On Monday, the Stanford Silicon Valley - New Japan Project hosted a symposium on “Japan in the Bay Area: From Competition to Collaboration” jointly with the Bay Area Council Economic Institute and in cooperation with the Japan Society of Northern California. Leading experts and practitioners from both Japan and the Bay Area joined us for a discussion about the critical transformations underway in Japan’s economy and unique synergies that connect it to the Bay Area. This forum introduced and discussed the high-level findings of a new report by the Bay Area Council Economic Institute on Japan’s economic engagement in San Francisco/Silicon Valley Bay Area, and the role the region is playing as California and Japan look to expand trade and investment and accelerate innovation.
Full agenda below.
AGENDA
1:00pm Welcome
Jim Wunderman, President & CEO, Bay Area Council
Hon. Tomochika Uyama, Consul General of Japan
Takeo Hoshi, Director, Shorenstein APARC Japan Program
1:10pm Introduction of Bay Area Council Economic Institute Report: High-Level Findings
Sean Randolph, Senior Director, Bay Area Council Economic Institute
1:30pm Observations and Silicon Valley Overview
Kenji Kushida, Research Scholar, Stanford University
1:45pm Panel 1: The Emerging New Japan
Kanetaka Maki, Associate Professor, Waseda University School of Business
Mio Takaoka, CFO, Medical Note and Partner, Arbor Ventures
Takeshi Ebihara, Founding GP, Repright Partners
Emre Yuasa, Principal, Globus Capital Partners
Sean Randolph, Senior Director, Bay Area Council Economic Institute (Moderator)
2:45pm Panel 2: Japanese Companies in Silicon Valley Creating Value in New Ways
Hiroshi Menjo, Managing Partner, Net Service Ventures
Tsunehiko Yanagihara, Executive VP, Mitsubishi Corp M-LAB
Gen Isayama, General Partner & CEO, World Innovation Lab
Dennis Clark, Managing Director, Honda Innovations
George Saikalis, SVP & CTO, Hitachi America, Ltd.
Kenji Kushida, Research Scholar, Stanford University (Moderator)
4:00pm Closing Remarks