SKS JAPAN 2022 – Beyond Community

Creator of My Food Job Rocks

Adam Yee built My Food Job Rocks in 2016 as a way to show the food industry in a different light: through stories. With over 250 interviews from all over the food industry ranging from the sugar buyer from Mars Wrigley, the egg scientist from JUST, and the dietitian from Taco Bell, there is a place for everyone in the food industry.

Adam Yee is also an accomplished food scientist and entrepenuer. He built Better Meat Co, a well-funded startup in Sacramento, California, and was an early employee at Motif Foodworks in Boston Massachusettes.

Currently, Adam's curiousity has gone global and he's traveling the world to understand the food industry on all angles. He's excited to be in Japan to meet other innovators.

Dr. Hibino is a professor at the Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences at Japan’s Hirosaki University, where she teaches social psychology and social survey methods. She studies user-technology relations in emerging science and technology. She is engaging in a research project on "ELSI/RRI in relation to Cellular Agriculture Technologies". This project is aimed at predicting and analyzing ELSI, which is a challenge in establishing cellular agriculture technologies as the core of a sustainable society.
Research Areas: Group Dynamics, Social Psychology, Sociology of Science

Joined Panasonic after spending eight years in high school and college in the United States.
After joining Panasonic, I worked mainly in overseas sales, marketing, and product planning for beauty appliances, including working at Panasonic USA for six years. Currently responsible for marketing and merchandising at Panasonic USA.

After working for an IT consulting firm and a venture company, she joined Sigmaxyz in 2009. She has been involved in a lot of new business development, including services that contribute to physical, mental, and social health, with a focus on food and healthcare. Her mission is to create a well-being society in "the life of age of 100 years".

Research/Insight Specialist at Multi-Sided Platform Team at Sigmaxyz. Prior to Sigmaxyz, served as Knowledge Specialist for High Tech Sector in Research & Information Group at Global Leading Management Consulting Firm for 10 years. Pursuing the core essence of food, cooking, technology, and science in terms of the evolution of human-being and societies by utilizing her experienced research capabilities.
Aspiration: To find the essence, meaning, and new value of “food” for our lives and planet.

In 2006, Andy Lin joined ASE, the world's largest provider of semiconductor manufacturing services, and was promoted to a management position in the sales department during that time. In 2014, he launched his first startup, Sholics, a last-mile grocery delivery system for local residents. In 2016, having been frustrated by the lack of options for good meals in the middle of the night when he himself worked overtime, and being inspired by Japanese retro vending machines, he founded Yo-Kai Express Inc.

Andy received his Bachelor's degree in Mechanical and Electrical Engineering from National Taiwan University in Taiwan, where he was born and raised. Later, Andy received his Master's degree in EECS (Electrical Engineering and Computer Science) from California State University, Irvine.

Ben is the CEO and co-founder of Fresco, the smart kitchen platform connecting the world's appliances, recipes, and home cooks. Ben co-founded Fresco (formerly Drop) to empower people to cook better at home. Today Fresco partners with leading appliance brands; Bosch, Electrolux, GE Appliances, Instant Brands, Kenwood, LG Electronics, Panasonic, and Thermomix to help them engage with their customers every time they cook. Born into an entrepreneurial and food industry family, Ben's first invention was the PerfEGG–a device that creates a perfectly boiled egg–while studying industrial design at Brunel University. In February 2012, he moved back to Dublin and set up a product design consultancy, White Zebra Studios, which was honored by the Institute of Designers Ireland in its first year. In 2012, Ben reignited his passion for food and product design by co-founding Drop and launching their first product, the connected scale.

Buck Jordan is founder and CEO of Vebu Labs (formerly Wavemaker Labs) – a corporate innovation lab whose purpose is to ‘help humans do more’. Vebu Labs founds, funds and scales transformative ventures around the world by developing solutions through robotics and automation. Prior to Vebu Labs, Mr. Jordan was a partner at Wavemaker Partners, a cross border venture capital firm, dual headquartered in Los Angeles and Singapore, and one of the most active early stage investors in Southern California and Southeast Asia. In addition, Mr. Jordan is President, Cofounder and Chairman of Miso Robotics, focused on building kitchens of the future through AI and robotics. Previously, Mr. Jordan founded Canyon Creek Capital and served as a Captain and Blackhawk pilot in the California Army National Guard.

Caroline Cotto is the Co-Founder & COO of Renewal Mill, a venture-backed startup upcycling the byproducts of food manufacturing into premium ingredients and delicious plant-based products. A food marketing and nutrition specialist, Caroline has experience at the UN World Food Programme, the White House (for Michelle Obama’s Let’s Move! initiative), Techstars Farm to Fork Accelerator, and HubSpot, where she ran the women’s diversity program globally. Caroline grew up in food, working for her family’s ice cream business in the town of Sandwich, MA. She serves as the inaugural Board President of the Upcycled Food Association, and formerly served as a Fulbright Fellow in Taiwan. In 2022, she was named to Forbes 30 Under 30 and the 50 Best's 50 NEXT lists.

Founder & CEO of CAN EAT Inc.
- CAN EAT is food tech company with the theme of "Stress-free in Eating-out."
- Development of IT services to prevent food allergy accidents
- We have a team of experts on the Japanese food labeling law

Erich Eichstetter is a chef and designer with +15 years of experience in the gastronomic scene of Spain, Germany, and Latin America. He currently specializes in Tech Scouting and development of new digital processes and products for Restaurants. At LABe he leads Digital Transformation projects in a Restaurant Living Lab. He has conducted projects encompassing Human-Centered Innovation processes in multidisciplinary environments with international teams.

