SPEAKERS
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2020
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Minister for Digital Transformation
Minister in charge of Information Technology Policy
Takuya Hirai is a Japanese politician of the Liberal Democratic Party (LDP), a member of the House of Representatives in the Diet. A native of Takamatsu, Kagawa and graduate of Sophia University. He was elected to the House of Representatives for the first time in 2000, since then elected 7 times consecutively. Career： Chairman, Public Relations Headquarters, LDP, Chairman, Special Mission Committee on IT Strategy of LDP. Former, Director, Economy, Trade and Industry Division of LDP. Senior Vice-Minister of Land, Infrastructure and Transport, Director. Internet Media Division of LDP. Chairman, Cabinet Committee for the House of Representatives, Minister in charge of Information Technology Policy, Minister of State for "Cool Japan" Strategy Minister of State for the Intellectual Property Strategy, Minister of State for Science and Technology Policy, Minister of State for Space Policy.
Minister for Internal Affairs and Communications
Mr. Takeda is the Minister of Internal Affairs and Communications in Japan. He previously served as Chairperson of the National Public Safety Commission, Minister in charge of Administrative Reform, Minister in charge of Civil Service Reform, Minister in charge of Building National Resilience, Minister of State for Disaster Management, State Minister of Defense, Chairman of the Committee on Security of the House of Representatives, and Parliamentary Vice-Minister of Defense. In 2003, he was elected as a member of the House of Representatives, and has been elected 6 times since.
President of the University of Tokyo
BSc, Faculty of Science, University of Tokyo, 1980. MSc, Department of Physics, Graduate School of Science, University of Tokyo, 1982. PhD, Department of Physics, Graduate School of Science, University of Tokyo, 1985. Specialism in optical quantum physics. Professor, Graduate School of Engineering, University of Tokyo, 1998. Professor, Graduate School of Science, University of Tokyo, 2010. University of Tokyo Vice President, 2012. Dean, Graduate School of Science, University of Tokyo, 2014. President, University of Tokyo, April 2015.
Committee memberships include the Science Council of Japan, Council on Investments for the Future, Council for Science and Technology, Industrial Structure Council, and the Intellectual Property Strategy Headquarters. Books in Japanese include Driving Innovation in Society: The University of Tokyo’s Vision 2020 (University of Tokyo Press) and Map of the Future University: Creating a Knowledge-Intensive Society (Chikuma Shinsho).
Professor, Department of Computing Science, University of Alberta
He received the B.Sc. (Computer Science), M.Sc. (Computing Science), and Ph.D. (Computer Science) from the Universities
of Regina, Alberta, and British Columbia, respectively. Professor Goebel's theoretical work on abduction, hypothetical reasoning and belief revision is internationally well known; his recent research is focused on the formalization of visualization and explainable artificial intelligence (XAI). He has worked on optimization, algorithm complexity, systems biology, and natural language processing, including applications in legal reasoning and medical informatics.
Goebel continues to run the Explainable AI Lab within Amii, working in a broad variety of research areas, including algorithm complexity, systems biology, and natural language processing, with a focus on legal reasoning and medical informatics. He is also academic lead of the University of Alberta Precision Health Signature Area.
Randy has previously held faculty appointments at the University of Waterloo, University of Tokyo, Multimedia University (Kuala Lumpur), Hokkaido University (Sapporo), visiting researcher engagements at National Institute of Informatics (Tokyo), DFKI (Germany), and NICTA (now Data61, Australia); is actively involved in collaborative research projects in Canada, Japan, China, and Germany.
Scientific Director of Mila
Professor, University of Montreal
Yoshua Bengio is recognized as one of the world’s leading experts in artificial intelligence and a pioneer in deep learning notably for its neural networks rebirth. Professor at the Université de Montréal since 1993, he is also the founder and scientific director of Mila – Quebec Artificial Intelligence Institute, the world’s largest university-based research group in deep learning. In addition, he holds a Canada CIFAR AI Chair, co-directs the Learning in Machines and Brains program of the Canadian Institute for Advanced Research (CIFAR) as a Senior Fellow and acts as scientific director of IVADO.
In 2018, Yoshua Bengio ranked as the computer scientist with the most new citations worldwide, thanks to his many high-impact contributions. Then, he earned the prestigious Killam Prize. At the same period, he received the ACM A.M. Turing Award, “the Nobel Prize of Computing”, jointly with Geoffrey Hinton and Yann LeCun for conceptual and engineering breakthroughs that have made deep neural networks a critical component of computing. He is Fellow of both the Royal Society of London and Canada. Concerned about the social impact of AI, Yoshua Bengio actively contributed to the Montreal Declaration for the Responsible Development of Artificial Intelligence."
Co-Founder and CEO, Mobility Open Blockchain Initiative MOBi
Served as CFO and Director of Mobility and Blockchain Services for Toyota Research Institute. Joined TRI in April 2017 following 14 years at Toyota Financial Services (TFS) as SVP, CFO, and Chief Officer of Strategic Innovation. Holds a graduate degree in economics from UC Berkeley and previously worked at Bank of America as Senior Vice President of Treasury and Staff Economist at the President’s Council of Economic Advisors under President Reagan.
Board Member, Mobility Open Blockchain Initiative MOBi
Senior Research Fellow, ITOCHU Research Institute Inc.
Born in Tokyo in 1981. Read BSc Environmental Policy with Economics and graduated from London School of Economics and Political Science (LSE) in 2003. Worked for Nomura, HSBC and global hedge funds as a senior equity analyst of multiple sectors in Asia. Been a senior research analyst of mobility at a Japanese bank since 2014 and joined the think-tank arm of Itochu in August 2019. Also as a Board Member at MOBi, delivers speeches at international conferences and lectures on smart mobility and blockchain for corporate management and policy makers worldwide. Wrote “Mobility 2.0”(2018) and "Mobility Economics"(2020) published by Nikkei Publishing Inc.
Founder and CEO, ELEMENT AI
Jean-Francois (JF) Gagné is the founder of Element AI where he leads
the strategic vision of the company. He is widely sought by large
organizations for his ability to make sense of AI technology across
industry contexts, and he puts his insight to work with the Element AI
team to enable human-machine collaboration as the next generation of
work.
JF draws from 18 years as an AI entrepreneur starting and selling two
companies in AI and Operations Research, and from his former role as
Chief Product Officer and Chief Innovation Officer at JDA Software
where he was the youngest global C-Level Executive of a top-20
Enterprise Software company.
JF is an outspoken advocate of AI for Good and is actively involved in
guiding AI's impact on business, people, and society. He serves as a
digital advisor to the Canadian Prime Minister, is a Canadian
Representative to the WTO, and is the only non-European citizen
member of the European Commission’s High Level Expert Group on AI,
where he was a key author of their Guidelines for European regulation of
AI. JF is also dedicated to technology development at home as a
member of the Calcul Québec Board, which supports the province’s
high-performance computing research infrastructure, and is an avid
supporter of the Montreal startup scene.
