New Column " Tesla and the user pain point-driven paradigm of value creation"

I wrote a new column with the Canon Institute for Global Studies about Tesla and the user pain point-driven paradigm of value creation. The value delivered by Tesla is fundamentally different from those of incumbent auto firms. This column is not just about Tesla or the auto industry, but of how firms like Tesla are introducing new paradigms of value creation, which will affect a broad range of industries. As our world faces severe economic challenges, those who emerge as winners may very likely be those who can deliver value in new ways. And thanks to my neighbors for letting me take pictures of their model 3 :) An informal visual daytime survey, since most people are at home now, shows around 30% of houses around here have at least one Tesla. Even higher on particular streets!

Please click here to access the article ( available in Japanese only)

Webinar: Japan's Response to Covid-19/ Political Leadership and Crisis Response

On Tues, April 14, we did a webinar panel on Japan's response to Covid-19, with our panelists, Aki Shiozaki and Harukata Takenaka joining from Tokyo. As experts on Japan's political leadership and crisis response, we had an opportunity to hear updates on what was going on, as well a deeper look into important questions about how Japanese institutions were set up, lessons from previous major disaster and crisis, evaluations of the current leadership, and implications for moving forward.

Thanks to Mr. Shiozaki and Professor Takenaka, the panel was very successful with almost 200 attendees and great questions asked in the Q&A box.

Normally, the Japan Colloquium series has been only in-person, but now that the university is completely online, this opens up opportunities to far more easily link up with and hear from our friends in Japan. Our radical social distancing has actually collapsed the distance, mentally and organizationally, for this type of collaboration -- never waste a horrible crisis.

Japan in the Bay Area: Developing Entrepreneurial Business Partnerships in the New Japan

On February 20, I gave a talk and also moderated a panel at conference organized by the Bay Area Council Economic Institute with the US-Asia Technology Management Center (USATMC), on innovation, startups and technology development in Japan, and the bridge connecting Bay Area/Silicon Valley companies to Japan’s changing ecosystem.

The conference was built on a program organized at Stanford in March 2019 on Japan’s technology, innovation and startup footprint in the Bay Area, and a report released by the Bay Area Council Economic Institute in December 2019 that assesses the changing role of Japanese corporations in the region and how the strategies being pursued here link to transformation strategies being adopted at home.

Speakers:
Dr. Kenji Kushida (Research Scholar, Japan Program, Shorenstein Asia-Pacific Research Center)
Dr. Richard Dasher (Director, US-Asia Technology Management Center)
Dr. Sean Randolph (Senior Director, Bay Area Council Economic Institute)
Tak Onishi, Partner, World Innovation Lab
Akiko Naka (Co-Founder and CEO, Wantedly)
Masayuki Ogata, COO, Freee
Christian Sanz (Co-Founder and CEO, Skycatch)
Neeti Mehta (SVP, Automation Software)
Kevin Kuhn, VP & General Manager, Mitsubishi Corporation (Americas)

Program:

2:30 Registration Opens

3:00 Welcome Remarks: Hon. Toru Maeda, Consul General of Japan

3:15 Presentation: Japan in the Bay Area: Collaboration and Transformation
Dr. Sean Randolph, Senior Director, Bay Area Council Economic Institute

3:30 Panel: Understanding Japan’s Changing Innovation and Startup Ecosystem
Dr. Kenji Kushida, Research Scholar, Japan Program, Shorenstein Center, Stanford (Moderator)
　　Akiko Naka, Co-Founder & CEO, Wantedly
　　Masayuki Ogata, COO, Freee
　　Tak Onishi, Partner, World Innovation Lab

4:40 Break

4:50 Panel: Leveraging Opportunities: Bay Area/Silicon Valley Partnerships in Japan
Dr. Richard Dasher, Director, US-Asia Technology Management Center, Stanford (Moderator)
　　Christian Sanz, Co-Founder & CEO, Skycatch
　　Neeti Mehta Shukla, Senior Vice President, Automation Anywhere
　　Kevin Kuhn, VP & General Manager, Mitsubishi Corporation (Americas)