1997 joined Kyushu Matsushita Electric Co., Ltd.
2002 transfered to Matsushita Electric Industrial Co., Ltd.
In the same year, she promoted the WiLL project and the FAX and Alkaline ionized water device. Promoted sales and won the Nikkei Woman of the Year award.
2013 Domestic Consumer Marketing Headquarters in charge of new products in the "food" field in the product planning department.
Promoted the chocolate drink business from 2017, and in September 2018, established MITSUBACHI PRODUCTS Co., Ltd. and became the current position of President.
2019 made first chocolate drink machine “INFINI MIX”. 104 stores nationwide use the INFINI MIX.
2022 We opened specialty store for chocolate drink, “Hanikam Chocola Tea” in Fukuoka Japan.

1996: Graduated from the Faculty of Science, University of Hyogo
1998-2013: Research and development at a pharmaceutical company in Kumamoto Prefecture
In 2005, he developed Japan's first disposable antiseptic swab and received the 3rd Japan Monodzukuri Grand Prize Kyushu Bureau of Economy, Trade and Industry Director's Award.
October 9, 2013: Established Toy Medical Co., Ltd.
February 2018: Released salt excretion supplement “Del Salt”
March 2019: Patent No. 6497764 "Food composition for sodium excretion" certified
January 2021: Capital and business alliance with Yamae Kuno Co., Ltd.
December 2021: Became an equity-method affiliate of Yamae Group Holdings Co., Ltd.
March 2022: Certified as J-startupKYUSHU

1977. 3 　 Graduated from DOSHISHA University,　Faculty of Law　
1977. 4 　 Joined FUJI OIL CO., LTD.
1994. 10 General Manager, Soy Processed Foods R&D Department
1997. 10 General Manager, Soy New Ingredients Sales Department
1999. 10 Head of Soy New Ingredients Department and General Manager of Soy New Ingredients Sales Department
2001. 7 General Manager, Soy Functional Food Department
2004. 6 Director, FUJI OIL CO., LTD.
2006. 4 Chairman and CEO, FUJI OIL (ZHANG JIA GANG) CO., LTD. (CHINA)
2008. 4 General Manager, Corporate Planning Department
2009. 4 Managing Director, FUJI OIL CO., LTD.
2010. 4 Head of Soy Processed Food Company and Osaka Branch
2012. 4 Senior Managing Director, FUJI OIL CO., LTD.
2013. 4 Representative Director and President, FUJI OIL CO., LTD.
2014. 4 Representative Director and President, and Head of Marketing Department
2015. 10 Representative Director and President/CEO, FUJI OIL HOLDINGS INC. and Head of Marketing Department
2017. 4 Representative Director and President/CEO, FUJI OIL HOLDINGS INC.
2021. 4 Director and Senior Advisor, FUJI OIL HOLDINGS INC.
2021. 6 Special Advisor, FUJI OIL HOLDINGS INC.
2022. 6 Retired from FUJI OIL HOLDINGS INC.

After graduating from the Faculty of Engineering in Tokyo University, he worked as a management consultant at "Bain & company" for multiple clients. From 1992, he moved to Apple and led the various marketing activities in Japan. After traveling to Europe by land, he started to cook everyday in France while his wife was taking an MBA at INSEAD, afterwards he moved to Switzerland and took his MBA at IMD.
In 2000, he co-founded a streaming media start-up called Generic Media in Palo Alto, and experienced all stages from fundraising of $12M to acquisition of the company. In 2010, He joined Evernote and served as Chairman for Japan, and led $20M investment from NTT DoCoMo and Nikkei respectively, as well as deep product integration and business relations.
At Evernote, his nickname was well-known as Chief Food Officer.

Currently, he is an adviser of Scrum Ventures, All Turtles and mmhmm etc. In autumn 2020, he founded Food Tech Studio - Bites! to promote open innovation between leading Japanese food manufacturers and global start-ups. In addition, together with SKSJ organizers, he published "Foodtech Revolution: A 700 Trillion Yen New Industry: The Evolution and Redefinition of Food" (フードテック革命　世界700兆円の新産業「食」の進化と再定義) by NIkkei BP. Also, he is a member of All Japan Food Association, director of Meat Meat Society (肉肉学会), advisor for "異能(Inno)vation" program by Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications (MIC).

Dr. Kim conducted an epigenetics study in yeast as a post-doctoral fellow in Molecular Biology Institute at UCLA. After that, he joined the RIKEN Plant Science Center, where he pioneered plant research linking environmental stress and epigenetics. Based on this research, he discovered that all plants could tolerate water deficit stress using acetic acid (Kim et al., 2017 Nature Plants). In order to expedite the application of his findings to benefit society and to help top resolve the global food crisis and environmental problems caused by global warming, he established Ac-Planta Inc. and became CEO. He is also an Associate Professor at the Graduate School of Agricultural and Life Sciences at the University of Tokyo.

Junji Torigoe has been expanding Tofu’s world by launching new products such as “Zaku Tofu” and “Hitorinabe Series”, which was developed despite Tofu industry’s common knowledge. Since 2014, Sagamiya Foods has launched new products which expands Tofu’s attractiveness as a Plant-based food one after another. Products such as Cheese-like taste “BEYOND TOFU series” and Plant-based meat “Nikunikushii Ganmo” has received a high evaluation due to its tastiness. And it has been expanding Tofu’s attractiveness as an alternative food. Furthermore, “Nikunikushii Ganmo” and sea urchin-like taste “Unino-yona BEYOND TOFU” (launched 2022) has implemented domestic food tech by fusing Japanese traditional Tofu tech and latest tech together. Sagamiya Foods has been evolving Tofu’s new world since then.
Junji Torigoe graduated from Faculty of Commerce / Waseda Univ., joined Sagamiya Foods after experiencing dairy industry.

In 2019, he founded REDD Inc. with the themes of design, education, and R&D. As a creative director, he is engaged in new business development, design strategy development, creative education program development, and design method development.