Chief Knowledge Officer, Leave a Nest Co.,Ltd.
Vice-president, Real Tech Holdings Co.,Ltd.
Kazuhiro Hasegawa is Chief Knowledge Officer of Leave a Nest Co.,Ltd. He was the first employee of Leave a Nest in its early years and experienced the launch, commercialization and expansion of a venture company. Utilizing this experience, he also served as a growth manager of a real estate fund from 2014 and became a board member of Realtech Holdings in 2020. He has visited 3,500 town factories in Sumida Ward and has a network of many factories, and has focused on supporting the manufacturing of venture companies, including support for prototyping and mass production.
Associate Professor, Graduate School of Law, Kyoto University
Tatsuhiko Inatani earned his B.A. from the University of Tokyo and his J.D. from Kyoto University. His major is criminology. His works focus on corporate crime and Law and Tecnology matters in criminal justice. He wrote sevaral books, including Privacy Protection in Criminal Procedure, Law and Architecture (co-authored) and Transitional Law and Society in the AI age (co-authored). He contributed to the white paper "Governance Innovation" issued by METI.
Professor, The Graduate Schools for Law and Politics, The University of Tokyo
LL.B. the Faculty of Law, University of Tokyo.
Visiting Scholar, School of Law, UC Berkeley, 2012-13
Visiting Professor, National Information Institute, 2017-present
Fields: Constitutional Law, Comparative Constitutional Law, Information Law.
Books: ""Here comes Digital Democracy!"" (Co-author, Chuokoron-Shinsha, 2020), etc.
Representative director, CEO AI Samurai Inc.
Graduated from the department of science and engineering at National Defense Academy of Japan. Completed Department of Environment and Information Studies in the graduate school of Yokohama National University.
Registered in FUJIFILM Corporation for eight years for research and development of image processing through machine learning.
Established Shirasaka & Patent Partners and served concurrently as the company of big data analysis, listed in NASDAQ.
Established AI Samurai Inc. (former Gold IP) in 2015. Founder of Shirasaka & Patent Partners, patent attorney, and commissioner of the Association of Intellectual Property Education.
President and CEO, Groovenauts, Inc.
Eihiro Saishu serves as Chief Executive Officer of Groovenauts since 2012. He worked for AST (now Tata Consultancy Services Japan) after graduating from Waseda University. In 1998, he founded the startup company and ran over 13 years.
Deputy Director, Attorney at Law, Information Economy Division, Commerce and Information Policy Bureau, Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry
Yoshiyuki Muramatsu began his career with ITOCHU Corporation, gaining unparalleled experience in business development and Investment perspectives for ITOCHU Group. After working as a partner of ITOCHU Technology Ventures Co., Ltd., and general manager of the Global Business Development Department of ITOCHU Techno-Solutions Co., Ltd., from April 2020, as the deputy Director for Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry(METI), he is in charge of planning policies and implementing them for Startups in order to develop new economy.
Executive Officer, Chief of Project Planning & Development Department Hamano Products. Co., Ltd.
Yamashita Daichi is Executive Officer/Chief of Project Planning & Development Department of Hamano Products.Co.,Ltd. Prior to Hamano, he worked in Misumi inc.
After working in sales department and design & development department, he assumed the present post. He handles consultation service for startups, and a co-creation project with the government, big companies and diverse people.
Partner, Mori Hamada & Matsumoto
Masa is a partner at Mori Hamada & Matsumoto. He represents various firms that explore digital transformation by helping them form a corporate venture capital, engage with technology startups, launch new services and lobby the public sector. He is also dedicated to Japan’s policymaking as a member of various Government councils and their taskforces, including Regulatory Sandbox Council, Regulatory Reform Council and Digital Market Competition Strategy Council of the Cabinet Office. The governance innovation is one of his focused agendas, and he expects this initiative provides not only a robust backbone to Japan’s random initiatives across the Ministries, but presents the right model in the digital era to the world. He is admitted to the Bar in Japan and New York. He holds LL.M in Columbia Law School and LL.B in University of Tokyo.
Deputy Director, Attorney at Law, Information Economy Division, Commerce and Information Policy Bureau, Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry
Hiroki Habuka is a Deputy Director of the Digital Economy Division, Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry, Japan, and an attorney at law admitted in Japan and New York State. Habuka is in charge of establishing a new regulatory framework for digital technologies, including AI governance, privacy protection, data security, and digital platforms issues. He received a master’s degree from Stanford Law School (LL.M., Fulbright Fellow), and a Juris Doctor’s degree from University of Tokyo Law School.
CEO, PKSHA Technology Inc.
Katsuya Uenoyama founded PKSHA Technology in 2012 and focuses on designing algorithm based software and solutions for enterprise and internet businesses. I built up great team with more 100 employees, and lead them by talking a vision, and PKSHA Technology listed Mothers market of Tokyo Stock Exchange with $1.6B market cap in October 2017. Prior to founding PKSHA, he did research as an assistant professor at a Tokyo University AI laboratory and holds a PhD in machine learning.
Evangelist, NTT Communications Corporation
Akira Sakaino joined NIPPON TELEGRAPH AND TELEPHONE CORPORATION (NTT) in 1990, engaging in the development and operation of internal mission-critical systems. After being in charge of consulting for government offices and public facility construction projects, he designed a customer management system for NTT's reorganization project. After 2000, Skaino involved in new business incubation through collaboration between different industries, and promoted partner sales and collaborative alliances in internet business. Since 2011, he has been in charge of research and development of M2M/IoT solutions for energy management and industry. Now active as an evangelist since 2015.
Co-Founder and COO, inaho.inc
Sohya Ohyama is the Co-Founder and COO at inaho inc. He founded inaho in 2017 and started providing the automated harvesting robot using AI for asparagus in 2019.
Prior to inaho, he worked as a media artist, a part-time lecturer at the art university, then joined the international art collective teamLab Inc. After independence, he supported some hardware start-ups PoC phase and fundraising and developed SaaS of real estate with Yutaka Hishiki（CEO at inaho）and sold it. Now he is mainly in charge of the development department at inaho.
Project Manager, Sustainable open Innovation Initiative (SII)
Kosuke Nakama is project manager at SII.
He worked as a consultant at NRI (mainly worked in public sector) . After independence, he supported some startups, and managed projects about startups policy.
At SII, he mainly handles subsidy projects supporting Hardware Startups.
CEO,Aidemy Inc
Founder and CEO of Aidemy Inc. Forbes 30 UNDER 30 JAPAN 2019. Graduated from the Faculty of Engineering, University of Tokyo. Founded Aidemy in 2014, providing SaaS solutions for in-house AI/ML development to various companies, mainly in the manufacturing industry.
CEO, Japan Data Science Consortium Co. Ltd.
Founder and CEO of Japan Data Science Consortium (formerly a general incorporated association and currently company limited), founded in 2014. Years of extensive experience in Mckinsey & Company and several US companies. Ex-auditing officer of ReasonWhy Inc.