6:00 Informal Reception

Click HERE for more photos

Talk at Silicon Valley Innovation Forum

On February 12, I gave a talk at the Silicon Valley Innovation Forum on my recent research and BACEI(Bay Area Council Economic Institute) report “Japan in the Bay Area, Collaboration and Transformation”

The presentation material is available HERE

Click HERE for more photos

[Upcoming event] Silicon Valley Innovation Forum (SVIF) Seminar

I'm giving a talk on February 12 at the Silicon Valley Innovation Forum (SVIF), a Japanese group in Silicon Valley. (the talk is in Japanese). 
"New trends of Japanese companies utilizing Silicon Valley: Summary of the past 5 years and future prospects"

Date: Wednesday, February 12, 6:45 pm-
Location: Mariani's Inn & Restaurant, 2500 El Camino Real, Santa Clara, CA 95051

event tickets available here

*picture from an event in Tokyo last year

[Upcoming event] Japan in the Bay Area: Collaboration and Transformation

Finally, a comprehensive report about how Japan and the Bay Area (including Silicon Valley) have entered into a new chapter of collaboration. I'm delighted to have had the opportunity to co-author this report, so it includes lots of corporate cases of Japanese companies attempting to harness Silicon Valley, as well as some analysis on how Japan's political economy has been transforming over the past decades. It's been a long long time since a substantive report on the Bay Area and Japan has been written -- so long that there isn't anything listed on their web archives. (China, India, Mexico, Canada, Singapore, EU, etc etc but no Japan).
I think this is good enough for people to use in classrooms, for people interested in getting an updated view of how Japan is transforming, and what Japanese companies are doing in Silicon Valley. I think it's also useful for people working in, and with Japanese companies to see what some interesting ones have been up to -- lots of new attempts to harness the ecosystem and create value.

Click here for the full PDF

CIGS Seminar 12/12/19

On Thursday, December 12, I gave a talk in a seminar hosted by the Canon Institute for Global Studies (CIGS) in Tokyo.

The agenda and material of the talk are made available by CIGS here( Japanese only): https://cigs.canon/event/report/20191226_6148.html

A full summary of the talk is forthcoming.

Silicon Valley - New Japan Summit 2019 at Stanford University, Novermber 18-19, 2019

On November 18-19, Stanford US-ATMC, Ishin, and Japan Management Association co-hosted the Silicon Valley-New Japan Summit 2019 at Stanford University. 600 people attended, with over 80 startups from Silicon Valley and almost 400 people from Japanese companies. We learned so much about new and exciting efforts to collaborate with the Silicon Valley ecosystem, along with new evolutions from companies we already heard from before. We are at a new level of engagement in terms of depth and breadth of Silicon Valley - Japan engagement, and we hope to see many of the current efforts underway succeed.

Heartfelt thank you to all the panelists, attendees, and event supporters.

A full list of speakers can be found below, and for more information and pictures from the Silicon Valley - New Japan Summit 2019 at Stanford University click here

SVNJ Summit 2019 at Stanford Speakers

Ryoichi Togashi - Komatsu
Aki Tabata
Tsunehiko Yanagihara - Mitsubishi Corp
Sumito Kimura - Suzuki Motors
Dai Ohama - Kajima Construction
Yoky Matsuoka - Panasonic
Naoki Nick Sugimoto - Honda R&D Innovations
Joanna Drake - Core Ventures
Neeraj Hora - Nomura Holdings
Hiro Rio Maeda - DNX Ventures
Ichikawa Hirokazu - Hitachi Solutions
Takashi Nishikawa - Panasonic Ventures
Paul Yeh - Conductive Ventures
Takashi Morishita - Asahi Kasei CVC
George Kellerman - Yamaha Motor Ventures & Laboratory Silicon Valley
Hiroto Sato - Obayashi SVVL

A long event report is forthcoming.

Japan Colloquium luncheon series at Shorenstein APARC

I gave a talk on Nov 6 as part of the Japan Colloquium luncheon series at Shorenstein APARC, based on a forthcoming book chapter. "Aging Japan as Global Opportunity? How Japan’s Extreme Demographics are Shaping Technological Trajectories" Youtube Link

Click here for more information

Transatlantic Sync: Germany & Silicon Valley: Shaping a Digital Future

I was delighted to be a part of "Transatlantic Sync: Germany & Silicon Valley: Shaping a Digital Future." at the Computer History Museum next to Google headquarters on October 27-29, 2019.