Kaz held various general management positions in technology, innovation, strategic marketing, new business development, and global business at Mitsubishi Chemical in 1993, Dow Corning in the US in 2006, and Omron in 2015, before assuming his current position in 2019. While overseeing the Japanese operations of Royal DSM of the Netherlands, he is involved in advocacy in the areas of sustainability management, food system transformation, and nutrition improvement. Kaz holds a master’s in Macromolecular Science from Osaka University, Ph.D. in
Materials Science from Mie University, and an MBA from MIT Sloan School of Management.

Joined Yo-Kai Express in 2022 to lead the business development in Japan. Previous experiences are; Program manager at Scrum Studio’s Food Tech Studio - Bites!, International Business Development for Cookpad Spain, and M&A Advisory for Credit Suisse and Lincoln International etc.
MBA from IESE Business School and BA from UCLA.

After His graduation on 2014 he joined a domestic financial institution, Deloitte and KPMG.
On 2014 he moved Indonesia with his family and joined a Food manufacture business as CFO for 5 years. On 2019 he moved back to Japan and has Joined Kasumi & USMH business management.

After working in corporate monetization at Cookpad, she launched FoodClip in 2020 and led the media business. Strongly empathized with the thoughts of the food business leaders she met through the interviews. Joined Sigmaxyz in 2022 to contribute to the advancement and renewal of the food industry with her life. Born in 1986, mother of one child

Joined Panasonic April 1999.
After entering Panasonic, spend 13years in overseas such as Panama, Australia and Malaysia as marketing and sales.
From March 2022, came back to Japan responsible for North & South America market and New Business Development Team.

Masa Fukata was appointed as Director in Panasonic Canada in 2010 and managed and executed product and marketing strategy in Consumer Products Division. He also led new business development projects for future growth opportunities at Panasonic Appliances Company since 2015. He started internal innovation accelerator Game Changer Catapult, an initiative to transform ideas into reality to make the people’s wish through open innovation. He also serves on the Board of Directors for in BeeEdge Co.,Ltd. a joint-venture business incubation company with Panasonic and a US-based venture capital firm. Retired from Panasonic last year and founded his own private firm CarmineWorks LLC, and contribute various projects including a research on Regenerative food system, subsidized projects with National Sports Agency. Joined Sundred Co., Ltd, as EVP/CVO/CMO. MBA at Kobe University.

Participated in research on novel functional foods at Faculty of Agriculture, Shinshu University from 2008. After completing doctoral course at Shinshu University in 2013, working as a postdoctoral researcher at the same university. Established a university-launched venture company in 2017, Wellnas Co., Ltd., and assumed CEO. Through joint research with Associate Professor Kozo Nakamura, Faculty of Agriculture, Shinshu University, we will develop and start selling the novel supplement containing choline ester derived from eggplant.
In 2019, we launched an “AI diet” business that individually optimizes nutrition. By analyzing body data and nutrient intake data, we identify and adjust the nutrients necessary to improve health and physical function and propose an optimal diet for achieving individual goals. The AI diet service and app “NEWTRISH” will be released in January 2023. Aiming for well-being through food in the AI diet business.

Executive Officer, General Manager, Research and Business Planning Department. Global Corporate Division. Ajinomoto Co., Inc.
Born in Osaka Prefecture. Graduated Master Degree of Food Science & Technology, Faculty / Graduate School of Agriculture, Kyoto University. Joined Ajinomoto Co., Inc. in 1990 at Food Products Development Laboratories. Experienced at Tokyo Sales Branch, Ajinomoto Thailand, R&D Planning Department, Corporate Planning Department, and assigned as General Manager of Product Development Center, Technology & Solution Development Center of Institute for Food Science & Technologies. Assigned Corporate Executive Officer in 2017, Corporate Executive in 2021, Executive Officer in 2022.

Mr. Fukui joined Alphatech in Sep 2020 as CTO. Previously, he worked at a research institute of food as well as a health food company as a researcher and in manufacture/sales management.

After a consistent factory and engineering career at Sony EMCS Corporation in 2005, Corning Japan Co., Ltd. in 2010, and Panasonic Corporation in 2016, took a leave of absence from the company in 2019 to establish Gifmo Co., Ltd. and became the CEO.

The idea that was born from the experience of caring for and eating two women who are members of Gifumo is refined at Panasonic's in-house business contest "GameChangerCatapult", and it is invested by BeeEdge Co., Ltd. to become a business company.

For those who are not chewy due to aging or disabilities, or who have difficulty eating, we have developed a new cooking appliances "DeliSofter" that looks and tastes the same and is soft and easy to change. Sales began in July 2020, and we received inquiries and favorable reviews from medical and welfare professionals, the elderly, children with disabilities, and nursing care sites, and thank you for the early sales of the first phase.

We aim to realize a society in which the joy of eating the same dishes together with the whole family, such as familiar home-cooked tastes and commercially available side dishes, will continue forever.

I have founded ESCARE, Inc. and Japan Salt Control Support Association to create a society where everyone can stay health. We are developing several projects based on evidence from public health and behavioral economics.

Matthew Walker is a Managing Director at S2G Ventures. He has over 15 years of experience in venture capital, investment banking and securities law. As Managing Director, Matthew’s efforts are focused on making investments, managing portfolio companies, and serving on various portfolio company boards. Before joining S2G Ventures, Matt was an investment banking Associate at Perella Weinberg Partners in New York focused on M&A and restructuring transactions across a range of industries. Prior to that role, he was a securities attorney in the Funds, Regulation, and Equity Derivatives practice at Cadwalader, Wickersham & Taft, LLP in New York. Matthew has an MBA from The University of Chicago Booth School of Business, a J.D. from New York University School of Law, and a B.S. in Mechanical Engineering from the University of Michigan. Matthew is a member of the Illinois Board of Trustees of The Nature Conservancy.

As Editor-in-Chief of WIRED JAPAN, a media organization which implements futures, worked on: WIRED WEB MEDIA／WIRED SZ MEMBERSHIP／WIRED MAGAZINE ISSUES (the latest issue being VOL. 45 “AS A TOOL”)／WIRED CONFERENCES／WIRED Sci-Fi PROTOTYPING LAB／WIRED SPECULATIVE ZONE. Before joining WIRED JAPAN in 2018, was Editor-in-Chief of the Editorial Department of NHK Publishing. Translator of "Novacene" (James Lovelock). Born in Tokyo and lives in Kamakura.

