Throughout the 20th century, Japan emerged as a technological powerhouse, with its innovative companies producing groundbreaking products that have had a significant impact on the global economy.
Today, Japan remains a major player in the global technology industry, with its companies continuing to produce cutting-edge products in areas such as robotics, artificial intelligence, and renewable energy. While there are significant eyes in collaborating with the Japanese ecosystem, there are certain barriers that still exist, including the lack of information available online. Companies looking to do their research are limited in their reach, which is why a deep dive is made more possible through multiple interactions organised by global connectors and enablers such as Leave a Nest.
Collaboration is possible through research and program intervention
One of the companies that have made a large contribution to the development of Japan’s tech ecosystem is Leave a Nest, which connects and supports more than 1000 Deep Technology startups in Japan through their network. They have been conducting different programs to achieve this mission, which includes implementing the Hyper Interdisciplinary Conference (HIC) in different areas in Japan yearly, which serves as a venue for researchers, companies, and people from different fields and walks of life to come together to share knowledge and initiate possible collaborations. Leave a Nest also supports early-stage startups through TECH PLANTER, a unique accelerator program that doesn’t have a set time frame for participating startups to access resources and mentorship, enabling them to pursue long-term exploration for business growth.
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Leave a Nest is a leading science and communication company in Japan founded by a group of science and engineering researchers in 2001 which aims to advance science and technology for global happiness.
With the passion to also share knowledge in the ASEAN region, the Leave a Nest Group staged HIC Tokyo 2023 with a special session discussing how knowledge exchange can be the key to solving the deeply-rooted problems in Southeast Asia. The theme for the HIC in Tokyo 2023 is “Open a New Voyage of Knowledge”. Panellists in this session included representatives from Singapore, Malaysia, and the Philippines — the ASEAN countries in which the Leave a Nest Group has established its subsidiaries.
Aside from the HIC, Leave a Nest is also known to have created multiple incubation centres, one of
which is the Center of Garage (COG), which is a hub for manufacturers, researchers, and big
companies to come together and support deep technology ventures.
Great strides in connecting Japan’s knowledge of agriculture and aquaculture with their tech innovations
Significant knowledge exchange can take place between conventional industries and contemporary ones, wherein startups can acquire knowledge from traditional companies, while traditional companies can gain novel approaches through innovative tech startups.
Through Leave a Nest, Japan is opening its doors to global participants who are interested in learning about the country’s innovations through its Business Tour series. This program enables global learners not only to have a deep understanding of the country’s complex ecosystem but also to embed themselves within the cultural context that spawned the pioneering modes of innovation that Japan is known for.
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To kickstart the program, Leave a Nest is bridging global participants to its agriculture and aquaculture industries, providing insights on why and how the country is investing in technological advancements to address pressing issues surrounding such industries.
With the country’s rich research and development (R&D) capabilities, the tour focuses on companies that improve production methods, sustainability, and the quality of the products to meet the growing demands and challenges of global consumers today.
Taking you on a tour through Japan’s agri-food tech ecosystem
From the 1st to the 4th of March, 2023, Leave a Nest Group held its first-ever Japan Agri-food Tech Tour in conjunction with the Hyper Interdisciplinary Conference (HIC) in Tokyo, with all of its ASEAN subsidiaries participating. The tour had a total of 28 ASEAN participants, including representatives from a variety of startups, large corporations, and government institutions.
The tour consisted of two (2) days from the 1st – 2nd of March, culminating with the Hyper Interdisciplinary Conference Tokyo which happened between the 3rd – 4th of March, held at the Kudan Kaikan Terrace in Tokyo.
The first day of the tour’s focus was Research and development in Agri & Food tech, where participants gained an in-depth grasp of the R&D ecosystem. They achieved this by meeting university researchers and university institutes in Japan who walked them through the different processes to collect and synthesise data. For Day 2, the party visited the following locations, focused on R&D for various deep tech projects.
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Research is centred around agricultural innovations and food technology, including the development of raw materials, diverse research on aquaculture, and manufacturing of metal products used in the food and agri sectors.
The rest of the tour was themed ‘business ecosystem,” — giving participants a better perspective through visiting private incubators in the field of agritech, aquaculture, and deep tech, helping enrich their understanding of the Japanese ecosystem.
The day started with an early morning visit to an aquaculture startup that focuses on a decentralised portable system integrated with IoT. Participants also got to visit a Tokyo-based Agri-tech startup that designed its own closed vertical farming inside a container which can regulate the environment with precision and accuracy. Lastly, they visited the Centre of Garage, or COG for short, an incubation space for startups to meet with potential collaborators such as researchers, venture capitalists, and external companies.
What to expect from the next leg of the tour?
Continuing off the success of its Agri-Food Tech Tour, Leave a Nest is hosting its second leg focused on aquaculture this coming 8th to 10th of June, 2023. At each location, the hosts will give an introduction to the challenges they are facing and the technologies they are using to address them. Some of the venues that global participants will be visiting are Ark, MizLinx, Innoqua, and ShrimpTech JIRCAS.
Participants of the tour have managed to find the right partners from the visiting places to start having discussions on technological research and best practices for innovation. Successful market linkages may also be formed as each attendee envisions possible areas for collaboration. Through the project, participants are poised to witness the strength of Japanese technology and its thriving ecosystem right before their very eyes.
Connecting with the right key people in the tech fields from Japan is now made possible and easier as the tour allows participants to network, access guidance, and gain language support through Leave a Nest.
For more information, visit Leave a Nest’s page here.
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This article is produced by the e27 team, sponsored by Leave a Nest
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