Stanford SV-NJ Project
The Stanford Silicon ValleyNew Japan Project, part of
the Shorenstein Asia-PacificResearch Center Japan
Program was launched in 2014
in response to a heightenedinterest in Silicon Valley as aninnovation system. The interest
is not only in Silicon Valley’s
entrepreneurism, but how
entrepreneurship fits into thebroader economic structure.
Over the past few years,
Silicon Valley has witnessed a
new wave of Japanese startups(entrepreneurs, successfulstartups from Japan). This
trend has occurred within
the context of increased
importance of innovation andentrepreneurship in Japan. Akey challenge is not simply to
try to duplicate the ecosystem,
but to figure out how large
firms, fast-growing large
startups, and emerging startups
can “harness” the Silicon
Valley ecosystem.

Research andProgram Activities
Program activities include
a Public Forum Series with
networking, outreach symposia
and conferences, policy
research and implementation
as well as research andpublic output. The missionof the Project is to provide
the intellectual background,analytical perspectives, andcreate knowledge and research
while becoming a platform fordense interpersonal relations toenable Silicon Valley to benefitfrom Japan, and for Japan tobetter harness Silicon Valley.

Stanford
Silicon Valley-New Japan Project
Year End Report
Messa ge fr om the Pr oject P.1
Public For um Series P.4
Resear ch and Publication P.6
In Media P.6
Outr each and Confer ences P.7
Case Studies P.11

Message from the Project
The Stanford Silicon Valley - New
Japan Project is growing into a realplatform for sustained interactions
between Silicon Valley and Japan. It
was another year of growth, and weare delighted to be in a position tofacilitate substantial research, build
interpersonal networks, conduct
joint research collaborations andconferences, and engage in outreachactivities.
Our biggest event of the year,co-hosted by our strategic partner
Ishin and the Japan Management
Association, was the second “Silicon
Valley - New Japan Summit”. We
expanded it into a two-day event, withthe first day in Japanese for Japanese
corporate participants, and the second
day in English with business matchingbooths in the afternoon. Over 500
people gathered at the Alumni Centerat Stanford, with over one hundred
fifty Japanese firms, sixty five Silicon
Valley startups, and 12 startups fromthe Stanford accelerator, StartX. BothResear cher s and Staf f P.11Suppor ter s P.12

days featured keynotes, panels withlarge Japanese companies working
successfully with startups, and startup
presentations. To our knowledge,
this was the biggest direct businessmatching event (without Venture
Capitalists as an intermediary) in the
Bay Area between Japanese companies
and Silicon Valley startups.
As a run-up to the Summit inNovember, we also held a summit
preview in Tokyo in July. It featured
several of the participants from thesummit at Stanford in 2016, which
included keynotes, fireside chatswith Japanese companies harnessing
Silicon Valley, and several startup
presentations by Silicon Valley startups
with Japanese operations.
Another important event was our joint
conference with Japanese venturecommunity Mistletoe Inc., titled“Human Autonomy in the Age ofAutomation: Envisioning 2045.” We
invited thought leaders, technologists
and social entrepreneurs to discuss

Stanford Silicon Valley New Japan ProjectCore Members
Takeo Hoshi
Kenji E. Kushida
Jaclyn Selby
Staff
Meiko Kotani
Elin Matsumae
Amanda Stoeckicht

the replacement of human labor by
artificial intelligence and robotics, andwhat this shift might mean for thefuture of human welfare and economic
opportunity. APARC Research Scholar
Jaclyn Selby worked directly withMistletoe to organize this event.
We also collaborated with our research
partner, the Berkeley Roundtableon the International Economy in ajoint conference with the OECD,
titled “Working, Earning, Learning in
the Age of Intelligent Tools.” This
closed event brought together aninterdisciplinary and internationalgroup of about 80 researchers fromdiverse fields to explore the challenges
we face in the age of intelligent tools
and computation-intensive automationof manufacturing and services, andhow we might find ways of working,earning, and learning that support thehealthy development of our societies
and economies and the humans who
inhabit them, going forward.
Our Stanford SV-NJ Public Forum
Series with networking hosted avariety of exciting speakers, many ofwhom have not appeared elsewherein talks around Silicon Valley or inJapan, but who provide valuable
in-depth vantages into Japan’s startup
ecosystem, harnessing Silicon Valley,or understanding entrepreneurship andtechnology issues. All of our publicforum series are video recorded andavailable online at the website.
We also participated in an APARC
project on innovation in Asia,“Patterns of Innovation in Asia: Large