1994 University of Tokyo, B.A. Economics
2000 Boston University, M.A. Economics

1994 Ministry of International Trade and Industry
2020 Suntory Holdings Limited

In 2012, he opened a restaurant specializing in aged meat called "Shunjukusei".
In an industry-academia collaboration with the Faculty of Agriculture at Meiji University, he succeeded in cultivating safe and harmless zygomycetes over a period of about four years.
He developed a sheet that allows anyone to make aged meat and fish quickly and stably by simply wrapping them in a cloth to which the cultured spores of zygomycetes have been attached.

He joined NTT DATA Corporation in 2003, after working for Nippon Express Co., Ltd. in charge of global logistics operations in the UK.
He currently responsible for sales, marketing and consulting functions for the process-manufacturing business industries (food and beverage, pharmaceutical, chemical, materials, energy, etc.).
He has spoken at various public and private events (Nikkei Foodtech Conference 2020, 2021, and many others) to contribute to Digital Transformation (DX) solutions in the food and beverage industries, especially in the food, health and life science industries.
He holds a Master of Business Administration (MBA). He served as Associate Professor at Tama University (Organization of Research and Development The Institute of Supply Network Management and Strategy) from 2006 to 2010.
He is a member of the SPACE FOODSPHERE Research and Development Promotion Council and has also been Associate Professor at Miyagi University (Department of Food Science and Business) since 2021.

Mizuki Komasa graduated from the Keio University with a master degree in Bioinformatics in 2008. He worked for Sumitomo Mitsui Banking Corporation and SMBC Nikko Securities, after which he joined Real Tech Fund in 2015. He has been supporting a wide range of technology startups from space cargo ships, space crafts, avatar robots, food production technologies which have the potential to expand humanity into deep space. In 2019, he co-founded Space Food X, the world's first space food market co-creation program with JAXA, Sygmaxyz and more than 30 other companies and experts. In 2020, he founded SPACE FOODSPHERE, an incorporated association that aims to solve food problems on Earth and in space, and is currently the president.

Dr. Nakanishi was a researcher in the field of basic research on epigenetics in mammalian embryogenesis and placental development. After that she became a research administrator to work as a bridge between science and society. She has served as an administrator of the "One Earth Guardians Development Program" which aims to foster "One Earth Guardians, scientists who can take action for the Earth 100 years from now."

Joined KASUMI CO., LTD. in March1978.Appointed Director in May 2000, Senior Managing Director in May 2007, and President and Representative Director in March 2012 in KASUMI.
In March 2015, appointed Executive Vice President of United Super Markets Holdings Inc. (U.S.M.H.), that established in a business integration of The Maruetsu,Inc., KASUMI CO., LTD. and MaxValu Kanto Co.,LTD, then President and Representative Director (current position) since March 2017 as well as Executive Officer, Supermarket Business of AEON, and Director of KASUMI (current position). In March 2019, appointed Executive Vice President and Representative Executive Officer of AEON. In March 2020, appointed Executive Officer, Supermarket Business & Merchandising and Logistics and in March 2021, Executive Officer, Supermarket Business of AEON. In March 2022, appointed Executive Officer and Vice Chairman, Special Mission of the Company of AEON (current position).
As President and Representative Director of U.S.M.H. with around 530 stores in Tokyo metropolitan area, is driving promoting structural reform based on digitalization and repeating collaboration and emergence to create new value propositions.

Dr. Ranjani Varadan is the Chief Scientific Officer at Shiru, a functional ingredients discovery company creating a more sustainable food industry. A specialist in protein discovery and alternative proteins, Dr. Varadan oversees all aspects of Shiru's research and development, from discovery and screening to ingredient pre-production, in developing a high-value product pipeline for the world’s leading food manufacturers. Dr. Varadan was one of the early scientists at Impossible Foods where she worked 2011-2021 and was a key leader at the company in roles of increasing responsibility, including Vice President of Strategic Ingredients and Vice President of Research and Development. Prior to that, Dr. Varadan was an Adjunct Professor of Biochemistry at Purchase College (SUNY). She received her PhD in Biochemistry from the University of Maryland, and her Masters in Biological Science and Bachelors of Electrical Engineering from Birla Institute of Technology and Science (India).

After working as a sales and group leader at Keyence, I was assigned to the head office sales promotion group.
Responsible for analysis, planning, strategy design, construction, and execution in domestic and overseas marketing. Feeling the future potential of CEO Kinoshita's enthusiasm and business, I participated in Daybreak in 2020 and I'm in charge of the entire business as COO.

Ryosuke Sakaki
Art Director, Dentsu Inc
Founder, OPEN MEALS
Founder, Future Vision Studio

When he was a child, he was so captivated by Senna's performance in the F1 Japanese GP that he vowed to become an F1 pilot in the future.
After persuading his parents by bowing down on his knees, he started his racing career Go-Kart racing in 1994.
In 2002, he moved to Europe on his own, setting up bases in Germany, England, and Spain.
In 2006, he made his F1 debut as the youngest Japanese driver in F1 at the time.
In 2012, he relocated to Japan, obtained Home Helper Level 2 certification, and became general manager of local medical and social welfare services corporation.
In 2018, he became CEO/DEO of Sawarabi Group, which has three social pillars of medical care, social welfare, and education, including a school corporation.
In 2018, he developed "NigiLana Sushi," the world's first nursing care food using the molecular cooking method. He also developed "SawarabiHappyFoodProjrct," which converts the percentage of food completely eaten into data using AI image recognition.
He is also the editor-in-chief of "Longevity MIKATA," a web magazine dedicated to creating happiness in the age of 100 years of life.
In July 2019, he ran for the LDP-certified candidate in the 25th House of Councilors regular election (proportional representation) and received 78,236 votes, but was not elected.
In September 2020 he was appointed as the Japanese representative of the Digital Health Transformation Research Promotion Project (IDIH), a consortium of nine countries under the EU government's large-scale R&D project Horizon2020.
In October 2021 he was elected as a proportional representative of the LDP (Tokai block) in the 49th general election for the House of Representatives. Appointed Parliamentary Vice-Minister of Secretary Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology and Parliamentary Vice-Minister of Reconstruction in August 2022.
He is multilingual in Japanese, English, and Spanish.