Chief Editor of AINOW, DIP Corporation
Osawa Laboratory in the Nihon University, College of Humanities and Sciences
Public relations team leader
I am the editor-in-chief of "AINOW," a media specializing in AI, with a desire to "create a society where humans and AI can coexist. I have appeared on Nikkei CNBC's "Nikkei College Lab" and NTV's "ZIP!". I have written more than 300 articles on AI. Double occupation: cameraman. Public relations team leader at the Osawa Laboratory in the Faculty of Humanities and Science, Nihon University
Chief Scientist of Uber ATG and the Head of Uber ATG Toronto
Raquel Urtasun is the Chief Scientist for Uber ATG and the Head of Uber ATG Toronto. She is also a Professor at the University of Toronto, a Canada Research Chair in Machine Learning and Computer Vision and a co-founder of the Vector Institute for AI. She received her Ph.D. from the Ecole Polytechnique Federal de Lausanne (EPFL) in 2006 and did her postdoc at MIT and UC Berkeley. She is a recipient of an NSERC EWR Steacie Award, an NVIDIA Pioneers of AI Award, a Ministry of Education and Innovation Early Researcher Award, three Google Faculty Research Awards, an Amazon Faculty Research Award, a Connaught New Researcher Award, a Fallona Family Research Award and two Best Paper Runner up Prize awarded CVPR in 2013 and 2017. She was also named Chatelaine 2018 Woman of the year, and 2018 Toronto's top influencers by Adweek magazine.
Commentator Editorial Bureau, Nikkei Inc.
Keiichi Murayama formerly served as the U.S. Silicon Valley bureau chief of Nikkei Inc., and was a senior staff writer and an editorial writer of Nikkei. After earning his undergraduate degree at Tohoku University in 1992, he joined the Business News Department of Nikkei in Tokyo as a staff writer. He covered technology, medical, automotive, and financial news. After he joined the Program on US-Japan Relations of Harvard University, he went on to oversee the U.S. Silicon Valley Bureau for a few years.
Partner and Europe Office Representative, Global Brain
Naoki is Partner and Europe Office Representative at Global Brain and is responsible for Europe and Israel investments. Global Brain's primary focus of investments in Europe are AI, cloud, cyber security, fintech and Insurtech. Prior to joining Global Brain, he worked for Sony as a software engineer specialized in AI/ML and Big Data technologies. For the last 2 years in his Sony career, he worked in San Francisco as a software engineering manager of PlayStation Network and a member of PlayStation 4 Launch Team.
Professor, School of Engineering, The University of Tokyo
Hiroyuki Morikawa received the B.E., M.E, and Dr. Eng. degrees from the
University of Tokyo, Tokyo, Japan, in 1987, 1989, and 1992, respectively.
Since 1992, he has been in the University of Tokyo and is currently a
full professor of School of Engineering at the University of Tokyo. His
research interests are in the areas of Internet of Things/M2M/big data,
sensor networks, wireless communications, and digital society design.
He sits on numerous telecommunications advisory committees and frequently serves as a consultant to government and companies including vice chair of OECD Committee on Digital Economy Policy (CDEP). He has received more than 100 awards and the author of ""Data-driven Economy"" and ""5G"".
CEO, Stockmark Inc.
Tatsu Hayashi is Chief Executive Officer of StockMark Inc. Before he found StockMark Inc in 2016 with Kosuke Arima, CTO, he previously worked at Itochu Corporation at the Integrated Managment Department in 2011-2015. He lead the formulating company-wide business strategy and also engaged in business management & M&A at the Itochu Food Company.
Senior Consultant, Nomura Research Institute, Ltd. Center for Strategic Management and Innovation
Ms. Cheery Li is Senior Consultant of Nomura Research Institute. After working for Nippon Telegraph and Telephone, she joined Nomura Research Institute in 2002. Her specialty is digital economy and digital currency. She is in charge of comparative research on financial systems between Japan and China, business models of Chinese platform enterprises, case studies of leading companies such as FinTech, blockchain and AI. She is the author of "INNOVATION IN CHINA~ONE WHO CONTROLS DATA WILL RULE THE WORLD ".
VP of Global Public Affairs, Huawei
Mr. Edward Zhou is Vice President for Global Public Affairs of Huawei. He is in charge of government’s communications aiming to be the advisor to national governments, contribute to ICT policies and standards formulation in host countries, expand the market for Huawei, and build competitive edges.
Mr. Edward Zhou joined Huawei in 1996 and has over 20 years of experience in the telecom industry and played a key role in many of global milestone projects in Huawei.
Moreover, Mr. Edward Zhou held many senior positions in the company. He worked as Chief Marketing Officer of Huawei Europe, and deeply participated in the development of European telecommunication market. After that he took over the position of Vice President for Huawei Japan which was responsible for solutions and marketing, focusing on Carrier Business. He was leading the collaboration with Softbank, NTT Docomo, SKT and other leading telecom operators in 5G trial and wireless network reconstruction in Japan and Korea.
Prime Minister
Minister of Economy,Trade and Industry
Minister of Economy, Trade and Industry, Minister in charge of Industrial Competitiveness, Minister for Economic Cooperation with Russia, Minister in charge of the Response to the Economic Impact caused by the Nuclear Accident Minister of State for the Nuclear Damage Compensation and Decommissioning Facilitation Corporation
Member, House of Representatives
Joined Ministry of Finance in 1999. Completed Master's Degree at Harvard Univ., Financial Bureau, Secretary of the Embassy of Japan in U.S.A.. Elected to the HR in 2012. Parliamentary VM of Defence.
Venture Partner, White Star Capital
Shun is a Venture Partner at White Star Capital with a multitude of experience in finance, startup, and private-public sector bridging.
Previously Executive Director of the Silicon Valley Japan Platform, and has held positions at the World Economic Forum, a Paris-based startup, at Goldman Sachs and at Morgan Stanley. Shun has a Bachelor of Commerce degree from Keio University and a MBA from INSEAD.
Senior Spesialist, The Japan Research Institute
Engaged in incubation activities as a pilot for both the public ant private sectors with the mission of desiging a community that survives the era of depopulation. Co-authored books: "MaaS", "Beyond MaaS", "The Public IoT", "AI municipalities". The author of "The Japanese Archipelago Recovery Story", that adovocates the potential of the Japanese archipalago and the ideal way of a decentralized society utilizing digital technology.
Director, Globis Capital Partners
Yuki Watanabe is Director at Globis Capital Partners(GCP), leading investments in IT startups targeting digital transformation of various industries.
Yuki has a total of 12 years of VC experience.
Director, PwC Advisory LLC
Ryo Ishii provides consulting services, including smart city strategies, to both the public and private sectors by combining knowledge of urban development, business and digital, as a social architect.
