote diversity in the startup ecosystem organized by Aichi Prefecture and operated by ForStartups, Inc.

Target Participants

Academia, ventures, large companies, SMEs, local governments, secondary and high school students, etc.

Session List

Speakers

• 

  Yusuke Yamauchi
  • Nagoya University Professor, Graduate School of Engineering
  Professor, Graduate School of Engineering, Nagoya University. D. in Engineering from Waseda University, Japan, he has been engaged in research and education at National Institute for Materials Science (NIMS) and the University of Queensland, Australia. He specializes in inorganic nanomaterials and porous chemistry, and is an international leader in the field of nanoarchitectonics, including the creation of metal nanoporous materials and multi-element porous high-entropy alloys. In 2023, he was appointed "Distinguished Professor" at Nagoya University. In 2023, he was appointed "Distinguished Professor" at Nagoya University, where he is pioneering new application areas of inorganic porous materials through industry-academia-government collaboration.

• 

  Toyohisa Yamada
  • Yamada Shokai Holding Co. President and Representative Director
  Born in October 1979. Graduated from the Department of Chemical Systems Engineering, Graduate School of Engineering, The University of Tokyo. He holds a master's degree in engineering. He has been interested in energy issues since his childhood and studied fuel cells and combustion as a student, and joined Yamada Shokai Co. He aims to improve resilience in the four areas of energy, infrastructure, agriculture, forestry, and fisheries, and housing and environment through the power of engineering.

• 

  Takahide Matsuura
  • Terra Labs, Inc. CEO
  Born in Aichi Prefecture in 1975, he started an IT venture company in his 20s before turning to social business. In 2014, he established TerraLabo, which is involved in the development of disaster response drones and wide-area disaster response operation systems.

• 

  Takuya Goto
  • Helical Fusion Inc. Co-founder and Deputy CTO
  His specialty is fusion reactor system design. He has developed system codes for helical fusion reactors. In addition to helical type, he has experience in conceptual design of tokamak type and laser type fusion reactors. After working as an assistant professor at the National Institute for Fusion Science and the Graduate University for Advanced Studies, he co-founded Helical Fusion Co. D. from the University of Tokyo. D. in Science from the University of Tokyo.
  

• 

  Yuta Akakuma
  • Naturnix Corporation Managing Director, COO
  After being transferred from a trading company to a major manufacturer and stationed in Thailand, he started his own business. Successively founded and sold a precision soldering technology company, an alcoholic beverage import and sales company, and a quality control outsourcing company for a major manufacturer. Later, he joined a Thai conglomerate and served as a board member of an automotive interior parts manufacturing JV with a foreign company and others. He has also worked for a lithium-ion battery-related deep-tech startup that went public on NASDAQ. Born in Ibaraki Prefecture. Graduated from Keio University, Faculty of Environment and Information Studies, and completed Thai language course at Chulalongkorn University, and was a member of the first class of Young FTI.

• 

  Kyouji Hase
  • Hase Tora Spinning Co. President and Representative Director
  Born in Gifu Prefecture, he graduated from Reitaku University in March 2003. In April of the same year, he joined Hase Tiger Spinning Co. After serving as president of the Osaka branch and a subsidiary in China, he became the fifth president of HASETORA Group in December 2019, and was selected as one of the 10 "WWD JAPAN Next Leaders" for the next generation of the fashion and beauty industry in 2021. Focusing on the development of cutting-edge materials, he continues to take on the challenge of reviving Made in Japan.

• 

  Shunya Nagasobe
  • FiberCraze Corporation President and Representative Director
  Born in Ichinomiya City, Aichi Prefecture in 1997, he has been passionately playing soccer for 17 years, aiming to become a professional since the age of 5. Sensing the great potential of the technology he studied at university, he founded a company with his teacher at the age of 23. He was selected as one of the Forbes Japan 30 Under 30 in 2023.
  

• 

  Tomohiko Takada
  • OKB Ogaki Kyoritsu Bank Project Director, Open Innovation Creation Support Base "OKB SCLAMB", Corporate Sales Dept.
  After working at OKB sales office, he was transferred to Nagoya TV. He was then transferred to the Public Relations Department, where he was in charge of CM and PR video production, press and other PR work, etc. In October 2018, he was transferred to the Medical Team of the Corporate Sales Department, where he worked for 5.5 years supporting the opening and reconstruction of medical and long-term care facilities, M&A, etc. before assuming his current position. Currently, he is engaged in supporting the creation of open innovation in the region at OKB SCLAMB, an open innovation creation support base established in Gifu University in April 2024.