Sara is an experienced social entrepreneur and thought leader in the food ecosystem. As a seasoned growth expert, she works with globally recognized, high-profile think tanks on setting the agenda for the sustainable food industry.
Described as a game-changer who knows how to drive change, she has a flair for exploration and prosperity thinking.
Over the past 10 years, she has focused on a mission to take food leaders and youth to the next phase of action through education, research projects, and innovation challenges.
In 2013, she founded Future Food: a purpose-driven ecosystem facilitating positive transformation in life on earth, promoting food innovation as a strategic element to achieve sustainable and impactful growth, and in 2020, after the pandemic broke out, she birthed the Pollica - Paideia Campus, a Mediterranean Living Lab, a prototype of a sustainable village, where one can learn a new kind of sociality and live the concept of integral ecology, combining environmental protection and human health, regeneration of the territory and citizens' well-being, social justice, and climate change.
She is the Italian Focal Point for the network of the Emblematic Communities of the Mediterranean Diet UNESCO, she recently co-founded the goodaftercovid19.org initiative and, among others, she is also a member of the Google Food Lab; partner, and board member of the Food For Climate League; Ambassador of the Agrifood Tech & Wellbeing thematic area of the Federated Innovation project @MIND; and President of the Scientific Committee of "Fondazione Italia Digitale".

I am the CEO of Sustainable Food Asia Co. Ltd which is the company with the purpose, "Create the New Standard of Foods".
We are the platform of the Asian Food tech startups to expand their market to overseas, and also we support the cross border alliances between the startups and the enterprises.

After graduating in Tourism Management, Semi Hakim continued his career as a chef after receiving his professional culinary training in Istanbul. As a chef, he conducted research projects on food and culture, worked on gastro-diplomacy projects, coordinated food events across the globe, and led projects supporting small-scale agri-food producers in Turkey.

In 2015 with Shirley Kaston, Semi Hakim co-founded the Kök Projekt. Kök Projekt is an agri-food management consulting company that works as a startup accelerator and corporate innovation partner with companies, governmental organizations, and investment funds. Kök Projekt works to empower food, agriculture, water, and energy sector entrepreneurs within the Emerging Markets who're building solutions for Food Security, Food Safety, and Climate Change.

Molecular Cooking Scientist. Graduated from Graduate School of Agricultural Science of Tohoku University. Worked as Assistant/lecturer at Kitasato University, Visiting lecturer of University of Guelph, Canada, and Associate Professor of Miyagi University. Specialized in Molecular Cooking Science. Representative for the Molecular Cooking Society (www.molcookingsoc.org). My research crosses food with “art x science x design x engineering.”

Shinnosuke was born in Yamagata in 1992. He proposed a business idea with vegetable powder in the contest and started research about food milling technology at Tokyo University of Agri.&Tech in 2015. After 3 years of research, food milling tech succeeded in highly maintaining the color, flavor, and nutrition of vegetables. He founded greenase Inc. to reduce the discard of ugly vegetables and regenerate them into valuable products in 2018. In 2020, Shinnosuke got his Ph.D. in agriculture and then started the business.
greenase Inc. launched “Vegemin” providing an effortless and easy-access product to those who struggle to consume vegetables in 2021. Vegemin supplies vegetable powder, protein with vegetables, and vegetable-contained biscuit bar on EC. Also, food milling tech is applied to regenerate food waste of food manufacturers into another product.

Born in Fukuoka Prefecture in 1988.
After graduating from Kobe University with a degree in business administration, he worked for four and a half years in sake brewing at Aramasa Sake Brewery in Akita Prefecture.
In 2020, he participated in the launch of Konohanano Brewery in Asakusa, Tokyo. He became the head brewer.
While brewing at Asakusa, he will also founded Ine to Agave in March 2021 in Oga City, Akita Prefecture.
In November of the same year, he started a brewery utilizing brewing licenses.
In June 2022, he gathered friends from all over Japan who were making similar sake to create a new genre called "craft saké" and launched the Craft Sake Brewery Association. Became chairman.
In addition to launching a restaurant with a brewery attached, he is also working to create as many good jobs as possible in the local area before he dies.
In November of this year, he launched "SANABURI FACTORY," a food processing facility based on the concept of turning what might otherwise be thrown away into treasure.
The company is also engaged in the business of "Fermented Mayo," a mayonnaise made mainly from sakekasu (sake lees) produced in the brewing process.
In addition, from the viewpoint of "reviving what has been lost in this town," he plans to open a ramen shop, a bakery, and a sushi restaurant next spring, as well as an auberge that will become a symbol of Akita's tourism.
They also plan to construct an auberge that will become a symbol of Akita tourism. They also aim to ease entry regulations for sake production licenses by utilizing the sandbox system and the special zone system.

Completed a doctoral program in applied life engineering at the Graduate School of Agricultural Life Sciences, The University of Tokyo. Ph.D. After practicing experimental classes and various types of writing, he developed and introduced advanced technologies in the field of agriculture, and launched a project to build a regional start-up ecosystem. He is committed to technology development and business development in collaboration with major and medium-sized companies, ventures, researchers, etc. with a hands-on approach.

It has been 34 years since we started growing tea without relying on chemical fertilizers, pesticides, or herbicides.
We have been practicing organic farming using microorganisms for about 25 years, with soil preparation as our first priority.
Fertilizer is home-made fermented organic fertilizer, and homemade fermented liquid using natural wild grass instead of pesticides.