I was on a panel to consider supply chains along with China, a theme throughout the conference, so my contribution was to build from the historical context of supply chains in Asia; adding a new digital context for creating value across different functions; thinking about it from a political economy perspective in terms of rules and regulations shaping markets, in turn shaped by policy; how politics are about power and winners and losers; and considerating specific technologies such as 5G and possible fragmented international architectures, etc.

Here is the video from the panel :Link to Youtube
Link starts at my remarks as a dense but concise clip of what I give many talks about -- how technological trajectories are shaped by regulatory environment, shaped by politics, which differs across countries.
Also a historically informed perspective on cross-national production networks in Asia, and how value-creation from 5G is not from the 5G networks themselves, but who uses it to what end. And if the world's 5G environment differs in China, the US, EU, and Japan, what are some of the ways in which different areas will feel the impacts?
I was able to get across several things I've wanted to share, so thanks for the opportunity!

Lots of fascinating panels and amazing speakers.
https://www.transatlantic-sync.com/

Archives

<2022>

12.13.22 CIGS seminar@Tokyo: US political divisions

11.7.22 Conversation with former Digital Minister Karen Makishima: Digitally Transforming Japan

10.21.22 Delivered a talk in Glow Tech Nagoya

8.10.22 Carnegie New Article Series: Startup Japan

7.19.22 Commentary: How Abe Shinzo Transformed Japan’s Innovation Landscape

7.18.22 Delivered a talk in Shido Next Innovator

7.13.22 CIGS New Column: 　Supreme Court and the deep divisions within the US

7.12.22 Delivered a talk in CIGS Seminar

7.2.22 Participated in a panel: ASKA Conference

6.7.22 New Research Article: How to Take U.S.-Japan Innovation and Technology Cooperation to the Next was published by Carnegie Endowment for International Peace

5.13.22 Interview: Japan’s Energy Security in the Era of Climate Change

4.29.22 Delivered a talk for Copenhagen Business School

4.27-5.31.22 Online Seminar: Digitally Transforming Japan: Value Creation in an Era of Cloud Computing

3.30.22 Delivered a talk in Future Insight Seminar: New Value Creation, Silicon Valley

3.25.22 Delivered a talk in JMA Garage : Transforming Value Creation - Tesla and Hongguang Mini EV Disrupting the Automobile Industry

3.16.22 Carnegie webinar : Silicon Valley-Japan Collaborations as a Pillar of U.S.-Japan Relations

2.7.22 Moderated Panel: Biotechnology Entrepreneurship in Japan's New Startup Ecosystem

<2021>

12.27.21 New Column “the increasing information gap as Japan's pandemic response” published by the Canon Institute of Global Studies

12.17.21 New Column series “ US response to COVID-19 pandemic and the reality of the United States, Part 15” published by the Canon Institute of Global Studies

12.3.21 Delivered a talk in JMA GARAGE Conference 2021 (Online)

11.3.21 Moderated JETRO Online Seminar “The U.S. Innovation Ecosystem from the Perspective of the Next Generation” Part5
Speaker: Shinji Wada, Vice President, Global HR Platform, Sony Corporation of America

10.21.21 Delivered a talk in X-HUB TOKYO

9.9.21 Moderated JETRO Online Seminar “The U.S. Innovation Ecosystem from the Perspective of the Next Generation” Part1
Speaker: Aki-Chen Jiang, Investor, WiL

5.28.21 New Report “ How to create an organization that generates new businesses. Now is the time for being the ambidexterity” published by Techblitz

5.27.21 New Report” The Impact of Tesla - A Strategy that Overturned the Conventions of EVs” published by Techblitz

5.26.21 New Report” Silicon Valley-Style Value Creation: Utilizing Methods for New Business Development” published by Techblitz

2.25.21 New Chapter on Abenomics in new book “The Political Economy of the Abe Government and Abenomics Reforms” was published by Cambridge University Press