• 

  Yukihiro Maru
  • Leave a Nest Co., Ltd. Representative Director, Group CEO
  D. in Agriculture, founded LIVERNESS in 2002 while still in graduate school, exclusively for undergraduate and graduate students of science and engineering. He has developed Japan's first "delivery laboratory class of cutting-edge science" into a business. He has built one of Asia's largest deep tech venture ecosystems, working with venture companies, business corporations, universities, and financial institutions around the world to solve global-scale issues. He is responsible for the launch of more than 70 venture companies, including Euglena Co., Ltd. and the management of 30 group companies, including overseas subsidiaries in Southeast Asia.

Schedule

TIME	THEME	SPEAKER
09:30	large conference room Opening Ceremony
09:45	large conference room Researchers and Venture Capitalists Pitch Their Businesses in Different Fields The "Super Heterodox Splash" The super interdisciplinary splash, named after the meaning of the word "splash," which means "to jump, splash, or zap (water, etc.)," was created by researchers, venture companies, and local businesses,Pitch for 70 secondsThis is a place where you can pitch what you want to do and what you are looking for from the participants at the event. The aim is to find a passionate partner while being exposed to the knowledge and enthusiasm of researchers, venture companies, and local businesses that appear one after another, and to use their pitches as hints to come up with new ideas. The aim is then to develop into more in-depth discussions at poster and booth presentations, leading to the creation of new collaborative research.
10:45	event space Poster Booth Core Time (60 minutes)
11:45	Lunch Break/Knowledge Manufacturing Ignition Workshop (11:55-12:35)
12:45	large conference room Keynote Speech] The Future of Materials Science Pioneered by Nanospace - Energy, Environment, and Life Science Connected by Porous Materials Porous materials with designed "space" at the nanoscale are rapidly evolving as a fundamental technology across diverse fields such as catalysis, energy conversion, sensing, and biomaterials. In this lecture, Professor Yamauchi will introduce his latest research on multi-element high-entropy porous materials and metal nanoporous materials, which he succeeded in synthesizing for the first time in the world, and explore how the unique functions produced by porous materials will bring innovations in the fields of energy, environment, biotechnology and medicine. Through his lecture, we will share the possibilities of interdisciplinary research and the future vision of social implementation through industry-academia-government collaboration. session release	Yusuke Yamauchi (Nagoya University)
13:05	break
13:15	large conference room Session 1] Resilience of Cities and Livelihoods Achieved in Partnership with Deep Tech Session Partners: Yamada Shokai Holding Co. Climate change, disasters, energy issues, and population decline. As the uncertainties surrounding society increase, the question is how to enhance the resilience of communities and lifestyles. Yamada Shokai Holding is taking on the challenge of building a "social system that is resilient to change" as a corporate group that supports local lifestyles based on infrastructure and energy. In this session, we will introduce case studies of our efforts to predict, prevent, and increase the resilience of towns and lifestyles by collaborating with deep tech. We will also discuss a co-creation model for Japanese companies as knowledge manufacturers to realize flexible and tolerant social systems by connecting research and the field. session release	Takahide Matsuura (Terra Labs, Inc.) Takuya Goto (Helical Fusion, Inc.) Yuta Akakuma (Naturnix, Inc.) [Moderator] Toyohisa Yamada (Yamada Shokai Holding Co., Ltd.)
14:05	break
14:25	large conference room Session 2] Crossover Session from Universities
15:15	break
15:35	large conference room Session 3: University Ventures Expanding Globally from the Tokai Region and the Support Ecosystem Session Partners: Hase Tora Spinning Co. The Tokai region has seen the emergence of many university-launched ventures founded on the basis of proprietary technologies and research results. However, in order for these start-ups to grow sustainably and establish a global presence, organic collaboration with local industrial and financial resources, such as regional companies and regional banks, is essential. This session will focus on how university-launched ventures can create value in the region and realize overseas expansion through co-creation with local companies, and the role that regional banks should play, not only in providing funding, but also in supporting business development and network building. The role of regional banks should not be limited to mere provision of funds. The ecosystem that supports university-launched ventures that challenge the world from Tokai will be discussed from various perspectives, with industry, academia, and government working in unison. session release	Kyouji Hase (Hase Tora Spinning Co.) Shunya Nagasobe (FiberCraze Corporation) Tomohiko Takada （OKB Ogaki Kyoritsu Bank) [Moderator] Yukihiro Maru (LIVERNESS Corporation)
16:25	break
16:35	large conference room Knowledge Manufacturing Ignition Session Partners: Dairei Kogyo Co. Knowledge Manufacturing Ignition (Ignition: ignition, ignition) is a project prototyping program that brings together researchers, ventures, business companies, and producers from different fields who gather on site. The project initiators will be asked to present a one-slide proposal for a collaborative project that emerged from the day's dialogue at the day's pitch session, and Liberace will accompany and support the project selected by the partner companies as it takes shape.
17:05	Interaction Time
17:30	large conference room Closing Ceremony