All of this is because we would like to bring out the benefits of tea as a medicine, just like when it was used as the herbal medicine, and we hope people to enjoy it safely and deliciously.

Born in Fukuoka prefecture in 1964. After graduating with a bachelor’s degree in Philosophy, Politics, and Economics at Waseda University, gained work experience at Recruit Cosmos and Kenichi Omae’s office, established CAFE COMPANY Inc.in 2001. Under the theme of“ Creation of Community,” He took on development/management, regional revitalization business, and commercial facility production domestic and overseas for restaurants and cafes. In 2021, working with NTT DOCOMO, INC., he had a strong vision for “Passing on Japan’s beloved food culture to the future,” establishing GOOD EAT COMPANY with the purpose of creating a new food ecosystem. In addition, from 2010, he has been a member of the Cabinet Office, Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry, Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries, as well as multiple organizations working on food culture and solving social challenges.

After graduating from The University of Tokyo, I joined DeNA Corporation and engaged in producing online games and launching new businesses.
In 2016, I founded BASE FOOD Inc. for developing nutritionally complete staple foods with the vision of reimagining staple foods so that a healthy lifestyle can be accessible to all.
Base Food developed BASE PASTA in 2017 and BASE BREAD in 2019.
I got 6th place in Forbes JAPAN’s Japanese Entrepreneurial Ranking 2022.

After graduating from university in Japan, he moved to France. He worked as a buyer for Japanese apparel companies in Paris. After returning to Japan, he started working at a Japanese trading company in the import/wholesale business of clothing/watches, household goods, FMCG, etc. for about 12 years. He started Zero to one, which is an import consulting business and restaurant management business and he also became an advisor for Felicidad Inc. in 2018.
In 2020, he began a project to import and sell a smart kitchen appliance, Hestan Cue for the Japan market. In 2021, a sales contract as Hestan Cue's sole distributor in Japan was made.
Sales started in Japan in January 2022.

Supreet Raju is the Co-Founder and Creative Director of OneRare, the world's first Food Metaverse. Having a passion for trends & design, she pursued her design degree from NIFT, Delhi, ending as a Gold Medalist. She specializes in creating interactive spaces and increasing engagement through her designs, winning multiple awards for her work. She currently spearheads the creative strategy at OneRare and her prime focus lies in bringing the Food & Beverage Industry to Web3 and creating a new global monetisation model for Food businesses.

Founded Learning Initiative Inc. in 2012. Promote the creation of new projects in higher education institutions. In 2018, appointed CEO of MSD Inc. Focusing on the discovery of research insights, creates new projects/businesses.

March 1998 MA of Engineering, The University of Tokyo
April 1998- Accenture Japan K.K. : Senior Manager
March 2006- Revamp Corporation : Operating Officer
August 2013- nine hours, Inc. : CEO

While expanding his design field, he worked for a design company, a venture company, and a creative agency before joining Sigmaxyz. He has been engaged in developing and launching new businesses and services for various companies using human-centered design, design thinking, lean startup, and other methods. He joined SKS activities with a desire to improve the lives of people and society around him. Certified Human Centered Design Professional.

Born in Osaka in 1979 between a Japanese father and a Thai mother.
In 2000, he opened his own restaurant. In 2002, the second store was opened, and all were transferred the following year. Go on a year-long food trip abroad.
Moved to Okinawa in 2004. Start restaurant business, share house business, outdoor festival organization, etc.
In 2014, to the IT industry. Learn programming and create services.
In 2016, he became the representative director immediately after joining Inbound Co., Ltd. A year later, he put the company on track and resigned.
In 2017, he visited a total of 68 countries on his second overseas food tour.
Founded Luna Robotics Co., Ltd. in 2018.
In 2019, participated in “Space Food X” of space x food led by JAXA.
In 2020, he was a founding member of the successor organization “Space Foodsphere” of “Space Food X” as a co-founder.
In 2022, he joined the Louis Pasteur Advanced Medical Research Institute as a researcher.

Joined SIGMAXYZ in 2017 after working at a domestic consulting firm. Engaged in new business development and growth strategy planning for food / consumer products manufacturers, raw material manufacturers, hardware manufacturers, etc. from the perspective of food, health and wellness. Aims to create a culture and social infrastructure for people and companies with technology and skills to challenge and grow.

Born in Kakegawa City, Shizuoka Prefecture in 1990.
After graduating from Numazu National College of Technology in 2011, he joined a local trading company.
In 2014, he returned to his family’s kaiseki restaurant, "Kacha-ryori Muto" to the present.
Since he was a student, he has been interested in revitalization of local community and the primary industry, and now he is also making vegetables. While he supports farmers, chefs and the operation of various communities, he is thinking how to make the world more enjoyable by the fusion of analog and digital.
He started the podcasts program "Tabemono RADIO" from July 2021 with his older brother. On this radio, and he is in charge of editing as well as playing the role of personality.
Not only the content itself, but also the unique dialogue between the siblings has been well received.
The radio is delivered twice a week and played 230,000 times as of July 2022. Over 100 episodes. It's a series with an average of 50 minutes per episode and about 10 more episodes per ingredient.
Probably this comes from their usual conversations in the kitchen which last for 6 hours. They like to find out the essence of things and conversations tend to get sidetracked.