Companies Harnessing the Powerof Small Firm Innovation.” Thediscussion focused on the ways inwhich large companies in China, Japan,and Korea have adapted, adjusted, andharnessed the power of small firms,
while making use of existing resources
Research included a paper on Japan’sinnovation and entrepreneurshipecosystem, which was published asa book chapter in a Japanese bookby the Rebuild Japan Initiative
Foundation, with an English version
forthcoming. Another book chapter
was about blockchain in Silicon Valley
in a Japanese volume, “the Futureof Fintech.” Our research note on
mapping the entrepreneurial ecosystem
of Tokyo, and Japan more broadly, wasan initial foray into this research area
as well. We currently have two books
underway that should be released thiscoming year.
In addition to research, we alsocollected and posted several resourceson our website—some recommended
readings and media articles forJapanese companies interested in
Silicon Valley, and a reciprocal list
for Silicon Valley companies looking
to work with Japanese companies oroperate in Japan.
We participated in numerous
conferences to learn and disseminate
our findings and observations.
Some important highlights included
conferences held by Nihon Keizai
Shimbun in Tokyo, a series ofambitious summits with international
and Japanese cutting edge firmsthat brought together government,business, and academics. In May, it
was the Agritech Summit (AgriSUM),
in September, the Fintech Summit(FinSUM) which was a whole week,
and in December, the Regulation techSummit (RegSUM). These summits
provided valuable venues to provide
perspectives from SV-NJ from Silicon
Valley, as well as opportunities to learn
from cutting edge Japanese startups
and firms, as well as forge connections
with startups and participants fromother parts of the world.
SV-NJ activities and researchers
appeared in media outlets such as
Nihon Keizai Shimbun, Nikkan Kogyo
Shimbun, Economisuto, Toyo Keizai
Magazine, and numerous articles fromour strategic partner Ishin. Particularly
noteworthy was a two set article series
of “Worst Practices” of Japanese firms
attempting to harness Silicon Valley,
which included twenty mistakes wehave seen over the past several decades
repeated time and again. The goal is forJapanese companies to use this list andnot repeat the mistakes they had done
before, and to harness Silicon Valley
while avoiding these steps.
We hosted numerous delegationsof Japanese groups from business,government, students and educational
institutions, and political leaders
who visited Silicon Valley to better
understand the disruptive innovations
and frontier technological innovations
that are driving major change in ourworld today. I also had the pleasureof giving talks to an array of Japanesecompany headquarters in Japan who
were interested in learning about
Silicon Valley and how to potentiallyharness the ecosystem.
My sincerest personal thanks to ourhardworking staff who make thisprogram possible: Amanda Stoeckicht,
Meiko Kotani, and Elin Matsumae.
Finally, our heartfelt gratitude to thecorporate supporters of Stanford SV-NJ
that make our activities possible. At
the Diamond level: Kozo Keikaku
Engineering, Future Architect; at thePlatinum level: Komatsu, Mistletoe; atthe Gold level: JX Nippon Mining andMetals, Kawasaki Heavy Industries,
Mitsubishi Heavy Industries, WorldInnovation Lab; and at the Silver
Level: ANA, Canon, Development
Bank of Japan, Mitsubishi Corporation,Musashi Sakai Driving School, NEDO,Rakuten, Sumitomo Mitsui BankingCorporation, Techfirm Group; andstrategic partners: BaySpo, Ishin, andIndustrial Growth Platform, Inc.
We hope you had a wonderful year,and look forward to sharing anothersuccessful year with you in 2018.

Kenji Kushida
Silicon Valley-New Japan Project Leader

Public Forum Series
Approximately once a month, the Stanford SV-NJ Project holds public forums that explore issues of interest relating
to innovation, entrepreneurship, and the Silicon Valley – New Japan relationship. Videos of all our public forums thisyear are available online.

