Report】Ad Venture Forum in Tokyo (2024.4)

On April 20, 2024, "Add Venture Forum in Tokyo" was held in Sumida-ku, Tokyo. The event was attended by 12 R&D venture companies and 47 doctoral and master's degree students, who engaged in heated discussions at booth sessions for each company.

Haruna Kusunoki, Director of the Research Center for Human Resource Development at Livanes, gave the organizer's address, sharing her thoughts on the launch of the Ad Venture Forum.

Greetings from the Organizer

RIVANES was founded by a group of researchers who love research and development, and I believe that all of you here today share this belief. We are gathered here today to ask questions such as, "How can we produce marine products on land?", "Can we create a more environmentally friendly coating technology?", and "How can we protect the safety of the world's aging infrastructure?" These 12 companies are taking on the challenge of solving global-scale problems that cannot be solved with current knowledge or current methods. This is exactly what it means to "Since no one else knows, I will figure it out. They are companies that are taking on the challenge of "Since nobody knows, I will figure it out; since it doesn't exist, I will create it myself. There are many questions and issues that would be impossible to solve or develop without the help of our colleagues, and we need a lot of them. There must be a theme or mission that overlaps with your interests. I hope you will find it and join our group. You may ask, "Is there a way to work in a venture while doing research at a university?" If you don't have such a career, we can develop a way to do that together, too. We are starting the Ad Venture Forum to create a place for such adventures.

Afterwards, Mr. Yusei Kamemoto of Gardelia Corporation, a past forum participant who has worked for a venture company while continuing his doctoral research, spoke about his experience.

Outline of Lecture

I used to have the image of a major company as the only kind of work that would have an impact on society, but my thinking changed when I saw various venture companies taking on the challenge of creating businesses that would actually change the world. Although venture companies do not have the same abundance of know-how and assets as large companies, I think it is an attractive job for PhDs to create the core of the company by themselves, including not only research and development, but also organizational systems and the product commercialization process. I am fortunate to have met people who are serious about going from research to social implementation.　: For more detailed articles, please seethis way (direction close to the speaker or towards the speaker)

At Adventure Splash, participating ventures gave a passionate one-minute presentation about their vision and what they wanted to discuss with participating students.

In the main program, booth sessions, researchers and managers from each venture and participants engaged in intense communication about what they could do to combine their passions and knowledge, and what kind of friends they could make.

Participant's Voice

• I learned that we are a group of people who are always excited by adventure. Ventures became a more realistic option.
• I had thought that an adventurous person with a passion for research might not be suitable for me, but there are various types of ventures, and there might be a company that suits me. But now I realize that there are many different types of venture companies and that there may be one that is right for me.
• I realized that there is a world out there that you cannot encounter if you just stay in the lab or go about your daily life.

• I thought it was the same as research, as I was often asked not only what I wanted to do, but also what I wanted to achieve.
• Despite the limited time, we got more concrete actions that could be done than we expected.
• I thought that venture companies were doing highly specialized things that might be irrelevant to me as a humanities major, but I thought that they covered a very wide range of fields, as I thought that I could apply my ideas and what I had done so far in fields that I thought were really not related at all.

• I am very happy to know that my research can be applied to fields I had never thought of before, broadening my research horizons and giving me new ideas.
• Not only did it motivate me to pursue my current research, but it also gave me a good opportunity to think about my career from a broader perspective, such as entering a doctoral program or working for a venture company.
• I felt a stronger sense than at other events that things are going to move forward, even if a little forcibly, because all participants are aware of the need to "create the next movement. I would be happy to see more events like this in the future.

List of Participating Companies

ARK Corporation, IDDK Corporation, Inoka Corporation, ACSL Corporation, Eco-Pork Corporation, Gardelia Corporation, Soilook Corporation, NEST RdLAB Corporation, Meister's Grit Corporation, Material Gate Corporation, MANN Corporation, Liverness Corporation