Event Report

Speaker names are listed in Japanese syllabary order.
The affiliations and job titles of the speakers are current information as of the date of the event. Please refer to Japanese version of this page for their official affiliations and job titles.

Opening Remarks

Deloitte Tohmatsu Group CEO, Kenichi Kimura

Keynote
“Managing Strategy Reinvention and Culture Change in Large Companies”

As large Japanese companies face rapidly changing disruptions such as the VUCA world and DX, they will need to adopt new processes of innovation and renewal to maintain their global competitiveness. They must also reinvent themselves by shifting to a high-tech driven strategy. This reform begins with a new vision, transformation to new markets and technologies, and a new approach to open innovation. Key challenges include KSF, HR practices, employee mindset, and a revival of corporate culture. However, many companies in Japan find it difficult to reconsider existing business practices. This session discussed why transformation is a challenge in Japan and how to succeed in open innovation, gain benefit from co-creation with startups, and realize future success.

University of California San Diego, School of Global Policy and Strategy, Professor, Ulrike Schaede

AGC Inc. Director Chairman, Takuya Shimamura

Morning Pitch Special Edition 2023 ~Selecting the Best Venture Company Expected to Make a Breakthrough!~

"Morning Pitch Special Edition 2023" was held at the Summit to celebrate the 10th anniversary of Morning Pitch, a pitch event that is held every Thursday from 7:00AM aiming to create business alliances between venture companies and large corporations. Special contents were delivered including pitches by finalist companies who were selected out of 210 companies from 42 Morning Pitch events in 2022. 

Session 1: “Growth of Companies Before and After IPO as Seen from Technology Fast 50“

Panel discussion was held on phase-specific growth strategies for companies that continue to grow by leveraging technology.

■Panelists:

PKSHA Technology Inc. Representative Director, Katsuya Uenoyama

zig-zag, Inc. CEO and Representative Director, Kazuyoshi Nakazato

Sparty, Inc. Chairman & CEO, Yosuke Miyama

■Moderator:

Technology Fast 50 National Leader/Deloitte Private Asia Pacific, Emerging Growth Leader/Deloitte Tohmatsu Venture Support COO, Masayuki Kimura

Session 2:  Entrepreneurs’ Organization, the world's largest entrepreneurial group, talks about entrepreneurial trends and realities

The Entrepreneurs' Organization (EO), established in the United States as "an entrepreneurial learning organization for entrepreneurs", established its Tokyo branch in 1995. Recently, Japan has become one of the fastest-growing regions, with more than 1,000 members in 14 branches and nearly 100 listed companies.
In this session, the activities of EO were introduced, and two current EO members, Mr. Yoshida of Crowdworks and Mr. Fukudome of CHANGE Holdings, who are listed venture company CEOs, took the stage. Mr. Suda of Unite and Grow, who is the current Chairman of EO Tokyo Central, joined as a moderator, and they discussed the key points of how entrepreneurs lead their companies to success, relaying their journeys from founding to listing including the hardships, their experiences at EO and their visions for the future. 

■Panelists:

CHANGE Holdings, Inc. Representative Director, Hiroshi Fukudome

CrowdWorks, Inc. President and CEO, Koichiro Yoshida

■Moderator:

Unite and Grow Inc. (EO Tokyo Central 27th Chairman), President & CEO, Kiichiro Suda

Session 3: Innovations Trend Theme "Regional Revitalization"

Regional revitalization is now a major national policy. Although regional revitalization is essential to activate local regions and develop the country, there are various challenges facing regional governments as they work to create populations for initiatives, extract regional value, and develop next-generation industries. In this session, we invited two presenters who are active at the forefront of regional revitalization to discuss not only specific initiatives and their success factors, but also the importance of using startups in regional revitalization and strategies to create innovation from regional perspectives.

■Panelists:

Culture Convenience Club Co., Ltd. Public Service Department, General Manager, Satoru Takahashi

Social Sculptor and Next Commons Lab, Founder, Atsushi Hayashi

■Moderator

Deloitte Tohmatsu Venture Support, Managing Director, Daisuke Narita

Session 4: Innovation Trend Theme “Global Venture”

In order for a venture company to grow into a unicorn company, it is now essential to develop business in overseas markets and build a global business network.
In this session, we invited three unicorn and “next unicorn” companies that are currently attracting attention in various industries to discuss how companies at the forefront of global expansion are developing their businesses and overcoming business challenges. They also shared their latest business strategies, global marketing, business model innovations, and strategic partnerships that have been key to their success.

■Panelists: 

BeZero Carbon, CEO and co-founder, Tommy Ricketts

Kayrros, Business Development Manager, Niklas Huppmann

Bramble Energy Ltd. Commercial Chief Commercial Officer, Vidal Bharath

■Moderator

Google Cloud Japan, Venture Capital Business Development Lead,
Takeaki Dohda

Session 5: ~New lawyers ask the experts~ Legal and intellectual property issues that can arise in startups

This session shared various situations related to common issues in startup companies such as legal intellectual property (IP) and thoughts on how to solve them through Yumi Hiraka, a first-year lawyer, asking various questions to an experienced corporate lawyer and a lawyer with engineering background. For example, they discussed the points to take note of when preparing contracts when startups receive investment from investors such as venture capital, how to acquire IP which is useful for business, points to consider in transaction contracts such as POC contracts, and how to appoint lawyers and patent attorneys.

DT Legal Japan, Partner, Hiroshi Suga

DT Legal Japan, Yosuke Araki

DT Legal Japan, Yumi Hiraka

Booth Exhibitions (All day)

This year's exhibition brought together about 80 selected and featured ventures in Japan and overseas, including unicorn companies active in the global market and “next unicorn” companies which successfully raised over 10 billion yen. It was a valuable opportunity in which numerous leading ventures from overseas participated including BeZero Carbon, a European unicorn company in the climate change area which is currently attracting attention worldwide. The exhibition provided opportunities that enabled visitors to have face to face business meetings with top Japanese and overseas ventures that are active in various industries such as AI, DX, climate change, biotech, etc.
[Here is the list of exhibitors (PDF-Japanese only)]

Closing Remarks

Deloitte Tohmatsu Group CSO, Yoshihiro Maeda

Technology Fast 50 2022 Japan Award Ceremony (Exclusive to winner companies)

Please refer to the following links for details (Japanese only).

• Deloitte Tohmatsu Announces Technology Fast 50 2022 Japan Ranking
• Technology Fast 50 Japan Winners Report