For Immediate Release
Venture Café Tokyo to Launch at Toranomon Hills in March—Cambridge Innovation Center’s global venture-creation program to enter Asian market
and strengthen Toranomon Hills’ role as a business-innovation hub—Tokyo, March 6, 2018 — Mori Building, a leading urban developer in Tokyo, announced today that it is collaboratingwith Venture Café, an innovation promotion program developed by Cambridge Innovation Center (CIC), the world’sleading builder of innovation hubs, to help expand its global network into Asia. Starting on March 22, Venture Café
Tokyo will launch its “Thursday Gathering” weekly program at Toranomon Hills, Mori Building’s newest mixed-use
complex in Tokyo.

Venture Café, launched by CIC

Thursday Gathering

Venture Café was launched in 2009 by CIC as a global movement to build innovation ecosystems by matchinginnovators and investors around the world. So far, nonprofit members of the Venture Café Global Network havebeen hosting casual open events to gather innovators and to promote innovation development in five cities acrossthe U.S. and Europe. About 250,000 innovators have participated in events held at CIC co-working spaces, whichhave served as homes for over 4,000 startups and venture companies to date. Venture Café Tokyo is headed by Dr.
Yasuhiro Yamakawa, a lifelong entrepreneur and tenured entrepreneurship professor at Babson College inWellesley, Massachusetts.
Mori Building is sponsoring the nonprofit Venture Café Tokyo as part of its vision to transform Toranomon Hills andthe surrounding community into a new global business hub. Mori Building’s comprehensive redevelopment ofcentral Tokyo’s Toranomon area includes the construction of three mixed-use towers integrated with a new subwaystation. Going forward, Toranomon Hills is expected to become the focal point of a dynamic community whereprivate, public and academic innovators and other diverse players collaborate on new ideas and new businesses,
and thereby strengthen Tokyo’s magnetism as a whole.
Media Inquiries(Ms.) Priscilla Mayumi Purro or (Ms.) Akiho Mishina, Mori Building(Ms.) Rutsuko Nakajima or (Ms.) Reina Matsushita, Weber Shandwick
Tel: +81-80-1037-7879 Email: moribldg@webershandwick.com

About Mori Building
Mori Building is an innovative urban developer based in Tokyo. The company is committed to maximizing themagnetic power of cities by creating and nurturing safe, sustainable and cosmopolitan urban centers based on its
unique Vertical Garden City concept of high-rise centers for business, education, leisure and residence. The concept
is applied in the company’s many leading-edge projects, including ARK Hills, Roppongi Hills and Toranomon Hills inTokyo and the Shanghai World Financial Center. Mori Building is also engaged in real estate leasing, project
management and consultation. Please visit www.mori.co.jp/en
About Venture Cafe
Venture Café’s mission is to connect innovators to make things happen. Conceived in 2007
and launched in 2009 by the Cambridge Innovation Center (CIC), Venture Café is now a global
movement of local nonprofits working to build stronger and more inclusive innovation
ecosystems and accelerate and enhance the innovation process, in cities around the world. It
does this through its use of programming, physical spaces, storytelling, and broad innovation
engagement. There are currently six Venture Cafe members, comprising the Venture CafeGlobal Network, with several more in development around the world.
About Cambridge Innovation Center (CIC)
CIC builds and operates innovation hubs around the world. Each hub typically houses hundreds oftechnology-driven startup companies, shared laboratories, and other innovation facilities. Its mission
is to “fix the world through innovation”, by helping create powerful innovation ecosystems. It does
this by helping innovators and entrepreneurs launch new ventures quickly and efficiently, giving
them a resource-rich environment in which to succeed. The center serves approximately 1,400
companies across seven buildings in Cambridge, Boston, St. Louis, Rotterdam (the Netherlands) andMiami (and more on sites on the way!). Its mission is to change the world through innovation by developing innovation
ecosystems that enable exceptional entrepreneurs to create new products and companies better and faster. It does thisby creating world-class infrastructure and programming for innovators, including high-quality, flexible office space;shared wet-lab facilities; public, civic innovation spaces; and targeted initiatives to help entrepreneurs grow theircompanies.