Ajinomoto, Co., Inc. CEO Advisor
16 years’ experience of IT/business consultant – Future Architect, IBM, BayCurrent Consulting
4 years’ experience as a head of corporate planning division - Prudential life insurance
5 years’ experience as CIO and CDO in retail company – Lawson and Walmart Japan
In Lawson, established system subsidiary (Lawson Digital Innovation, Inc) and became CEO and established Open Innovation Center and was appointed as center director. Promoted innovation by using technologies such as IoT, AI, Robotics.
Joined Ajinomoto in 2020 and leading new business development.
Master of Aerospace Engineering, the University of Tokyo, Japan

In June 2022, Taro Fujie was appointed Director, Representative Executive Officer, President & CEO of Ajinomoto, Co., Inc. He joined Ajinomoto Co., Inc. In 1985 and was promoted General Manager, China Department in July 2008. He contributed to business expansion of Ajinomoto Philippines Corporation. In 2015, He assumed President of Ajinomoto do Brazil Industria e Comercio de Alimentos LTDA. After that he directed the operational excellence project as Corporate Vice President of Ajinomoto, Co., Inc. Fujie was born on October 25, 1961 in Osaka prefecture, Japan.

Born in Shizuoka prefecture in 1978. After working as sales in a telecommunication company, started to work in the kaiseki cuisine restaurant "Kacha-ryori Muto" since 2014.
In 2021, He became the president of the restaurant. In the same year, started a podcast program as the main speaker, "Tabemono-Radio, learning food and its history with fun," with his younger brother Takuro Muto who is co-owner of that restaurant. They are delivering the joy of re-recognizing life from the perspective of food, with the theme of “By knowing food and its roots, your daily dish becomes even more enjoyable.”
He has tried to shift restaurants from "a place to serve food" to "a place to enjoy a well time through meals". In this process, he came to thinking about the fundamental values of "eating" and "food", which led to the current radio program. They are exploring the food industry beyond the category of restaurants.
He is curious and perfectionist. If there is something interesting, he tries to explore until he gets satisfied. He is good at observing from various angles, and particularly interested in human behavior. His favorite words are "knowledge is the source of wisdom", "A blooming flower on a living tree is more surprising than a flower on a dead tree", and "Spiritual awakening cannot be experienced with words and letters".

CEO of Oishi Kenko Inc.
Ex-head of membership business and healthcare business at COOKPAD Inc.
A member of Planning Committee of Japan Association for Diabetes Education and Care from 2020.

Involved in new business creation and smart kitchen related businesses at Cookpad for 6 years. Supported SKS JAPAN (2017-) and Foodtech Venture Day (2019-) by Sigmaxyz since their inception, and after working as an advisor for Sigmaxyz, he officially joined in 2022. As a foodtech specialist, and well versed in domestic and international startups and provides industry insights such as chaos maps. Works as a part-time lecturer at the University of Tokyo Graduate School, where designs and implements curriculum for startup-style new business creation. Has many experience in supporting startups and large corporations in their new business creation.

Born in Okayama. After working in various publishing genres including architecture, interior design, and design books, he first published Discover Japan in 2008 with the theme of rediscovering Japan's charm. In November 2018, he established Discover Japan Inc. as president and editor-in-Chief. With magazine media as its core, the company is actively involved in event planning and community building, digital business, and overseas expansion.
He is currently a member of the Executive Committee of the Ministry of the Environment of The Good Life Award, a judge of the KYO-MONO Youth competition, a tourism and economic advisor for Takayama City, the chairman of the Takayama City Made by Hida Takayama Brand Certification Committee, the chairman of the Nagasaki City Tourism Master Brand Research Committee. He Also serves as an advisor to the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry and the Ministry of Agriculture and Fisheries.

I opened TOKYO FOOD LAB in 2019 and started Future Food Japan with Future Food. I established TOKYO FOOD INSTITUTE as a general incorporated association in 2021. I aim to build a new food ecosystem to realize a sustainable society.

Varun Deshpande is Managing Director at the Good Food Institute India, where he works with scientists, foundations, governments, and businesses to build the alternative protein sector across the continent. He has been named a leading young voice for climate solutions by India Climate Collaborative, one of Asia’s Most Influential Tastemakers by Tatler Asia, and one of India’s 25 Most Influential Young Citizens by GQ. Varun has spoken all over the world ranging from the Indian Institutes of Technology to Harvard University, and his writing has featured in media including The Hindu, FirstPost, and The Daily Guardian.

Yoshiki earned a bachelor’s degree in Health Science from the University of Tokyo, a Master of Science in Health Policy and Management from Harvard School of Public Health, and a PhD in Medicine from Jichi Medical School.
As a public health researcher, entrepreneur, and science journalist, Yoshiki is working at the intersection of science, business, and government as a catalyst with the aim of advancing the well-being of society.

Born in 1977 in Ureshino City, Saga prefecture.
President of Wataya Besso, a ryokan (Japanese-style inn) in Ureshino.
In 2000, he left university and joined Wataya Besso Co., Ltd. but due to the poor performance of the family business, he resigned from the company and became a consultant for the revitalization of ryokans. For about 10 years, he was engaged in the revitalization of as many as 70 onsen（hot spring）ryokan throughout Japan.
After taking over the position of president of Wataya Besso in 2013, he overcame a management crisis by leveraging the creativity and human network he had cultivated over the years.
In addition to ryokan management, he has produced innovative projects to the onsen resort area Ureshino, such as the "Hakoniwa Art Festival" in 2014, "Ureshino Tea Time (tea tourism)" in 2016, and "Yoi no Bijutsukan (art museum)" in 2016. In 2018, he opened the auberge "aritahuis" in Arita and in 2020, he invited the satellite office to the Wataya Besso, which was the case in Japan. In November 2021, as part of the RebornWatayaProject, he opened seven stores, including "BOOKS&TEA Sanfuku," a bookstore for enjoying Ureshino tea and reading, Soejimaen's main store, and “Made in Pierre Hermé.” In 2021, he became the vice chairman of the Ureshino Onsen Tourist Association, and In March 2022, he established the "Onsen Incubation Center (OIC)"

Belongs to the Graduate School of Agricultural and Life Sciences at the University of Tokyo, and conducts research on plant nutrition (especially nitrogen) and the consensus building process in offshore wind projects in Akita. As a One Earth Guardians candidate (2019~), work on a variety of projects, including food, ocean, education, and forestry. He also works as a Youth Advisory of SWiTCH (NPO, 2021~), involved in organizing events in collaboration with COP26. In the 'skinned soup' project in collaboration with the Tokyo Food Institute, he was a student leader in the development and marketing. He also obtained Climate Shaper certification from FFI and FAO.

