Central Japan, Dec 2, 2022 - (JCN Newswire) - Central Japan, the region in which the new anime-themed park famous for its sci-fi fantasy machines and vehicles debuted earlier last month, is quickly becoming the homeland of startups paving the way towards the future of mobility. Earlier this week, the Japan External Trade Organization (JETRO), together with the Central Japan Startup Ecosystem Consortium, organized a tour to show the media how this lesser-known part of Japan, compared to Tokyo, Osaka or Kyoto, was rapidly giving birth to local entrepreneurs - as the result of education, collaboration, and homegrown determination. The century-old industry and network of suppliers in Aichi, Nagoya and Hamamatsu is also opening up to collaborate with startups from all corners of the world.1. Education
Yukiko Konishi, vice director of the Startup Promotion Office at Nagoya University, or NU, explained how rival universities in the Central Japan region started to join forces to form the Tokai Network for Global Leading Innovation Platform (Tongali) in 2015. Today, 18 universities stand behind a vision to "cultivate human capital that creates and delivers value leading to the future and enriching people, society, and earth" through entrepreneurship education. In 2020, over 4000 high school students to scholars and graduates participated in Tongali's educational events and programs. As a Tongali co-founder and Startup consortium member, she noted NU was a staple in the outcome of this endeavor. 67 entrepreneurs (as of November 2022) who took flight from NU including Optimind, a Forbes 30 Under 30 Asia 2020, and Acompany, a Forbes 30 Under 30 Japan 2021.
Three NU startups shared their stories. Deep-tech startup Tier IV's chief strategy officer, Ko Miyoshi, explained their world's first open-source software for autonomous driving, which runs on multiple platforms and provides full-stack solutions for the commercialization of intelligent vehicles. Called Autoware, its the equivalent of "Intel inside" for autonomous driving, adopted by over 500 companies across the globe. Toyota's battery-electric shuttle buses and Robo Taxi also partner with TIER IV, while Taiwanese manufacturer Foxconn has agreed to a joint development project for autonomous personal cars with a precondition of Autoware in future EV platforms.
On the Delivery Robot front, we turned the spotlight on Dr. Jude Nwadiuto from Nigeria, a postdoctoral fellow at Nagoya University. Receiving a Ph.D. in autonomous driving and robotics from Nagoya University, the founder and CEO of Fainzy Technologies demonstrated how the warm and cute-looking Mira X and ZiBot models were more seriously gun-ho than meets the eye, going beyond just delivering the payload. Mira X's artificial intelligence (AI) can avoid getting stuck by predicting its path and detecting when food is taken, with a 3D Holographic fan for advertising quality. And ZiBot can make highly accurate decisions from AI-based demand forecast data collected through 360-degree environment sensing.
Full release can be viewed at https://www.acnnewswire.com/press-release/english/79658/