Innovation in Japan? Really? With the shrinking population, and strict company and educational hierarchies, hasn’t innovation in Japan become an oxymoron? Sure, there have been some amazing innovations from Japan, but as the country ages, hasn’t Japan passed the innovation baton on to the more tech-savvy markets in Asia?
NO. Not at all. Do you know that of the world’s companies that are 200 years old or older, more than 50% are in Japan? That 52 Fortune 500 companies in 2018 are from Japan? That Japan has been consistently ranked as one of the most creative countries in the world? And even that there is a growing embrace of entrepreneurship within Japan’s next generation of leaders?
While ideas of making billion-dollar “unicorns”, “pitching”, “pivoting”, have become part of the global lexicon of innovation, from hundreds of years before Silicon Valley even existed and continuing today, Japanese businesses and their leaders have been consistently working from a different starting point in which the quest for creating new value for customers, society, employees, partners and the planet remains the fundamental focus of their sustainability and success.
This is Japan's untold story of innovation and value creation and one that The IAFOR Global Innovation & Value Summit (GIVS-Tokyo) will explore.
To do so, GIVS-Tokyo will weave together insights and stories from some of Japan’s top leaders across heritage (100+ year-old companies), large multinationals, new ventures, governments and educational institutions to explore and identify the common elements that have driven innovation in Japan throughout the course of its history, and the lessons that these elements can have for the future evolution of innovation and value creation globally.
GIVS-Tokyo Panel Sessions
- Session 1: Insights from Japan's Leading Entrepreneurs
- Session 2: Innovation in Japan's Heritage Businesses
- Session 3: The Multinational View on Innovation
- Session 4: Entrepreneurial Innovation in Japan
- Session 5: The Supporting Innovation Ecosystem of Japan
Confirmed Speakers
- H.E. Toshiya Hoshino, Japanese Ambassador and Deputy Permanent Representative to the United Nations
- H.E. Yoshimasa Hayashi, Minister, Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology
- Yuzaburo Mogi, Chairman and Honorary CEO, Kikkoman
- Dr Sachio Semmoto, Chairman, Renova, Inc
- Oki Matsumoto, President & CEO, Monex
- Motoko Imada, President and Founder, Infobahn
- Governor Eikei Suzuki, Governor of Mie Prefecture
- Professor Yoko Ishikura, Professor Emeritus, Hitotsubashi University
- Kosuke Motani, Chief Senior Economist of Japan Research Institute
- Masao Hosoo (11th Generation President), HOSOO
- Reverend Takafumi Kawakami, Shunkoin Temple, Kyoto
- Rumiko Obata, Executive Vice President, Obata Sake Brewery
- Shuji Nakagawa, President, Nakagawa Mokkougei
- Professor Jun Arima, Graduate School of Public Policy, Tokyo University
- Kei Shimada, Director of Innovation, IBM Innovation & Incubation Labs
- David Uze, President & CEO, Trillium Secure
- David Milstein, President, Eight Roads Japan
- Tamaki Sano, GM, New Initiatives, Kirin Holdings
- Masafumi Ishibashi, Chief Marketing Officer, Nestle Japan
- Mandali Khalesi, Toyota Global Head of Automated Driving Mobility and Innovation
- Yoshie Sugai, Shihandai, IyonomaRyu Aikido, Kyoto Dojo
- Ludovico Ciferri, President, Advanet
- Jin Montesano, Chief Public Affairs Officer, Lixil
This event will be held in Partnership with The Wall Street Journal, J. Walter Thompson, Edelman Japan, Global Business Hub Tokyo, and is supported by the Osaka School of International Public Policy (OSIPP), Doshisha University Graduate School of Business, and The American Chamber of Commerce in Japan (ACCJ).
Tickets are limited and can be reserved via the following link:
