Monozukuri Bootcamp — where hardware startups polish design for manufacturing with manufacturing experts in Japan — is back! The Cohort #2 will take place from mid July for six weeks with cash investment ($100K — $500K range). Application in on a rolling basis, so if you’re a hardware startup, apply now!
Since our first Monozukuri Bootcamp program last summer, FabFoundry has extended the partnership with Makers Boot Camp (MBC), a Kyoto-based hardware accelerator backed by 100+ local factories, to deliver more flexible ways to help hardware startups succeed.
We look for hardware startups seeking for shorter time-to-market and higher-quality design…
Thanks to the extended partnership, I am glad to announce that our FabFoundry Blog now has contribution from Makers Boot Camp, our partner in Kyoto, Japan. Makers Boot Camp writes in English about hardware startups and manufacturing in Japan. This is a great source to know what’s going on in their community, because most of the content is written in Japanese.
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FabFoundry is pleased to announce our first cohort of the Monozukuri Bootcamp program, a hardware boot camp co-hosted by Japan-based Makers Boot Camp. The Monozukuri Bootcamp program was started to have hardware startups in New York City — the world’s largest community of creators and makers with the biggest North American market of 24 million people. The term Monozukuri is a Japanese expression to describe Japanese-style manufacturing processes.
Helping Create a Hardware Startup Hub in New York
FabFoundry’s leading initiatives such as Monozukuri Meetup in New York. One of our goals is to create a makers’ hub in New York by connecting local creators and makers to global manufacturing…
A great opportunity for a hardware startup in New York!
A one-day conference in Tokyo is looking for a pitch speaker of a venture-backed startup in New York. The conference takes place in Tokyo on August 2nd. If you meet all these requirement below, please contact me via this online form. Please note there is selection process on a rolling basis.
- Your startup is in the IoT (Internet of Things) or wearable.
- Your startup is venture-backed w/$2M+
- Your startup is headquartered in New York.
- Either CEO or a co-founder can do a pitch in Tokyo.
The speaker of the selected…
One of the common questions I receive on our Monozukuri Bootcamp program is regarding support on design and manufacturing while you are in Japan.
I will add this following part to the FAQ later, but please let me share separately now for your convenience!
Weekly (probably Every Wednesday) Samurai Mentors will meet startups at Kyoto Research Park (co-working space) and will count on Makers Boot Camp support to help not only translating but also clarifying any doubts about the project — this will lead to a more sophisticated and assertive work. …
New York’s “Next Top Makers” is an initiative by New York City’s Mayor Office to commit to the maker movement. Last week, their second year’s fellow companies had showcase and made final pitches in a newly renovated building in the Brooklyn Army Terminal — it is now the home of “Futureworks NYC”.
This event was to wrap up the 2nd batch of the Next Top Makers program, and all the fellow startups came together, including the two winning startups (2nd place BotFactory & 3rd place Dog Parker) of the National Hardware Cup, a “nation’s best early-stage hardware startup competition” where…
Two weeks ago, Slush Asia’s Junction Asia Hack-a-thon for three straight days ended up gathering over 200 people in a big warehouse in Tokyo. I was not there, but quite a few friends of mine participated, so let’s figure out what was going on.
Last week, I flew to Pittsburgh, PA, and watched the AlphaLab Gear National Hardware Cup 2016 Finals. It was exciting.
Winners from 9 cities were competing
The finalists are winners of regional finals in 9 cities: Pittsburgh, Ann Arbor, Washington DC, New York, Boston, Chicago, San Jose, Los Angeles, and Austin. Also, one wildcard team is selected based upon feedback from the audience.
In the finals, two winners from a competition from Korea joined the competition. So, each of the 11 teams made a 5 minute pitch on stage (OXX, the winner from Ann Arbor, did not show up after all).
The audience of nearly 100…
FabFoundry updated details of our first batch (Summer 2016) for Monozukuri Bootcamp, a newly introduced accelerating program that brings access to high-quality manufacturing expertise to hardware startups.
If you are a hardware startup looking for better manufacturing, please apply to the program by June 10th. In the week of May 30th, we plan to host a meeting in New York for questions and answers.
Program in New York and Japan
The term Monozukuri means “making things” in Japanese, but the Monozukuri concept has more more meaning than making things The concept has been distributed around the world by “made in Japan” products, which are well-known for…
Christopher & Dana Reeve Foundation announced the creation of Adaptoys, which are adapted versions of popular toys that will give people living with paralysis the chance to play with their families, according to an article of PEOPLE magazine.
For Adaptoys, our friend makers David & Courtland from Axios NYC played a vital role — prototyping a R/C race car that runs on sip-and-puff technology, using a straw and turns with head tilts (look at the picture below how David was testing using the sensor on the headset).
Nobuhiro “Nob” Seki
COO/MD@Monozukuri Ventures (fka FabFoundry), Ex-exec@Six Apart, Chief@Movable Type and Staff Editor@Nikkei. MBA@Carnegie Mellon & BS@University of Tokyo