Professor, Yokohama National University
Born in 1962. Graduate from University of Tokyo in 1985. Professor at Yokohama National University since 2004, majoring in Urban Transportation Planning. Also, working as chairperson in several govermental committes, as well as Director of JCoMaaS. Authoring several books such as "Mobility designing for urban transportation" (Japanese9
CEO, Via Mobility Japan
Joined Via in April 2020, after 4+ years experience at Grab in Singapore and Indonesia. At Grab, Hiroshi had successfully grown its Indonesian business as Head of Transport and improved safety as Head of Regional Safety and Quality. At Via Japan, he is responsible for growing the business in Japan as CEO of Via Mobility Japan
Senior Executive Officer CIO/DX, KONICA MINOLTA JAPAN, INC.
Joined Konica Minolta in 2012 and was driving M&A, transformation for IT service business and new business development of the company. And working for developing next generation business of the company as Senior Executive Officer, President of Industrial Optical System Business HQ.Had experienced with Sales, Planning, new Business Development and Start-up investment at the Japanese global IT and Network company before joining Konica Minolta.Has been invited many external events as speaker of “Innovation management at the Enterprise Company”.
Deputy Manager,
Information Economy Division, Commerce and Information Policy Bureau, Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry
He is in charge of promoting cross-industrial data utilization and the social implementation of AI, and promotes policies such as AI strategy, startup support, architecture strategy, mobility and smart cities, and Digital ID.
Vice President, Development Bank of Japan Inc.
Senior Investment Manager, DBJ Capital Co.,Ltd
2009-2016 bond investment, Japan-U.S. Macroeconomic Environment Analysis, Startup Analysis
2017-Present Industry Survey, investment, supports the development of corporate digitalization visions interested in motivating individuals and organizations, and is particularly interested in applying the methods used in video games to education, organizations and business.
CEO, TRUSTDOCK Inc.
Takahiro started an identity verification service in his previous company, Gaiax, utilizing research by the “Sharing Economy x Blockchain” R&D team on digital ID.
He later turned this into a pure-play digital ID and KYC spin off company called TRUSTDOCK Inc. TRUSTDOCK has now grown to be the only RegTech/SupTech company in Japan that offers a digital ID app supporting both eKYC and official identity verification, as well as an API service platform for identity verification.
TRUSTDOCK operates KYC/identity verification that is compliant with various laws and regulations, including Japan’s Act on Prevention of Transfer of Criminal Proceeds (AML law), Installment Sales Act, Secondhand Articles Dealer Act, Mobile Phone Misuse Prevention Act, and Online Dating Site Regulation Act, all of which are offered
24/7/365 via APIs.
Takahiro aims for TRUSTDOCK to be a leading private sector supporter of Japan’s movement toward digitalizing government services.
Senior Direcotr, NEC
Since joining NEC Corporation, Japan based digital technology company, he has been working for incubating new business around digital finance. New business he’s launched includes FinTech joint venture between NEC Corporation and Sumitomo Mitsui Banking Corporation, and financial inclusion business in India. One of his passion is to create new digital identity architecture, where citizens have reasonable understanding and control over one’s data and identification for better inclusion.
The Council For Area Development and Management of Otemachi, Marunouchi, and Yurakucho
Chairperson of Committee for Smart City Planning and Promotion
Promotes urban development systems, management, and other public-private partnership initiatives.
In recent years, involved in the utilization of public road space, and worked to promote the formation of an innovation ecosystem and smart cities in The area.
CEO, xID,Inc,
DX Advisor, City of Kaga
He founded xID Inc. in 2012. Since 2017, he has been advising eResidency and government agencies in Estonia, an e-nation where digital IDs are widely used by 99% of its citizens. xID's mission is "to create a digital society with zero trust cost” . In May 2020, xID launched xID app, Japan's only digital ID application that uses the My Number card, and providing it to government agencies and financial service providers. He is a DX advisor for the next generation of government in Kaga, Ishikawa Prefecture, and is a lecturer at the University of Tokyo's Near Future Financial System Creation Program.
Chief Digital Officer, au Financial Holdings
Tatsuto Fujii holds over 15 years experience in tech industry at IBM and Microsoft. He also joined Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group's innovation business unit and led projects such as “MUFG Coin”, “MUFG Digital Accelerator” and “Bank API”. Currently he is working on creating digital financial services using Fintech at KDDI / au. He is a founding member of the Financial Innovation Doyukai "FINOVATORS".
Nikkei Asia Editor-at-large
Ken Koyanagi has been reporting on Asian business and economy since 2015 as an editor-at-large of the Nikkei Asian Review out of Bangkok and then Mumbai, his current base. Prior to that, he was founding Publisher of Nikkei Asian Review from its launch in November 2013. Before that he led several website development projects for Nikkei Online Edition. He reported on the U.S. technology sector at Nikkei’s Silicon Valley bureau in Palo Alto, California in 2001-2005. After joining Nikkei in 1988 as a staff reporter he covered the Tokyo capital markets, financial sector, tech sector and other beats.
General Partner, Hike Ventures
Founding partner and GP of Hike Ventures. Prior to co-founding Hike Ventures, he was the Managing Director of Digital Garage’s investment vehicle, DG Incubation. Before joining Digital Garage, he was Project Manager at Baidu Japan. Taka has a Bachelor of Business Administration degree from Ritsumeikan Asia Pacific University.
President and CEO, TLO-KYOTO Co., Ltd.
Joined Toyota Motor Corp. in 1980. Took charge of IP management, organizational planning for R&D divisions, and liaison with governmential authorities. Appointed to the General Manager of IP Div. in 2009, and to the Senior Managing Director of Toyota Technical Development Corp. in 2016. In 2018, inducted as President and CEO of TLO-KYOTO Co., Ltd（formerly Kansai TLO).
Member of the House of Representatives
University of Tokyo, Law. Joined the MoF in 1993. Elected to the House of Representatives. Vice Minister of Foreign Affairs in 2015. Deputy Chairperson of the Policy Research of the LDP since 2017(Currently serving fourth term).
CEO, MaaS Tech Japan Inc.
Launched MaaS Tech Japan, is engaged in MaaS solution development business, and actively interacts with domestic and foreign MaaS players, aiming to realize valuable MaaS in Japan.
Digital Strategy Advisor,
Nishiaizu Town
Visiting Associate Professor,
University of Aizu
CODE for AIZU Founder/Open Data Evangelist/Director of AiYUMU Co., Ltd./Director of Aizu Lifescape Design studio etc..
Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism
I am working on enhancing Public-Private Partnerships and disseminating Weather Data.
Senior Manager,
YAMATO HOLDINGS CO., LTD.
Senior Vice Presendent of EC Division,
YAMATO TRANSPORT CO., LTD.
Join the Yamato Transport Co., Ltd., worked as a front-line branch manager and new product development manager. After working in charge of management strategy at Yamato Holdings,after in charge of product development for Yamato Transport, and after developed EC-Division. In charge of business reforms in the president's office of Yamato Holdings, and in charge of business strategy in the EC division, he is involved in the release of the new delivery product EAZY.