Overview of Venture Café Tokyo
 Management: Venture Café Tokyo
 Support: Venture Café Global Institute (VCGI) Director: Dr. Yasuhiro Yamakawa
 Venue: Toranomon Hills Café (Toranomon Hills Mori Tower, 2 fl., 1-23-3 Toranomon, Minato-ku, Tokyo)
 Main activity: Hosting weekly Thursday Gatherings

Yasuhiro Yamakawa (Representative Director, Venture Café Tokyo)“It is a great honor and pleasure to take on the leadership role to spearhead the efforts ofbringing entrepreneurial mindset to Japanese business and society. In particular, I hope tocultivate the positive growth mindset to help better the societal perception and its tolerance
for failure.”

Travis Sheridan (President, Venture Café Global Institute)“We are thrilled to officially have our first launch in Asia by welcoming Venture Café Tokyo
into our growing network of global Venture Cafés. We look forward to working together tostrengthen ongoing innovation efforts in Tokyo to become one of the strongest innovation
gateway cities in the region and the world.”

Thursday Gathering Inaugural Events

March 22 (Thurs) 19:00-21:00
 Session 119:00-19:40 Presentation
Yasuhiro Yamakawa (Representative Director, Venture Café Tokyo)
Session 2

19:50-20:30 Panel discussion: “Innovation in Tokyo”
Takaaki Umezawa (Managing Director, A.T. Kearney Japan)
Yoshiaki Ishii (Director, METI)
Sachiko Wada (CEO, Taskaji)
Kyoko Nakagami (Representative Director, Bizjapan) and others

Networking

20:30-21:00 Social gathering

Takaaki Umezawa

Sachiko Wada

March 29 (Thurs) 15:15-20:00
 Session 1
15:15-17:00 Panel Discussion: “Innovation from Japanese corporations”
George Aida (Representative, 01 Booster)
Takahiro Sugano（CEO,MiRaY School）
Networking

17:00-18:00 Social gatheringSession 3

18:00-19:00 Presentation: “Business Opportunities in Japan for the coming age”
Student at Chulalongkorn University (Thailand)Session 4

19:00-20:00 Presentation: “Cultivating the entrepreneurial mindset”
Yasuhiro Yamakawa (Representative Director, Venture Café Tokyo)

George Aida

Yasuhiro Yamakawa

ReferenceToranomon Hills’ Evolution as a Global Business HubMori Building is transforming Tokyo’s Toranomon areawith a series of large-scale redevelopment projects, firstwith the Toranomon Hills Mori Tower, a mixed-use
building that was completed as Tokyo’s tallest skyscraperin 2014. Two current projects are the construction ofToranomon Hills Business Tower*, a state-of-the-art
office building to be completed in December 2019, andToranomon Hills Residential Tower*, an ultramodern
residential building to be completed in April 2020.
Mori Building is also developing Toranomon Hills StationTower*, a multi-use skyscraper that will be integrated
with Toranomon New Station* on the Tokyo Metro
Hibiya Line, which will begin partial service in 2020.
Upon completion, the total area of the Toranomon Hills complex will reach about 7.5 hectares, including the four
Toranomon Hills towers, new transport station, roads and green spaces. The facilities will offer 800,000m2 of floor space,including 300,000m2 for offices, 26,000m2 for retail, 15,000 m2 of greenery and about 720 residences.
The ultimate goal of Mori Building’s Toranomon Hills redevelopment project is to transform the area into a vibrant global
hub that entices individuals and enterprises worldwide to live, work and relax in Toranomon, replicating the Mori Building
Roppongi Hills complex’s dramatic transformation of Tokyo’s Roppongi community.
New Centers for Business Innovation
One of the many attractions of Toranomon Hills Business Tower* will
be its 3,000m2 Innovation Center on the fourth floor, serving as acenter of exchange between large companies and new ventures. The
center aims to support the creation of new businesses by providing asalon where entrepreneurs and executives of large companies can get
together, as well as event spaces to foster innovation.
Also, Toranomon Hills Station Tower* will offer a similar facility on its
top floor to welcome diverse innovators from large enterprises tosmall startups, as well as entrepreneurs, investors and members of
the general community for innovation and business development.
*NOTE: Tentative nameRendition of Innovation Center