"Building a Sustainable Future” Event
2024/3/6
Opening Remarks from Consul General Osumi
Presentations from Japanese Companies
On Monday, March 4, the Consulate General of Japan in San Francisco, in partnership with the Japan Society of Northern California (JSNC) held an event in Palo Alto called “Building a Sustainable Future: Open Innovation between California and Japan to Tackle Climate Change!” This program commemorates the 2 year anniversary of the signing of a clean energy and climate change-focused Memorandum of Cooperation (MOC) between Japan and California.
This program aimed to match companies with complementary needs to help solve each other’s problems through open innovation. Consul General Yo Osumi gave opening remarks before representatives of major Japanese corporations, as well as local startups, presented on their emerging technologies in the areas of climate change and energy. Presenting companies included ACARIO Innovation LLC, Principle Power, Japan Airlines Ventures, QuantumScape, Heirloom, Iwatani Corporation of America, GreenGrid, MOL Switch LLC, and AirMyne. There was also a presentation about the Japan Innovation Campus, a newly opened Silicon Valley facility that aims to help Japanese startups enter the local ecosystem.
The second half of the program also featured a Venture Capitalist panel discussion with representatives from DNX Ventures, Scrum Ventures, and Translink Capital. The VCs discussed current ClimateTech trends and spoke about how to enhance open innovation between large corporations and start-ups. To close the program, Thomas Kluz, managing partner at manufacturing company and event sponsor Niterra, gave remarks, followed by Steve Pollock, JSNC President.
This program aimed to match companies with complementary needs to help solve each other’s problems through open innovation. Consul General Yo Osumi gave opening remarks before representatives of major Japanese corporations, as well as local startups, presented on their emerging technologies in the areas of climate change and energy. Presenting companies included ACARIO Innovation LLC, Principle Power, Japan Airlines Ventures, QuantumScape, Heirloom, Iwatani Corporation of America, GreenGrid, MOL Switch LLC, and AirMyne. There was also a presentation about the Japan Innovation Campus, a newly opened Silicon Valley facility that aims to help Japanese startups enter the local ecosystem.
The second half of the program also featured a Venture Capitalist panel discussion with representatives from DNX Ventures, Scrum Ventures, and Translink Capital. The VCs discussed current ClimateTech trends and spoke about how to enhance open innovation between large corporations and start-ups. To close the program, Thomas Kluz, managing partner at manufacturing company and event sponsor Niterra, gave remarks, followed by Steve Pollock, JSNC President.
Presentations from Local Startups
Japan Innovation Campus Presentation
VC Panel Discussion