2.23.21 New Chapter on DX in new book “Liberal arts of Technology” was published

2.18.21 Delivered a talk in BLITZ LIVE (Online)

2.15.21 New Interview about Biden administration was published in TECHBLITZ

2.3.21 Delivered a talk in JMA GARAGE 2021 (Online)

1.20.21 Delivered a talk in Dentsu Institute SSX Webinar

1.12.21 New Column series “ US response to COVID-19 pandemic and the reality of the United States, Part 1-13” published by the Canon Institute of Global Studies

<2020>

09.04.20 Statement about Japanese translation of Black Lives Matter was featured in the Huffington Post Japan

08.25.20 New interview piece about open innovation with COVID published by Ishin

06.22.20 New Column “ Innovation in the post COVID-19 world” published by Nippon Institute for Research Advancement(NIRA)

05.19.20 Japan Colloquium series “Japan’s Maturing Startup Ecosystem” held as a webinar

04.28.20 Statement about  investment on startups featured in The Nikkei (paywall)

04.23.20 New Column " Tesla and the user pain point-driven paradigm of value creation" published by the Canon Institute of Global Studies

04.14.2020 Japan Colloquium series”Japan's Response to Covid-19/ Political Leadership and Crisis Response” held as a webinar

02.28.2020 Japan Colloquium “Age and High-Growth Entrepreneurship" by Javier Miranda held at Stanford

02.20.2020 Conference: Silicon Valley and Japan held at Stanford University

02.12.2020 Silicon Valley Innovation Forum (SVIF) Seminar held in Santa Clara

<2019>

12.21.2019 New report ”Japan in the Bay Area: Collaboration and Transformation” published by Bay Area Council Economic Institute

12.12.2019 Delivered a talk in CIGS Seminar in Tokyo

11.18-19.2019 Silicon Valley -New Japan Summit 2019 held at Stanford University

11.06.2019 Delivered a talk in Japan Colloquium luncheon series at Shorenstein APARC

10.29.2019 Participated in a session at Transatlantic Sync held in Silicon Valley

10.23.2019 Statement about Softbank broadcasted on NPR Marketplace

9.25.2019 New article( in Japanese) published by Diamond Harvard Business Review online

9.6.2019 Moderated and participated in several sessions at Fintech&Regtech Summit held in Tokyo, Japan

7.23.2019 CIGS Seminar The essence of the AI is beyond AI itself at Hitotsubashi Hall in Tokyo

7.17.2019 Hosted Silicon Valley - New Japan Summit 2019 Tokyo

6.26.2019 Special session at New Economy Summit Tokyo 2019 (NEST TOKYO 2019)

6.19.2019 Delivered a presentation at Annual Meeting of the Trilateral Commission held in Paris France

5.21.2019 Moderated several panels and presented at Artificial Intelligence (AI), Intelligence Augmentation (IA), Human Machine Interfaces (HMI): Frontier Research and Policies for Navigating the Future Together held at Stanford University

5.6.2019 Moderated two panels at the 2019 Nikkei AI Summit held in Tokyo Japan

4.26.2019 Comments featured in new “Silicon Valley D-Lab Report” on MaaS (mobility-as-a-a-service)

4.19.2019 CIGS Seminar “US Democracy and Recent Trends in US Politics” full presentation report now available online

4/19/2019 Seminar “The Essence of the Silicon Valley AI Revolution and How to Avoid Worst Practice Strategies of Japanese Firms Trying to Harness Silicon Valley” at Egg Japan by Mitsubishi Real Estate, in Tokyo

4/16/2019 CIGS Seminar “AI, Silicon Valley-Style Value Creation, and Japanese Companies” at Hitotsubashi Hall in Tokyo

3/22/2019 New 4 part series on industry disruption and new value creation in the automobile industry (in Japanese) published by CIGS 

3/12/2019 New interview piece (in Japanese) discussing building relationships with US startups, published on Asahi Shimbun Digital 

2/2019 New video interview discussing ways for Japanese firms to utilize Silicon Valley (in Japanese) published by Asahi Shimbun Digital

<2018>

12/2018 New interview piece, "Harnessing Silicon Valley: 10 Worst Practices by Japanese CVC" (in Japanese) published by the SV Startups 100