National Knowledge Manufacturing Conference 2025" Opening Session: "Small and Medium-Sized Companies and Ventures in the New Era Will Change Japan and the World" will be held on April 18, 2012.

Lifeness Co., Ltd. (Headquarters: Shinjuku Ward, Tokyo; Representative Director and Group CEO: Yukihiro Maru) will host the National Knowledge-Based Manufacturing Conference 2025 on Friday, April 18, 2025. The opening session will be titled “Mid-Sized, Small, and Medium-Sized Enterprises and Startups in a New Era: Transforming Japan and the World.”

Population decline, shrinking markets, excessive concentration in Tokyo, aging social infrastructure… Japan currently faces a mountain of major challenges. The key to overcoming this situation lies in revitalizing the mid-sized and small businesses that have long supported society, as well as fostering the growth of deep-tech startups capable of changing the world through new technologies. In this session, we will explore the future role of mid-sized and small businesses and deep-tech ventures in this new era through a discussion featuring four speakers who, from their respective perspectives, provide unique forms of support to mid-sized and small businesses nationwide, deep-tech ventures, and the collaboration between the two.

speaker

Ms. Chie Yamano, Representative Director, General Incorporated Association for Venture-Style Business Succession
Born in 1969. After graduating from Kwansei Gakuin University, worked for a venture company and a consulting firm before joining the Osaka Industrial Innovation Center, a support base for startups and small and medium-sized businesses, as a founding member. While engaged in covering many business executives as editor-in-chief of a business information magazine, he focused on innovation by successors of small- and medium-sized enterprises. In 2018, he established a general incorporated association, Venture-type Business Succession, which aims to create an environment for successors to take on the challenge of developing new businesses, with the mission of "making Atotsugi Venture a part of Japan's culture. He is a part-time lecturer at the Graduate School of Management Strategy, Kwansei Gakuin University and Kansai University. Author of "Atotsugi Venture Thinking - 55 Things to Do Before Becoming President" (Nikkei BP) and "Dramatic Rebuilding - Irrational Decisions Save the Company" (Shinchosha).

Mr. Akihiko Nagata, President and CEO of UntroD Capital Japan, Inc.
He has been a director of Euglena Co. since the company was unlisted, with primary responsibility for business strategy, finance, and the biofuels area. 2021 he was appointed CEO of the company, with responsibility for all business execution. 2024 he retired from the company. 2015 he established a real tech fund to promote deep tech investments that help solve social issues. 2024 he was appointed President of UntroD Capital Japan, which manages the fund. In 2024, he was appointed President and CEO of UntroD Capital Japan, which manages the fund. He is focused on realizing social impact in capitalism, including founding and managing Rainwind Sun, which was the first NPO-based social impact IPO in Japan, and serving as a business advisor to Herald Bonnie.

Mr. Tatsuo Adachi, Managing Executive Officer and Co-Head of the Retail and Corporate Business Division, Mizuho Bank, Ltd. (Moderator)
Graduated from Aoyama Gakuin University in 1990 with a degree in Business Administration. Deputy General Manager of Uchisaiwaicho Sales Department 7, Deputy General Manager of Sales Department 4, Senior Deputy General Manager of Sales Department 4, Counselor of Industrial Research Department, Chief Relationship Manager of Sales Department 8, Chief Relationship Manager of Sales Department 8, Chief Relationship Manager of Sales Department 2, Shibuya Branch, Shibuya Branch, Mizuho Bank, Ltd. General Manager of Sales Department VIII, General Manager of Sales Department VIII, Executive Officer of Sales Department Branch, Executive Officer of Sales Department Branch, Executive Officer of Sales Department and Area Manager of Sales Department, Executive Officer of Sales Department and Area Manager (Corporate Area 1) of Sales Department, Executive Officer of Sales Department and Area Manager (Corporate Area 1) of Sales Department, and Group Executive Officer, Deputy President of Retail & Business Corporate Company and current position, Mizuho Financial Group, Inc. from April 2025. Managing Executive Officer, Co-Head of Retail & Business Corporations Company, Mizuho Financial Group, Inc.

Yukihiro Maru, Representative Director and Group CEO, Ribance Co., Ltd. (Moderator)
D. from the Graduate School of Agricultural and Life Sciences at the University of Tokyo. 2002, while still a graduate student, he founded LIBANES with only 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 runs a "knowledge manufacturing business" that creates new businesses by combining technologies and knowledge from different fields, and is the driving force behind one of Asia's largest deep tech venture ecosystems, Tech Planter. He works to solve global issues by discovering deep issues around the world. His major publications include "Deep Tech: The 'Sleeping Technology' That Will Pioneer the Future of the World" (Nikkei BP) and "The New Era of Knowledge Manufacturing" (Liberace Publishing).

Tickets are now on sale

If you are interested in the realization of the knowledge-based manufacturing industry, please be sure to attend.

Overview

Date and Time: Friday, April 18, 2024

Venue: Tokyo Metropolitan Industrial Trade Center, Hamamatsucho Building, 4th Floor, Exhibition Hall (Tokyo Port City Takeshiba, 1-7-1 Kaigan, Minato-ku, Tokyo)