President, MM Research Institute, Ltd.
Former Nikkei Editorial Writer
Waichi Sekiguchi is president of MM research Institute, a Japanese research and consulting firm catering to the Information and Communication Technology (ICT) industry, and he used to be an editorial writer for Nikkei, the largest economic daily in the world. He joined Nikkei in 1982 and has been covering the IT industry and cyberspace issues for over 30 years. As a Washington correspondent during the Bush and Clinton Administrations in the early 1990s, Sekiguchi covered US trade and government policies. He was a Fulbright fellow at the Center for International Affairs at Harvard University in the late 1980s and was a chief writer for the English edition of Nikkei. Sekiguchi served as a news commentator for NHK World TV program "Nikkei Japan Report" in 2009–2012 and as a visiting professor at the University of Tokyo in 2015–2019. He graduated from Hitotsubashi University. He is currently a visiting professor at Hosei University Business School, as well as at the Center for Global Communications (GLOCOM) of the International University of Japan.
Fellow, Centre for Fourth Industrial Revolution (C4IR)
Working as a lead of mobility project at C4IR, Takakazu lead projects on “Sustainable public transportation in rural area with MaaS” and “New tech, especially robots, in last mile delivery in 2030” together with public and private sector. Prior to joining C4IR, Takakazu served at a consulting firm mainly on mobility topics
Senior Marketing Manager, AI Samurai
He was involved in new business development at a legal tech company and fraud investigation and start-up support at a consulting firm. Currently, he is a senior marketing manager at AI Samurai.
YouTuber
He worked in sales and consulting at an IT/ legal tech company. After leaving the company, started YouTube and is currently a YouTuber with 140,000 subscribers.
President, Sapporo City University
CEO, Mirai Share Co., Ltd.
He received his Ph. D. in Information Engineering at the University of Tokyo in 1983, and joined ETL (Electrotechnical Laboratories). From 2001 to 2004, he was the director of Cyber Assist Research Center of AIST (National Institute of Advanced Institute for Industrial Science and Technology). From 2004 to 2016, he served as the president of Future University Hakodate (currently a President Emeritus). From 2016 to 2018, he was a Project Professor for Chair for Frontier AI Education, The University of Tokyo. From 2018 he is in the current position.
NEC Fellow, NEC Corporation
Join NEC Corporation on 1997. Conduct research and development of face recognition technology from 2002 and contribute to commercialization of biometric authentication over seventy countries. At Face Recognition Vendor Test hosted by the U.S. National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST), algorithms from NEC are evaluated as the most accurate consecutive fifth times from 2009. Recently, he engages in development, research and commercialization of medical artificial intelligence including cancer detection and endoscopic diagnostic support system based on technological knowledge of face recognition.
Board Member / Administration Office, Japan Deep Learning Association
In 2012,He co-founded ABEJA Inc.In 2015, he became the Secretary General of IVS.In 2017, he established Japan Deep Learning Association and became the Secretary General.In 2018, he also served as a Director.
Managing Director and Partner, Boston Consulting Group
She is the head of the Social Impact team in Japan, and also a core member of Public Sector group. She has been engaged in various people development/education projects, including METI's Project".
President, CEO, SIGNATE
Shigeru Saito is President and CEO of SIGNATE, Inc., Visiting Professor at University of Tsukuba and Visiting Researcher at NCC. He founded "SIGNATE", Japan's largest data science community.
Partner, Mckinsey & Company
Partner at Mckinsey & Company, Inc. Japan's Tokyo office. He focuses on global strategy development, go-to-market strategy, and digital-enabled operation transformations to achieve corporate-business and sales-function transformation and automation at scale. In Japan, Sakurai’s insights have been published numerous times, e.g. in Harvard Business Review. He completed his MBA degree from Northwestern University’s Kellogg School of Management, and his BA degree from University of Tokyo in law and politics.
Field Director, UNIVERSITY of CREATIVITY, Hakuhodo inc.
Manabu Ozato is a field director at UNIVERSITY of CREATIVITY, Hakuhodo inc. Born and raised in Ono, Fukui Prefecture. BA in Literature (Waseda University), MA in Interactive Media: Critical Theory and Practice (Goldsmiths) and MSC in Media and Communications (LSE). He joined Hakuhodo in 2007. Since 2019 he has participated in the United States-Japan Foundation’s U.S.-Japan Leadership Program (USJLP) as a Japanese delegate. He wears white shorts and a grey T-shirt year-round. He has facial hair.
CEO,Doddle Parcel Services Limited
Tim founded Doddle in 2014 with a vision to make delivery sustainable and convenient through click&collect. Prior to establishing Doddle, Tim spent 10 yrs in executive roles in the logistics industry.
Sr. Mgr. Global Research & Innovation, Toyota Mobility Foundation
Dr. Chernicoff currently serves as the Senior Manager of Global Research and Innovation for the Toyota Mobility Foundation. He defines and coordinates the Foundation’s research agenda, initiatives, and programs and provides technology guidance to projects. With both near- and long-term perspectives, Dr. Chernicoff conceives, identifies, and executes new technology approaches that enable and improve the solutions implemented by the Foundation and its partners. He brings a strong background across energy, technology, mobility, and climate policy from his prior work as a Manager and Principle Researcher with Toyota North America’s Energy & Environmental Research Group and his eight years with the US DOT’s Research Administration.
Turing Fellow, Alan Turing Institute Lecturer, University of Cambridge
Damon is a University Lecturer in the Computer Laboratory at Cambridge, specialising in data science, and a Turing Fellow at the Alan Turing Institute. He obtained a PhD in Mathematics from Cambridge University in 2000, supervised by Frank Kelly.
Damon sees data science as quantitative rhetoric: the art of using data to change how you and your audience see the world. He has worked at a startup building big data systems, and in statistical consulting, and as an academic mathematical modeller. He has learnt about how ordinary users want to interact with their data, how to help users understand richly structured data, and what sorts of interaction make sense for what sorts of data. He wants to build a tool that will make data work much more accessible, and believes it needs to be based on a "unified grammar of interactive data visualisation".
Deputy Director, Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications
Wataru Aikawa is Deputy Director of Advaned Information Systems and Software Division at the Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications (MIC), Japan. His current responsibility is to implement digital utilization policy at the MIC. Before entering the MIC, he earned a degree of Bachelor of Law (2008) at the University of Tokyo. During 2014 and 2016, he obtained a Master of Laws (LL.M.) degree (2015) at the University of Pennsylvania, Law School, and a Master of Public Administration (MPA) degree (2016) in Program in Economic Policy Management at School of International and Public Affairs, Columbia University in the City of New York.
