Global Affiliates Research Presentations (session 2 of 5)

The format of this presentation is each of the five speakers will have approximately 15 minutes to present their research.  This will be followed by a short period of 5-10 minutes for any questions or comments from the audience.

In this session of the Global Affiliates Research Presentations, the following will be presented:

Jiazhong Fang, PetroChina, "Sustainable Development of the Petroleum Industry"

Climate change has become more and more critical to the survival of humans.  If there is no appropriate control of the total greenhouse gas emissions over the next 10-20 years, emissions will drive global temperatures to rise 1.5-2^oC.  Impacts related to climate change can be found in many segments of society such as human health, agriculture and food security, water supply, transportation, etc.  These same areas also impact the survival of the petroleum industry.  In his research, Fang has analyzed different scenarios about future clean energy implementation and emission reduction.  In this presentation, he shares potential solutions of the sustainable development of the petroleum industry. 

Ryoji Miyawaki, AAKEL Technologies, "Technology to Realize Decarbonization"

Decarbonization is one of the major issues of humanity.  It is, however, very difficult to solve under rapid population growth and modernization without innovation.  These days, many cleantech startups have been launched to aim to solve the issue with innovative approaches utilization cutting-edge technologies.  Miyawaki intends to share his insights into the latest trends of cleantech, the context behinds the trends, and the difference between the trends and the past Green New Deal which crashed in the late 2000s.

Hiro Nishinaka, Ishin Co., Ltd. "The State of Japanese Corporate Venture Capitals in the Silicon Valley"

Silicon Valley continues to attract attention as the center of tech startups and innovation.  A growing proportion of the most valuable companies in the U.S. are tech companies such as Silicon Valley-based tech giants Apple, Alphabet, and Facebook.  Therefore, many large Japanese enterprises have recently been organizing their own Corporate Venture Capitals (CVCs) to accelerate internal innovation, utilizing the Silicon Valley Startups' ecosystem.  However, many of these Japanese CVCs face similar common difficulties.  In his research, Nishinaka will share some insights into how large Japanese enterprises harness their CVCs to collaborate with startups to accelerate innovation effectively.

Hayato Watanabe, Hamamatsu Iwata Shinkin Bank, "The World of Japanese Manufacturing SMEs that Support Japan as a Manufacturing Powerhouse"

Japan's global market share is rapidly shrinking.  As a regional financial institution, the Hamamatsu Iwata Shinkin Bank focuses on supporting small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) with a majority of their customers in the vehicle engine parts industry.  There is an increasing possibility that the pyramid of parts supply centering on automobiles will collapse in the near future.  In such an era, it will be necessary for Japanese manufacturing SMEs to change their way of business in order to survive.  In his research, Watanabe shares his experience of proof of concept in Silicon Valley and provides suggestions on how Japanese manufacturing SMEs need to progress their business to expand their market share. 

Kosuke Yokota, Future Corporation, "Success Factors of FinTech in Japan"

The last decade has seen a disruption of the traditional banking industry, especially in the areas of payments, lending, wealth management, and retail banking.  This disruption is FinTech and includes 39 unicorns in the world, although not one Japanese company.  FinTech trends change every year.  In 2019, with Japan's shrinking millennial population, the battle for millennial deposits will become more aggressive as FinTech account products hit the market.  In his research, Yokota will share some insights into how Japan, which is an aging society, will proceed ahead of the world to accelerate FinTech innovation effectively.