Registration is closed for the three-day summit which took place in Tokyo on September 30 - October 2. This wasan exclusive event for the Society of Kauffman Fellows only (fellows,mentors, and strategic partners). The event was covered by Nikkei, stay tuned for photos from the event as well as related articles.
Event Themes
Regional LP Trends - Major financial and strategic LPs will attend to learn more about the Kauffman Fellows Program and its participating venture funds. Tokyo Marine, Nippon Life, Mitsubishi, Mitsui, and Sumitomo are expected to attend. One of the founding GPs of TrueBridge Capital Partners, Edwin Poston, will also attend and speak.
Business Development Opportunities - There were a total of 180 attendees: 58 from the US and 150 from Japan. Below is a list of organizations and corporations that were represented by the aforementioned attendees: Panasonic, NTT Group, Softbank, Recruit, P&G, Kansai Electric, Omron, Takeda, Otsuka, Shionogi, Daiichi-Sankyo, SONY, NEC, Fujitsu, Meidensha, Kirin-Kyowa, ITFrontier, Nihon Unisys, Mitsubishi UFJ Capital, Tokio Marine Capital, Sumitomo Trust, Mitsubishi Trust, Sumitomo, Mitsui, Sony Life, Pension Fund Association, INCJ, JETRO, METI, U.S Embassy, Stanford University, Tokyo University, Keio University, Waseda University, Ritsumeikan University, IPA, JST, AIST
Technology Trends- Also in attendance were many of Japan's leading venture funds, universities, policy officials, federal laboratories and entrepreneurs, there to provide insight into key technology and investment trends in-country. Japan is a thought-leader in mobile media, life sciences and robotics, among many other sectors. Many thought leaders shared their views on forward looking trends. Papers and presentations can be found in the KFP database, all attendees will have access to it.
Event Details
Where: The event was held in the Shin-Marunouchi Building (10th floor), a short walk from Tokyo Station.
Costs: Conference and lodging fees were covered by Mitsubishi Estate and other event sponsors.
Additional: The conference organizers arranged for a cultural weekend October 3-4 in Kyoto. Many Fellows brought spouses and children. Family events were held during the conference and will be planned for the days of the event as well.
A huge thank-you to Koichiro Nakamura and Mitsubishi Corporation for having the vision and persistence to make this event a reality.
