A talk session by Nominating Committee members from all the AEA participating countries will be the first program for AEA 2016. The discussion will be about the development of Global Partner Program and more of international relationships.

15:00-15:10   Greetings and Introduction
15:10-15:35   1 min. Self-Introduction pitch (All Nominating Committee members and Co-hosts)
15:35-16:00   <Topic 1> Domestic Preliminaries
16:00-16:30   <Topic 2> AEA Alumni Network
16:30-16:50   <Topic 3> 31 VENTURES / TEP -Global Partner Program-
16:50-17:00   Wrap up

Several nominating committee members will give presentations about trends and environment surrounding the startups and those communities in each countries.

An introduction to Kashiwa-no-ha campus project which is the venue for Day 1, and one of Japan’s leading smart cities. There will be a tour after the presentation which will include the Smart Center.

Startup entrants will be divided into 7 groups and will have 10-minute presentation followed by 15-minute mentoring session.

Is your vision well communicated? A communication company will secretly judge and award your idea.

There are many ideas waiting to become businesses at AEA. Perfect business plans, but how about company names, logo designs and websites? As a communication company we will judge and award the communication side of your ideas. Come and discover hints on how to communicate your idea to the world!

<Moderator>

Nadya Kirillova
Dentsu Inc.
Dentsu Innovation Institute team B, Creative Director

Tomohiro Katayama
Dentsu Inc.
Business Creation, Center Producer

Iwao Yoshino（Microwave Chemical Co., Ltd.  Co-Founder, CEO）

Engaged at Mitsui & Co., Ltd. (Chemicals Division) in venture capital and consulting in the U.S. Established “Microwave Chemical Co., Ltd.” in 2007. Graduated from the Faculty of Law, Keio University in 1990. Earned an MBA from UC Berkeley in 2002. A Management of Technology (MOT) Hitachi Fellow. A member of a Ministry of Economy, Trade, and Industry survey and research committee concerning R&D-oriented venture investment decisions.

Chemical industries are consuming an enormous amount of energy around the world. Methods for manufacturing in this industry have not changed in over a century. Aiming to revolutionize this industry, we turned out attention to the microwave technology used in microwave ovens and so on. For many years, though this technology attracted attention among researchers, it was considered difficult to scale larger and control, as well as difficult to implement. But by combining our chemists’ insights and our engineers’ know-how, we realized a platform technology that achieves “1/3 the energy consumption” and “1/5 the site area” for factories. We are expanding business flexibly, targeting a variety of domestic and international manufacturers without succumbing to the conservative climate of the chemical industry, which could be considered to be the largest barrier to commercialization. In the lecture, Iwao Yoshino will speak on his path—from starting the business up until now—as well as the newly visible business possibilities microwave technology brings about.

10-minute presentation will be followed by 10-minute Q&A session in 5 groups of companies.

Shigeo Kagami  Professor, General Manager – Innovation and Entrepreneurship, Division of University Corporate Relations, University of Tokyo

Greetings from Co-host：

Shingo Kokudo  Chairman, Board of Director – TX Entrepreneur Partners

Announcement of teams for Final session

Katsunori Nemoto  Managing Director, Japan Business Federation

Mitsuru Izumo  President & CEO, Euglena Co., Ltd.

Graduated from the Faculty of Agriculture, The University of Tokyo, and joined The Bank of Tokyo-Mitsubishi in 2002. Founded Euglena Co., Ltd. in August 2005 and was appointed President & CEO.

Succeeded in the world’s first edible outdoor mass culture of the microalgae Euglena (midorimushi in Japanese) in December of that year.

Selected as Young Global Leader, World Economic forum (Davos meeting) (2012), received the first Nippon Venture Awards’ “Prime Minister’s Award” (2015). Authored “Boku wa midorimushi de sekai wo sukuu koto ni kimemashita (I decided to save the world with Euglena)” (Diamond, Inc.).

The microalgae Euglena (whose scientific name in Japanese is also Euglena) is a type of the same seaweed as wakame, or seaweed, and kombu, or kelp. Highly nutritious and able to absorb CO₂, it has attracted attention as a possible means of solving food and energy problems, as well as global warming. Euglena Co., Ltd., despite being told it was “absolutely impossible,” succeeded in the world’s first edible outdoor mass culture of Euglena in 2005. The company has established the technology to expand Euglena. Euglena Co., Ltd. is also conducting research and development into the fats and oils contained in Euglena, which is suitable for biofuels, bio-jet fuel, biodiesel fuel, and more. Moved from the Tokyo Stock Exchange’s Mothers (Market of the High-growth and Emerging Stocks) to the First Section of the Tokyo Stock Exchange as of December 3, 2014. During the lecture, Mitsuru Izumo will talk about his path, from the first thought of founding the company to being listed on the stock exchange, as well as his vision for the future.

Speeches and  Announcement of Award winners