Monozukuri Hardware Cup 2020 Announced Top Hardware Startups in Japan
The moment of truth has finally arrived! Eight Monozukuri Hardware Cup 2020 finalists, striving to make their mark in the hardware startups industry, pitched their projects to an expert panel of judges. Scroll down to learn who will represent Japan at the global finals!
Monozukuri Hardware Cup 2020 has gathered some of the most important Japanese startup ecosystem players — investors, enterprises, government representatives and startups selected for the finals in Japan. The pitch contest, organized by Monozukuri Startup Consortium, took place in the afternoon at the Kyoto Research Park, for the first time in Kyoto, in front of 100 well selected guests.
What Is the Monozukuri Hardware Cup?
The pitch competition Monozukuri Hardware Cup highlights the finest talent from across Japan, from which panel of experts and judges select top three hardware startups. Each startup has exactly four minutes to pitch in front of a live audience and five minutes for Q&A session, following Hardware Cup’s AlphaLab Gear official format. The winners receive JPY300K (JPY 200K for 2nd place and 100K for the 3rd place accordingly) and a chance to compete at Hardware Cup finals in Pittsburgh, US.
This year’s judging panel for Monozukuri Hardware Cup 2020 was absolutely stellar! Meet the judges who brought their industry knowledge and category specific skill sets to evaluate this year finalists:
- Allen Miner, Founder/Chairman and CEO, SunBridge group
- Oscar Kneppers, Rockstart Founder
- Yoshinobu Ise, Executive Innovation/Investment Director of Dentsu Innovation Initiative
Meet The Winners
Here comes the 2020 regional winners of Hardware Cup, who will enter the global round of the competition in Pittsburgh, US!
Smart energy startup AC Biode was selected as a winner of the competition and received JPY 300K as an award for a round-trip ticket to fly to Pittsburgh finals. iXOS, an AI-display with enhanced sounds and voice quality, took the second spot winning JPY 200K yen for the tour to Pittsburgh. CrossEdgeLab with its thermo monitoring system ‘Rabbit vision’ came in third with JPY 100K award. All the 3 top startups will exhibit at the demo area at the Japan booth in Pittsburgh and participate in the networking with investors the following day after Hardware Cup finals.
1st place
Batteries are essential for mobility and energy storage of renewable energy, says AC Biode Co-Founder & CEO Tadashi Kubo. However, it takes a lot of time and investments to develop new materials or new types other than typical Li-ion batteries. His company is developing the world’s first standalone AC (Alternating Current) batteries which are safer, more efficient, and have a double life cycle. Tadashi Kubo is planning to utilise existing materials and battery production lines to enter the market faster than competitors that use new materials or types. AC batteries are applicable in space and in connection with drones, electric vehicles and scooters, and energy storage.
2nd place
Startups are innovating in the audio space so that we have a chance to have a superb sound environment. iXOS is one of the companies poised to disrupt a tech world with its next gen AI display ‘SmartCon’ powered by an enhanced voice and sound quality. During his passionate pitch, IXOS President Richard Nakajima demonstrated his product’s abilities and wowed the audience with its studio-quality performance.
3rd place
Watanabe Natsuki from CrossEdgeLab believes she can solve some of the difficult problems faced by the aging world. Her monitoring system called ‘Rabbit vision’ uses an omni-directional thermography that works with computer vision algorithms to monitor the elderly in their homes. The product is designed to work even in so-called blind spots, while preserving anonymity. More importantly, it guarantees peace of mind for the observees, their families and their caregivers. According to Watanabe Natsuki, users’ data about sleep and activities can be shared in order to provide better healthcare services.
Meet other amazing finalists who represented a perfect fusion of disruptive technologies with smart business solutions!
As of now, the scent market still employs traditional methods, which include aroma candles, diffusers, and air fresheners. Dong Wook Kim from Aromajoin is one of the fast-thinking innovators who are exploiting mobile technology and inexpensive hardware in the race to revolutionize the science of scent. His patent-backed flagship product, the Aroma Shooter, allows a scent to appear and disappear instantly as well as target the flow of a scent directly to a user’s nose. The goal is to provide the opportunity for consumers to enjoy fragrances more intimately, economically, and diversely through engineering technologies.
Whether it is for winding down after a long week or simply thrashing around with your mates, karaoke is one of most popular past-times in Japan. However, it can also be frustrating sometimes with only one person singing and others having nothing to do. Dokuen is a startup that lets you bust out the mics and belt your favourite tunes together with your friends by deploying a virtual live playing system with karaoke and rhythm game. According to its Director Takuya Kaminosono, ‘GameKaraoke’ system that enables users sing and play electronic instruments, has been successfully operating in Osaka-based ‘Karaoke Manekineko’.
Indoor positioning can still be very hit and miss. Hoping to solve this problem is Ken Miura from Douzen, a California-based startup developing an indoor navigation and guidance solution ‘Mooncast’. Its product guides the general flow of people through connected smart projectors and cloud-based machine learning. With a mission to make wayfinding easier, it develops compact devices that can be fitted into existing lighting infrastructure already present in the buildings.
For many people with diabetes, tracking blood sugar is a critical yet painful procedure. Tokyo-based startup Quantum Operation strives to make diabetes monitoring as easy as reading the news or scrolling through Instagram. According to its CSO Sumitaka Maruyama, it is working on the world’s first wearable watch type blood glucose monitoring system. With its innovative medical sensors for tracking vital signs, the company hopes to develop a better tool to improve our health.
Urinary incontinence — the loss of bladder control — is a common and often embarrassing problem often associated with elderly patients. Triple W Japan CEO Atsushi Nakanishi is working on an ultrasonic wearable sensor technology that predicts and notifies the right timing to go to the bathroom. His goal is to help people suffering from continence not to worry about accidents and forgo the embarrassment of wearing diapers.