Interim Executive Director, ICEMAI
After a rewarding career as an international M&A lawyer, Jacques decided, in 2005, to join the development sector to help improve the lives of low-income populations around the world. Over the last fifteen years, he contributed his expertise to build cross-sector partnerships to deliver impact through innovative solutions. His work included cross-sector partnerships to develop market-based solutions to facilitate access to affordable housing to low-income populations, new financing models to facilitate access to irrigation systems to small-farm producers, and the development of an innovative social art approach to increase sustainability of water and sanitation (WASH) interventions at the community level. In June 2020, Jacques Rajotte was appointed as Interim Executive Director of the International Center of Expertise of Montreal for the Advancement of Artificial Intelligence (ICEMAI) a start-up non-profit organization created in the context of the Global Partnership on Artificial Intelligence (GPAI) to promote the responsible, inclusive and human rights based development of AI. Within the GPAI, the ICEMAI is supporting the work of the Data Governance Working Group, the Responsible AI Working Group and the AI and the Pandemic Sub-working Group. Jacques holds a Law Degree from Université de Montréal, an International Law Master from McGill University and an MBA from the University of Western Ontario.
Minister-Counsellor, Director of Trade and Investment Japan
Deputy Trade Commissioner & Regional Director NE Asia, British Embassy Tokyo
Chris Heffer was appointed Director of Trade and Investment for NE Asia at the British Embassy in Tokyo in September 2015, responsible for supporting UK companies exporting to the region and for attracting inward investment to the UK. Previously, he worked for the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills (BIS), heading up Growth Policy, and was a Senior Civil Servant at the Department of Health for six years in the Strategy Unit. Before joining the Civil Service in 2007, Chris was a Senior Manager at Deloitte Consulting, and did a two year stint at Deloitte Tohmatsu Consulting in Tokyo.
Director, Artificial Intelligence, Cambridge Consultants
Tim is responsible for Cambridge Consultants’ global AI capability. He works with clients across market sectors to help them succeed by identifying, developing and deploying world-changing innovation based on artificial intelligence. Tim has had a string of commercial leadership roles in high-growth technology and consulting businesses. He’s worked globally in fields that include telecoms, energy, consumer goods and logistics.
Country Manager, Japan, Cambridge Consultants
Hirotaka Saso has been running Cambridge Consultants’ Japan business since 2015
He has more than 20 years of comprehensive experiences through Senior Business Development positions at global companies as well as start-up in mobile, wireless modem IP, enterprise software and automotive companies with being well affiliated to the industry. He has acquired deep technical knowledge in semiconductors from analogue to digital, software from OS to application framework, especially for mobile phone which has been his primary focus throughout his career.
Technical Fellow, Kewpie Ltd.
Beginning with research on semiconductors, image sensors, and electronic circuits at the Central Research Laboratory of Hitachi, Ltd., with the results of this research, development, design, SE, product planning, etc. are carried out in the business divisions.
After launching a new business in the United States, launching a new brain science business, developing cities in emerging countries, etc., and after incubating the company-wide new business at the head office, I was convinced that "people's happiness comes from food "Below, I changed my job to Kewpie Ltd. in April 2016.
Currently, as a person in charge of promoting next-generation and future technologies, I am working on the practical use of various next-generation technologies such as AI. MOT / MBA.
Executive Officer, General Manager of Innovation Company Support Department., Mizuho Bank, Ltd.
Senior Writer, Editorial Writer, Nikkei
Yasu Ota is Tokyo-based columnist and TV commentator for Nikkei, covering the Asia-Pacific region and various global issues, including international trade and digital innovation. With 35 years of journalism experience Yasu has spent more than half of career as foreign correspondent in Washington DC, Frankfurt, Germany and Singapore. He is the recipient of Vaughn-Uyeda Memorial International Journalistic Prize, an annual award for journalists who have made exceptional international news report. Yasu has degree in Physical Chemistry from Hokkaido University and graduated from Knight journalism course, Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT).
Director Smart Cities, MaRS Discovery District
Sasha leads the Smart Cities practice at MaRS Discovery District. This practice aims to catalyze the adoption of innovation to enable the quick-paced transformations being experienced in the Smart Cities sector and specifically includes their convergence and integration between and across key emerging technology areas, such as mobility, buildings and energy.
Sasha’s work at MaRS has catalyzed the adoption of innovative solutions that would otherwise struggle with adoption in highly complex and regulated sectors such as energy, transportation, buildings and infrastructure. These projects have involved leading, convening and catalyzing various key stakeholders – ranging from industry, government, academia, regulators, key users and civic society. For e.g. Sasha has led the development, testing and adoption of Green Button in Ontario, a utility data standard to unlock global energy-management solutions; Shared Mobility and Autonomous Vehicle pilot design, regulatory framework and sandbox development; and the development of a Canadian building retrofit financing standard and innovation adoption accelerator. Sasha is also an Advisory Council member at the Canadian Institute Climate Choices.
Prior to MaRS, Sasha lead the implementation of smart-grid enabled conservation and demand response programs for the Ontario government. Sasha received a distinction from the University of Oxford, for an MSc. Environmental Change and Management - where he specialized in Environmental Finance and Climate Change.
CEO, bitFlyer Blockchain Inc.
Yuzo is co-founder of bitFlyer Inc. which is the Japanese largest crypto asset exchange founded in January 2014 and serves as CEO of bitFlyer Blockchain Inc. since May 2019.
He has contributed to the development of the crypto asset exchange industry by making proposals for legal revisions and establishing self-regulatory rules.
He serves as representative director for the Japan Blockchain Association (JBA).
His committee involvement includes the following:
- ISO/TC307 Blockchain and Electronic Distributed Ledger Technologies Japanese Mirror Committee
- Advancement of Public and Private Sector Data Utilization Planning Executive Committee
- G7 Employment and Innovation Ministerial meeting in March 2018
- V20, VASP Summit in June 2019"
Group Corporate Executive, Avex Inc.
CEO, General Manager,Technology HQ Avex Technologies Inc.
Participate in the launch of EC services at a Silicon Valley venture company since 1999. After returning to Japan, developed the system at Hitachi and worked for 9 years as a product manager in the entertainment business related to broadcasting and VOD at a foreign-affiliated company.After working for overseas game publishing, became the representative director of aNCHOR Co., Ltd. in 2018.
Became an executive officer of Avex Co., Ltd. Group. in April 2019. Became the president of Avex Technologies Co., Ltd. in May 2019.
Director, Media and Content Industry Division, Commerce and Informatuin Policy Bureau
Mika Takagi is now the Director of Media and Content Industry Division of the Commerce and Information Policy Bureau under the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry of Japan.
Her division promotes Japan’s creative industries worldwide by supporting localization and promotion of Japanese content to foreign markets, providing a database that consolidates Japanese content rights information etc.
Her passion lies in changing our society with the use of creativity and technology.
Prior to the current role, she started the Japanese government’s Cool Japan campaign in collaboration with the other ministries, and was chosen as one of the “100 people who would rebuild Japan” by AREA magazine in 2011 for starting an interdisciplinary approach within the government.
She earned her MBA from Stanford Graduate School of Business.
CEO, TART K.K.
