Make a Difference: Startups Shaping the Future at Monozukuri Hub Meetup
Startups can solve the fundamental problems and create new values. After the unprecedented success Monozukuri Hub Meetup enjoyed over the past year, we felt compelled to talk about their untapped potential, from sport coaching to emotions scanning. If you missed Facebook streaming, here are crucial points to read!
About Event
November Monozukuri Hub Meetup gathered investors with an international background, promising startups and curious audience eager to listen to powerful stories. This time we focused on the key role of startups tackling real problems and bringing new solutions to our modern lives.
OTON Glass: Shaping your vision
Yoshihiro Asano (OTON Glass CTO) was the first speaker, introducing the set of smart glasses for those suffering from vision disorders or perceiving difficulties when reading. The idea to create an IoT device for detecting characters and translation came up through the bitter experience: after a brain surgery, his CEO's father developed dyslexia, an inability to read accurately.
When Yoshihiro put on his smart glasses to show how his startup device works, the camera captured words printed on the paper and loudly read out the text via the earpiece — the demo was showcased in both English and Japanese languages. The future might create new possibilities for scan-and-say glasses: what do you say about reading people’s emotions?
Dyslexia is a specific disability resulting in trouble reading accurately and fluently. According to some studies presented by OTON Glass, there are about 1,52 million people struggling with dyslexia in Japan.
XENOMA: E-Skin for active people
Ichiro Amimori from Xenoma Inc., a spin-off company from the University of Tokyo, surprised the audience by playing a game on a big screen. Each movement he made echoed in the game character who run, jumped and hit the wall at the very same time. Everyone gasped when Ichiro unzipped his sweater showing his smart apparel glistening with silver electronic circuits.
The shirt dubbed e-skin enables motion capture and tracking that makes human body a perfect controller for virtual reality (VR). As Ichiro explained, it may be used not only for sports and gaming, but also for medical and nursery — a good example would be to track dementia patients who will not be able to take off the shirt unlike wearable wristbands.
Advices From Investors: Arnon Kohavi and Tsuyoshi Taira
After a short break, we continued with a panel discussion with Arnon Kohavi, Israeli-born angel investor, and Tsuyoshi Taira from Tazan Internationals, expert in overseas and domestic investments. Both guests having a common background in semiconductor industry shared their insights into challenges in terms of technology before and nowadays.
Tsuyoshi Taira, who spent most of his career at Sanyo Corporation ,amused everyone with hilarious stories happened in the past. The audience burst with cheerful laugh when he talked about brilliant ideas scribbled on a restaurant napkin worth USD 2 million. He praised Japanese engineers for their smartness and expressed his willingness to support domestic venture companies. However, he pointed out a fly in the ointment: strict government policies in Japan prevent many startups from entering the competitive market.
Arnon Kohavi founded several Silicon Valley-based startups before focusing on international startup investment opportunities in Chile, Singapore and now Japan. From his point of view, entrepreneurs who want to launch a company should get out of their comfort zone in order to build up new skills and character. He also advised Japanese engineers to simplify their inventions: the less buttons customers need to press, the better it will be.
The last turn was taken by both Japanese startups who talked about challenging laws, collaboration with Japanese hospitals and product price. Questions left out at the second panel discussion could be discussed one-to-one, at the networking session.
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