Harnessing Silicon Valley: Corporate and Government FundedAccelerator Programs in Silicon Valley--Implications for Japan
December 13, 2017
Atsuko Jenks, Managing Director, Japan, GSVlabs
Innovation and Entrepreneurship in Japan: Why Japan (Still) Matters
for Global Competition
November 14, 2017
Kenji Kushida, Research Scholar, Stanford APARC and Project Leader, Stanford Silicon Valley-New Japan Project[Video]
GROW: Using Artificial Intelligence to Screen Human Intelligence
October 13, 2017
Masahiro Fukuhara, Founder and CEO, Institute for a Global Society (IGS)[Video]Safecast and Fukushima Fallout: Disaster Catalyzing Entrepreneurship,
Empowering Citizen Science
September 7, 2017
Pieter Franken, Senior Advisor, Monex Group & Co-founder, Safecast[Video]The “Acquihire” Phenomenon: The Use of Startup Acquisitions as a Human Resource Strategy for Market Competition and Innovation
July 20, 2017
Jaclyn Selby, Research Scholar, Shorenstein Asia-Pacific Research Center[Video]The Coming Revolution: Artificial Intelligence for Advanced Materials
and Product Development
June 5, 2017
Greg Mulholland, Co-founder and CEO, Citrine Informatics[Video]Public Forum Series
GRID Inc: Deep Learning Framework for Industrial and Engineering
Optimization Application
May 15, 2017
Tomah Sogabe, Co-founder, GRID Inc.
An Education Strategy for Innovation and Entrepreneurship in Japan:
Introducing the Stanford E-Japan Program
April 13, 2017
Gary Mukai, Director, Stanford Program on International and Cross-Cultural
Education (SPICE)
Kenji Kushida, Research Scholar, Shorenstien APARC Japan Program, Stanford University[Video]Silicon Valley Does it Repeatedly: From Fairchild to Uber and Beyond
March 16, 2017
Martin Kenney, Professor of Human and Community Development, UC Davis; Senior Project Director at BRIE, UC
Berkeley[Video]The Algorithmic Disruption: The Underlying Drivers Behind FintechFebruary 7, 2017
Kenji Kushida, Research Scholar, Stanford APARC and Project Leader, Stanford Silicon Valley-New Japan Project[Video]Manufacturing in California: What Lies AheadJanuary 24, 2017
Sean Randolph, Senior Director, Bay Area Council Economic Institute[Video]Research and Publications
Kushida, Kenji E. 2017. “Innovation and Entrepreneurship in Japan: Why Japan (Still) Matters for GlobalCompetition.” SVNJ Working Paper Series.
Asakura, Yusuke. 2017. “A Brief Overview of the Current Startup Ecosystem in Japan.” SVNJ Working Paper Series.
Kushida, Kenji E. “Innovation and Entrepreneurship in Japan: Outsiders revitalizing Japaneselarge corporations.” Ch. 5 in Galapagos Cool edited by Yoichi Funabashi. Toyo Keizai Online,
2017 (in Japanese only).

Kushida Kenji E. “Blockchain, a Silicon Valley Vantage on its Potential and Challenges.” in The
Future of Blockchain: How it will impact finance, industry, and society. edited by Yuri Okina,
Noriyuki Yanagawa, and Naoyuki Iwashita. Tokyo, Japan: Nihon Keizai Shimbun Shuppan, 2017
(in Japanese only).

Stanford SV-NJ in MediaThe Canon Institute of Global Studies,• http://www.canon-igs.org/column/network/20170110_4097.html
The Silicon Valley Startups 100,• https://svs100.com/kushida2/		Fuji Media Group via Lyve,• https://www.houdoukyoku.jp/posts/9518
Nikkei,• https://www.nikkei.com/article/DGXKZO15399240X10C17A4X12000/
Weekly Economist,• https://www.weekly-economist.com/20170801contents/
Toyo Keizai Magazine,• https://premium.toyokeizai.net/articles/-/16278
MONOist,• http://monoist.atmarkit.co.jp/mn/articles/1709/20/news039.html
The Silicon Valley Startups 100,• http://bit.ly/2Cyj6EY
Nikkei,• http://s.nikkei.com/2BFdY5s