He was born in1984. He founded "Sea Vegetable LLC" in 2016. They commercialized the world's first land-based cultivation of Suji-aonori using underground seawater.
Currently, researchers with diverse expertise and chefs of different genres have joined their company to establish production techniques for various types of seaweed and to develop new ways to eat them.

He joined Boston Consulting Group in 2015 and has experience in new business development, global strategy, and organizational reform projects.
Founded Techmagic in 2018. TechMagic develops "cooking robots" and "business robots" with the vision of "realizing a sustainable food infrastructure society through technology. TechMagic has collaborated with food manufacturers such as Ajinomoto, Kewpie, and Nissin Foods, as well as major restaurant companies such as Pronto Corporation, to sell "noodle robots," "washing and sorting robots," and "serving robots" that integrate hardware and software.

After graduating from the Tokyo University, joined Goldman Sachs. After experiencing two layoffs, founded Sharedine Inc, personal chef service, in 2017 with a colleague. Sharedine has grown one of Japan's largest chef services with over 2,000 registered chefs.

Joined JAXA in 2006, he was in charge of project promotion in the rocket division and space education projects through external collaboration. Later, he was transferred to a major advertising agency, where he participated in corporate promotions and business creation of space content. Thereafter, he was involved in the launch and institutional design of a co-creation program, "JAXA Space Innovation Partnership (J-SPARC)," in addition to promoting the entry of new companies not previously involved in space and planning collaboration with different fields of technology.　
Now, as a J-SPARC producer, he is mainly in charge of co-creation activities with private companies related to space travel, food / living / healthcare, entertainment business, etc.
He serves on the board of directors of SPACE FOODSPHERE, a general incorporated association that works to solve food problems common to the earth and space.

He joined Sigmaxyz and started his career as a consultant. Specializing in lifestyle industry domains such as food and housing, he participated in projects such as digital marketing and organizational transformation, focusing on strategy and new business creation.
Hi is also one of the founders of Smart Kitchen Summit Japan, and his experience in the development of SKSJ has deepened his passion for creating new experiences in the food and cooking.
In his personal life, he began to explore unique seasonings from all over Japan, and currently has more than 100 different kinds of seasonings in the kitchen.
In September 2021, he founded HiDenBox with the hope of adding an overwhelming sense of enjoyment to the daily routine of cooking and eating, and in July 2022, he released "Traveling Seasonings," an e-commerce service that connects consumers with unique regional seasonings, their makers, and food culture.
Born in Kanagawa Prefecture and currently resides in Obuse, Nagano Prefecture.

Zongjun is a founding member of Gastrograph AI, and the current Director of Application. Zongjun currently manages special projects and project delivery with a focus on the Asia Pacific region, and oversees the company’s APAC office in Shanghai. Zongjun has been a part of the global data collection team since 2018 and has played a key role in growing the world’s largest sensory dataset spanning more than 30 countries.
Prior to joining Gastrograph AI, Zongjun was the executive director for the Tea Institute at Penn State and a visiting scholar at The National Center of Atmospheric Research.
In his free time, Zongjun is a founding member of the Meraki Organization & Funds, a non-profit organization whose mission is to help provide global awareness and acceptance for people with Autism. He is also an active member and occasional presenter at the Royal Asiatic Society China, a scholarship society devoted to furthering the understanding and appreciation of Asia-centric culture since 1823.

Creating new industry through collective wisdom ~ SHIFT ~

OVERVIEW

HIGHLIGHTS

1.Keep up with the latest global food-tech & innovation trend

2.From sustainable food systems to regenerative food systems

3.Taking on the challenge of opening up the "diversity of food value" in the long tail needs of food

4.Deep dive into trends in latest application areas

5. How to step into the evolution of the co-creation business development model and ecosystem building?

6. Meet the next generation of pioneers, experience food tech, and find new partners

AGENDA

SPEAKERS *alphabetical order

Adam Yee

Adam Yee

Aiko Hibino

Aiko Hibino

Akihiko Kato

Akihiko Kato

Akiko Fukuyo

Akiko Fukuyo

Akiko Okada

Akiko Okada

Andy Lin

Andy Lin

Ben Harris

Ben Harris

Buck Jordan

Buck Jordan

Caroline Cotto

Caroline Cotto

Ellie Tagahara

Ellie Tagahara

Erich Eichstetter

Erich Eichstetter

Hatsumi Ura

Hatsumi Ura

Hidenori Takeshita

Hidenori Takeshita

Hiroshi Shimizu

Hiroshi Shimizu

Hitoshi Hokamura

Hitoshi Hokamura

Jong-Myong KIM

Jong-Myong KIM

Junji Torigoe

Junji Torigoe

Jutaro Mochizuki

Jutaro Mochizuki

Kazunori Maruyama

Kazunori Maruyama

Keiji Tsuchiya

Keiji Tsuchiya

Koshiro Mitsuyuki

Koshiro Mitsuyuki

Maiko Atsumi

Maiko Atsumi

Maki Takahashi

Maki Takahashi

Masa Fukata

Masa Fukata

Masahiro Koyama

Masahiro Koyama

Masaki Kashihara

Masaki Kashihara

Masaru Fukui

Masaru Fukui

Masaru Morizane

Masaru Morizane

Masayoshi Nemoto

Masayoshi Nemoto

Matthew Walker

Matthew Walker

Michiaki Matsushima

Michiaki Matsushima

Mikio Aoki

Mikio Aoki

Mikio Atobe

Mikio Atobe

Mizuho Mitake

Mizuho Mitake

Mizuki Komasa

Creating new industry through collective wisdom
~ SHIFT ~

SPEAKERS
*alphabetical order