Graduated from the Science and Engineering at Waseda University in 2010. Soon after, he joined Shiseido. In 2014, he decided to go indepent and was engaged in business development of various web services. In 2016, with the technology of Blockchain, he started working on his own business development. Fast forward to 2019, TART was founded to promote the use of blockchain in the content industry. It is a platform mainly developed for managing the distribution of e-books.
Sales Director, Japan, Element AI
Makoto Seki is the Sales Director representing Element AI in Japan. Element AI develops AI-powered solutions and services that help people and machines work smarter, together. Element AI was founded in 2016 by serial entrepreneurs including JF Gagné and A. M. Turing Award recipient, Yoshua Bengio, PhD.
Vice Governor, Kyoto Prefecture
1970: started work in Kyoto Pref.
2008: Director of Commerce, Industry and Tourism, Kyoto Pref.
2011: Director of the Kyoto Pref. Planning Board (In charge of emergency economic measures and future strategy)
2013: Vice Governor of Kyoto Pref.
Canada’s Minister of Small Business, Export Promotion and International Trade
From promoting Canada to the world as a great place to do business, to helping our entrepreneurs and businesses grow and access new markets – Minister Ng is focused on helping Canadians succeed.
First elected the Member of Parliament for Markham–Thornhill in April 2017, Minister Ng was first appointed to Cabinet in July 2018 as Minister for Small Business and Export Promotion. After being successfully re-elected in October 2019, she became Canada’s Minister of Small Business, Export Promotion and International Trade.
Prior to serving as a Member of Parliament, Minister Ng served as Appointments Director for the Prime Minister, and as Executive Director for the President of Ryerson University where she oversaw the creation of a world-leading business incubator for tech start-ups.
Throughout her 20 years of public service, Minister Ng has been a devoted community leader with a focus on creating jobs, fostering entrepreneurship, and empowering small business to innovate and grow.
CEO and Co-Founder, Secondmind Ltd.
Vishal is CEO and co-founder of Secondmind, The Decisions Company, that helps people in business make better decisions. It bridges the gap between people and AI by offering features that support effective decision-making, such as yield optimisation or improving efficiency in engine tuning. He is a serial entrepreneur and global manager whose work experience spans fundamental research, manufacturing, operations, R&D, product management, corporate strategy and business development.
Business Development Consultant, Secondmind Ltd.
Country Manager JP/KR, Argus Cyber Security Ltd.
Tomo Inoue is a BD Consultat for Secondmind as well as a Contry Manager of Argus Cyber Security in Japan and Korea. He has been a Vishal's partner in Japan since they successfully commercialized a technology, later known as MirrorLink. His experience includes sales, logistics, factory operations, and finance at a Japanese trading company and a European electronics manufacturer, as well as numerous Japanese bisuness launches for Silicon Valley and Israeli start-ups.
Director for Information Policy Planning,
Commerce and Information Policy Bureau
Join Japan Patent Office in 1999. Director at NEDO Silicon Valley Office, Director for Medical Imaging Technology. Since April 2020, Director for Information Policy Planning, Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry, in charge of GPAI, AI governance and EU-Japan digital cooperation.
Deputy Director-General for G20 and G7 Relations
Yoichi Iida chaired G7 working group meeting on ICT policy, when Japan hosted G7 ICT Ministers’ Meeting in 2016, and proposed international discussion on guidelines on Artificial Intelligence.
He also chaired G20 Digital Economy Task Force which prepared for G20 AI Principles based on OECD AI Recommendations. The Principles were approved by ministers at G20 Trade and Digital Economy Ministerial as well as by National Leaders at Osaka Summit.
Since January 2020, he has been taking the chair of OECD Committee on Digital Economy Policy (CDEP).
He joined former Ministry of Posts and Telecommunications in 1988, which was integrated into current Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications.
Co-founder and Chief Science Officer, ELEMENT AI
Nicolas Chapados holds an engineering degree from McGill University and a Ph.D. in Computer Science from Université de Montréal. While still writing his thesis and jointly with his thesis advisor Prof. Yoshua Bengio, he co-founded ApSTAT Technologies in 2001. It was a machine learning technology transfer firm, whose goal was to apply cutting-edge academic research ideas to areas such as insurance risk evaluation, supply chain planning,business forecasting, national defence, and hedge fund management.
From the work in this company he spinned-off two companies: Imagia, to detect and quantify cancer early with AI analysis of medical images and Chapados Couture Capital, a quantitative asset manager.
He also holds a Chartered Financial Analyst (CFA) designation.
Attorney-at-law,Patent attorney,Yanagida & Partners
I have worked as a judge for about 40 years and, for nearly 20 years, was in charge of intellectual property (I P) cases. Two years ago, a retirement age retired from the chief judge of TP High Court. As a lawyer, a patent attorney, I am engaged in the handling of case about IP rights afterwards.
Director, IT Project Office, METI Director, IT Strategy Unit,
Cabinet Secretary Office
He joined METI in FY2008. After working on corporate tax policy, environment policy and fuel and energy resource policy, he studied digital government policies in NUS, Singapore. He got MBA and Master of Public Management in 2017. From 2017, he has worked for IT project office to advance digitalization of government services for corporates in METI.
Interim Director
Paris Centre of Expertise, Global Partnership on Artificial Intelligence
Bertrand Braunschweig began his career in the oil industry as a researcher in systems dynamics and artificial intelligence. He then joined IFP Energies Nouvelles to lead research in AI and coordinate international projects on interoperability standards. He spent five years at ANR as head of the ICT department, then joined Inria in 2011 to head the Rennes research centre, then the Saclay research centre. From the end of 2018 to September 2020 he coordinated the research component of the national AI strategy. He is currently director of the Paris centre of expertise of the Global Partnership for Artificial Intelligence.
Bertrand Braunschweig is an ENSIIE engineer, PhD from Paris Dauphine University and Habilitation from Pierre and Marie Curie University.
Cognitive Finance Group
Clara Durodié is a respected expert and author on AI governance for business growth and profitability in financial services. She authored Decoding AI in Financial Services, the first book to examine how AI impacts business strategy and governance in financial services.
Clara advises boards of directors on best practices in the adoption, selection, and implementation of AI systems. She also mentors AI companies on technology development and growth strategy. Clara is a frequent speaker at leading conferences and guest lecturer at universities such as Harvard, MIT, and Oxford. Formerly, Clara worked in executive roles in European asset and wealth management in London and Luxembourg, and holds a master's degree from the University of Oxford.
Professor, University of Tokyo
After serving at Keio University, joined University of Tokyo in 1996. Has been Professor in 2011. He also serves as an expert member of Council on Economic and Fiscal Policy, Japanese Government,
Policy Planning Division, Technology Policy Office, Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries
Join Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries on 2013. 2 years of experience in City of Tomi, Nagano Prefecture. Since 2018, staff of smart agriculture in Technology Policy Office.
Deputy Editor, Nikkei Business Publications, Inc.