Outreach and Conferences
Silicon Valley - New Japan Summit 2017 (Stanford)
On Tuesday, November 29 and Wednesday November 30, the Stanford Silicon
Valley - New Japan Project co-produced the Silicon Valley - New Japan Summit
2017 with Ishin and the Japan Management Association at Stanford University.
The program on the first day was entirely in Japanese, and in English on the secondday.
This year’s summit featured keynotes from Executive Chairman of RENOVA, Sachio Semmoto, and CEO of StartX, JosephHuang. Our program also highlighted some interesting Japanese corporation andSilicon Valley firm partnerships, featuring panel discussions with Softbank andAeris, and Panasonic and Citrine Informatics. This year we heard pitches from30 startups, including firms such as Skycatch, Coinbase, Cylance etc. Around 65
Silicon Valley startups set up Biz-Dev booths and met with Japanese corporationsin the afternoon. Our program grew from last year, with about 600 participants intotal.

Outreach and Conferences
Working, Earning, Learning, in the Age of Intelligent Tools
On November 29-Dec 1, 2017, the Stanford Silicon Valley-New Japan Project co-sponsored a symposium on “Working, Earning,and Learning in the Age of Intelligent Tools” at UC Berkeley. The conference was a joint production by the Organization
for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD), the Berkeley Roundtable on the International Economy, the UC
Berkeley Center for Human-Compatible AI, the UC Berkeley Institute of European Studies, the UC Center for Information
Technology Research in the Interests of Society, UC Davis Community and Regional Development Program, The American
Jobs Project, the German Federal Ministry for Labor and Social Affairs, The German Academic Exchange Service, and theStanford Silicon Valley-New Japan Project. This closed event brought together an interdisciplinary and international group ofabout 80 researchers from the fields of engineering and data science, economics, sociology, and political science, to explore
the challenges we face in the age of intelligent tools and computation-intensive automation of manufacturing and services,and how we might find ways of working, earning, and learning that support the healthy development of our societies andeconomies and the humans who inhabit them, going forward.

Human Autonomy in the Age of Automation:Envisioing 2045
On November 3, the Stanford Silicon Valley-New Japan Project hosted “Human Autonomy in the Age of Automation: Envisioning 2045” at Stanford University. The event wasproduced jointly with Japanese venture community, Mistletoe Inc. We invited thought
leaders, technologists and social entrepreneurs todiscuss the replacement of human labor by artificial
intelligence and robotics, and what this shift mightmean for the future of human welfare and economic
opportunity. The conference featured keynotes from Mistletoe CEO and serial entrepreneur, Taizo Son, Executive Director of the Institute for the Future, Marina Gorbis, andPresident of Y Combinator, Sam Altman. 10 startups were highlighted in our startup
showcase, and we revealed our new joint collaboration with Mistletoe Inc., The MistletoeFoundation, and its inaugural program, the Mistletoe Research Fellowship Program.

Outreach and Conferences
Patterns of Innovation in Asia:
Large Companies Harnessing the Power of Small Firm Innovation
On October 26, SVNJ participated in “Patterns of Innovation in Asia: Large Companies Harnessing the Power of Small Firm
Innovation,” a program produced by the Shorenstein Asia Pacific Research Center. The discussion focused on the ways inwhich large companies in China, Japan, and Korea have adapted, adjusted, and harnessed the power of small firms, while
making use of existing resources. The panelists included, Founder and Executive Director of APUS Group, Tao Li, Partnerat World Innovation Lab (WiL), Aki Koto, and Manager of Digital Design Lab, All Nippon Airways (ANA), Hideaki Matsumoto, Head of Think Tank Team and Senior Vice President of Samsung Research America, Pranav Mistry, and Stanford
Silicon Valley New Japan Project Leader, Kenji Kushida.