Joined a human resources service company in 2001. After that, "Nikkei Trendy" since 2005. Deputy Editor-in-Chief of Nikkei Trendy in 2016. Deputy Editor-in-Chief of Nikkei x Trend since 2018. Edited "Beyond MaaS"
Partner of Fintech Innovation Division, KPMG
My first career is Global System Service company to develop new business with new technology. In 2015, I joined in KPMG consulting as a Director and started Fintech services in non-financial institution. In 2016, I had appointed to Head of fintech promotion support office where including Audit, Advisory, Tax members in Japan. And launched Fintech service team in KPMG consulting as independent organization.
Professional and Industry Experience：.
•Open API strategy project with Mega Bank..
•Proof of concept engagements of Blockchain technologies for energy company..
•Developing the concept of new card business model.
•ICO project support from regulatory point of view..
•Lecturer in Keio University of “Fintech and Social .
Infrastructure” Apr, 2018
General Manager, Strategic Business Design Department, Sompo Japan Insurance Inc.
President and CEO, Sompo Degital Ventures Inc.
Joined the Yasuda Fire & Marine Insurance Co., Ltd in 1992 (now Sompo Japan Insurance).
He experienced the Great East Japan Earthquake in Sendai, where he was in the leadership of the Disaster Countermeasures Headquarters. Later on, he developed the world's first insurance products that incorported an AI-based system for local governments to cover the cost of saving lives, and many local governments are now enrolled in the policy.
Currently, as the head of the digital division, he is in charge of creating new value, such as the establishment of an Insurtech company and the development of an AI-based disaster prevention/mitigation system to contribute towards a resilient and sustainable society.
CEO, Automotive News Co.,Ltd
He has founded "LIGARE. News", which covers a number of mobility topics with the motto that improving the quality of mobility leads to a better quality of life.
Counsellor, Minister’s Secretariat policy planning division, Ministry of Agriculture,Forestry and Fisheries.
Deputy Director, International Affairs Office, Commerce and Information Policy Bureau, METI
Join METI on 2010. Deputy Director at Aerospace and Defense Industry Division, IT Industry Division. Since July 2020, Depury Director at International Affairs Office of Commerce and Infromation Policy Bureau, in charge of GPAI, AI governance.
Director for Organizational Strategy and Human Resources Policy and Director of the FinTech and Innovation Office, Financial Services Agency, JAPAN
Nozaki Akira is the Director for Organizational Strategy and Human Resources Policy and the Director of the FinTech and Innovation Office in Financial Services Agency, JAPAN. He joined the FSA in 2000 and served as the Senior Policy Analyst in OECD, the Director for Planning and Management and the Director of the Disclosure Enforcement Office in the FSA.
Marketing Communication Division, LeapMind Inc.
Public relations role at an AI startup since February 2017.Planning public relations strategies for two companies, one specializing in time-series data analysis and sound AI and the other specializing in image analysis and edge AI. The first personality of Nikkei's new voice media, "NAGARA Nikkei".
Expert Officer for Global Industry, Minister's Secretariat, Global Industry Policy Office, Ministry of Economy, Trada and Industry
Tomotaka joined the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry (METI) in 1998 where he led various policies related to energy, environment, automobile industry, IT, and economic industries. He also served as a director of policy planning for Japan’s economic growth strategy of Abenomics at the Cabinet Secretariat and a Consul at the Consulate General of Japan in San Francisco. In 2018, he joined Origami, a fintech startup where he focused on promoting digital transformation in various industries through cashless payment. Tomotaka joined Scrum Ventures in March of 2020 and METI in June of 2020. He is a graduate of the University of Tokyo, Faculty of Law and the University of California at San Diego, International Relations and Pacific Studies.
Corporate Officer, EVP, Chief Data Officer (CDO), Yahoo Japan Corporation
Joined Yahoo Japan Corporation in 2009 and was in charge of R&D for the marketing business.
In 2015, became responsible for the development of data platform accompanying the establishment of a division dedicated to supervising the use of all data in the company.
After supervising a data service division that promoted use of data in various services of Yahoo! JAPAN, appointed Corporate Officer, CDO in 2017.
Assumed present office in April 2019.
Joined Yahoo Japan Corporation in 2009 and was in charge of R&D for the marketing business.
In 2015, became responsible for the development of data platform accompanying the establishment of a division dedicated to supervising the use of all data in the company.
After supervising a data service division that promoted use of data in various services of Yahoo! JAPAN, appointed Corporate Officer, CDO in 2017.
Assumed present office in April 2019.
Co-founder and CEO, One Concern, Inc
Ahmad Wani serves as the CEO and Co-Founder of One Concern, a U.S.-based disaster solutions company with the mission of making disasters less disastrous by integrating hazard science with cutting edge artificial intelligence and machine learning technologies. A native of Kashmir, India, Mr. Wani survived being marooned during the catastrophic Kashmir flood of 2014. His personal experience with the devastating impacts of disasters led him to create One Concern in 2015, together with One Concern’s co-founders, whom he met at Stanford University. Mr. Wani holds a Graduate Degree in Structural Engineering, with a focus on seismic engineering, from Stanford University. Before attending Stanford, Mr. Wani graduated top of his class at the National Institute of Technology, India.
Chief Lumada Business Officer, S&PF BU, Hitachi Ltd.
Join Hitachi Ltd. on 1988. Through the experience of Software Business, working on Lumada, the core of digital solution business in Hitachi since 2016. Assigned as Chief Lumada Business Officer on 2020, leading all the Lumada activities.
Corporate Executive, Sr. General Manager, System Solution Business Division, Sony Semiconductor Solutions Corp.
5 year experience at Sony, and now leading System Solutions Business Division at Sony Semiconductor in order to pursue sensing solution business based on our cutting edge image sensing technology.Before joining Sony, conducted many M&A advisory and financing transactions as an investment banker focusing on technology clients in Japan and Asia.
Senior Staff Writer and Editorial Writer, Nikkei Inc.
As a member of editorial team at NIKKEI, currently covers life sciences, advanced mecdical technologies, envrionmental and energy issues, as well as topics related to weather and natural disasters. Prior to that, was a Washington DC correspondent and Paris Bureau chief after having worked in Science & Tech Dept and Business News Dept. Graduated Tsukuba University,majored in physics, and earned Masters degree for environmental studies. Holds National certificate for meteorologist.
Founder, Code for Japan
Hal Seki has been working as a geolocation service developer since 2002. He is a founder of Code for Japan, which is one of the biggest civic tech community in Japan. Also, Hal is the CEO of Georepublic Japan, providing location-based system consulting/developing services using open source GIS as well as the CEO of HackCamp. This company helps organizations' open innovation strategies. He is well known as a community manager for solving social issues through technology tools in Japan. He has been actively promoting civic tech movement since he started his social entrepreneur's career when he was managing Sinsai.info, a cloud sourcing platform for collecting crisis information after the Great East Japan Earthquake occurred.
Senior Staff Writer, Senior Staff Writers Group, Nikkei Inc.