Silicon Valley - New Japan Summit 2017 TokyoOn Tuesday, June 27, 2017, Ishin and the Stanford Silicon Valley – New Japan Project
co-hosted the Silicon Valley – New Japan Summit 2017 Tokyo. The event kicked off
with a VIP dinner on Monday, June 26, for our speakers/panelists and supporters, thatfeatured a talk from Kenji Kushida, and a toast from Executive Chairman of RENOVA,
Dr. Sachio Semmoto.
On Tuesday, June 27, nearly 600 policy makers,startups, VCs, company executives and employees, aspiring entrepreneurs, academics and other interested parties gathered at the Azusa
Center Building in Iidabashi. The day began with introductory remarks from Yoshiaki
Ishii from METI, a keynote speech from Kenji Kushida, and an introduction to open
innovation by Naomi Nagatomi from Fujitsu, and later on by KPMG Partner Hiroshi
Kinoshita. During the day we had some great conversations with Co-founder and CEOof SOURCENEXT, Nori Matsuda, Ryoichi Togashi from Komatsu, Naoki “Nick”
Sugimoto from Honda, and a second keynote speech by Dr. Semmoto. The program was interspersed with presentations frominnovative and exciting startups, including Skycatch inc., DocuSign, App Annie, and Rancher Labs.

Outreach and Conferences
ANA Ideathon 2017
On Friday, February 3, 2017 the Stanford Silicon Valley-New Japan Project (SVNJ) hosted its second ANA Ideathon, co-sponsored by World Innovation Lab(WiL), ANA, and Ito En. This year brought together seven teams of Stanford University students to reimagine air travel before,during, and after the flight experience. Theteams had 90 minutes to brainstorm and create their ideas, and then deliver a three minute
pitch to a panel of judges from WiL, ANA, and special guest, actor and start-up
investor, Masi Oka. Ideas where judged on creativity, feasibility of implementation, team work, and presentation with the winning team received the grand prize of round trip tickets to Tokyo.

•••
•
•
•
•

December 20-21, REG/SUM Week, Tokyo
September 19-21, Nikkei FIN/SUM Week, Tokyo
September 19, Press Conference for Silicon Valley - New Japan Summit 2017, TokyoMay 23-24, AG/SUM Symposium, TokyoMarch 24-26, Trilateral Commission, Washington D.C.
February 28, Canon Institute for Global Studies, “Accelerating AI” workshop, Tokyo
January 26, Silicon Valley Innovation Forum, Silicon Valley

9/19-21

1/26

9/19

2/28

5/23-24

3/24-26

Case Studies
The Stanford Silicon Valley-New Japan Project case studies are motivated by the observation that there were few
systematic analyses of Japanese startups in Silicon Valley. By gathering cases, we hope to identify useful experiences and lower the bar for new waves of entrepreneurs and startups from Japan.
Case studies of the following start-ups areavailable with more underway.
•ChatWork•

Drivemode•

FlyData•

FRONTEO•

Mercari•

SanBio•Sigmax Technologies•

SmartNews•

Treasure Data•

WHILLDEFINING “JAPANESE STARTUPS IN SILICON VALLEY”
We define the “Japanese startups in Silicon Valley” to be the for-profit business entities that satisfy all the following three conditions:1) At least one of the founders held Japanese citizenship when the entity
was established.
2) The entity is venture capital financed or potentially attractive to venturecapitalists3) The entity has an office in Silicon Valley, which is defined to include thebroader Silicon Valley, encompassing Santa Clara, San Mateo, San Francisco, Alameda, and Contra Costa counties.
LIST OF JAPANESE STARTUPS IN SILICON VALLEY
Japanese Startups in Silicon Valley

Researchers and Staff
The core researchers of the Stanford Silicon Valley-New Japan Project are Takeo Hoshi, Director of the Japan
Program at the Shorenstein Asia-Pacific Research Center (left), Kenji Kushida, Stanford Silicon Valley-NewJapan Project Leader and Research Scholar at the Shorenstein APARC Japan Program (center), and Jaclyn Selby,Research Scholar at the Shorenstein APARC Japan Program (right).

Shinsuke Koga, MA candidate at Columbia
University joined the program during the summer.
Toshiyuki Shichino, MA candidate at Stanford University joined the program in November.

Program Staff
Meiko Kotani (Left)
Amanda Stoeckicht (Center)
Elin Matsumae (Right)

Supporters
We thank all the Stanford SV-NJ supporters for their onging contributions and collaboration.

DIAMOND

PLATINUMGOLD

Supporters con’t

SILVER

Strategic Partners