Techinasia – April 11, 2016 – The Japan Association of New Economy (JANE) held its annual global business conference, the New Economy Summit (NEST), on last Thursday and Friday. This year, the conference added “T” to its acronym to put a focus on “Tokyo” and “Technology.”
JANE is headed by the founder of Rakuten, Hiroshi Mikitani. Hiroshi said in his opening speech that JANE was created so “Japan will not be left behind.” JANE boasts over 500 companies in its membership and hopes to incubate more Japanese companies as well as be a bridge for international companies entering the country.
For the second year in a row, NEST held a startup pitch battle featuring some of Japan’s top startups. Check out the ten participants below, starting with the top three and including a special prize from Tech in Asia!
First place – AgriBus-Navi
AgriBus-Navi is an Android application that uses a smartphone’s GPS to help farmers move in straight lines in the field.
Founder and CEO Yasuyuki Hamada used to be a researcher at Japan’s National Agricultural Research Organization where he worked on GPS guidance software.
Yasuyuki stressed in his pitch that operators of farm equipment need to make precise U-turns and go straight to apply pesticide in equal intervals. Unfortunately, most farmers are not really sure where they are spraying, he explained.
With AgriBus-Navi, farmers can track their movement in the field to help in straight-line tasks like spraying pesticide. Yasuyuki says GPS guidance solutions have been around for about ten years but are expensive. Farmers can expect to pay from US$5,000 to US$10,000 for similar features that can now be done with AgriBus-Navi’s app.
Since February, the application has been downloaded 27,000 times, 90 percent of which have been from outside Japan. Yasuyuki wants to eventually use the technology to let one person operate multiple machines remotely.
AgriBus-Navi received US$9,250 for first place as well as a special prize from Tech in Asia: free entrance and a booth at any of Tech in Asia’s conferences.
Second place – Cross Helmet
Cross Helmet is a new motorcycle helmet by design studio Borderless that gives drivers a 360 degree view of the road and reduces traffic noise.
Founder and CEO Arata Ono is a motorcycle designer and avid rider. Arata stated that over 1.3 million people die in traffic accidents every year. 600,000 of those accidents are with motorcycles and 50 percent of deaths are the result of a head injury.
Arata is concerned that helmet technology has not changed in the last 60 years and said that drivers’ limited vision and road noise are big problems.
Cross Helmet uses a headmounted display and a back camera to give drivers a 360 degree view. It also uses a noise control system to help keep traffic noise down. Drivers can also receive turn-by-turn navigation and voice chat with other riders through the Cross Helmet app.
The helmet’s suggested retail price is US$1,399. It’s expected to go on sale this Spring.
Cross Helmet received US$2,775 for second place.
Third place – Gatebox
Gatebox is a holographic virtual assistant that can also control IoT devices.
Gatebox is the second product from Vinclu and appeals to the otaku (geek/nerd) and kawaii (cute) culture of Japan. The initial features are similar to Amazon’s Echo and include controlling smart devices like lights and TVs, to playing songs or responding to other basic commands.
Founder and CEO Minori Takechi said the idea for Gatebox came from his years of working long hours at a Japanese company. The heroines of his favorite anime are what kept him motivated to go into work the next day. Minori believes many people have favorite characters and wants to “bring these heroes and heroines home to live with you.”
The concept video got over 500,000 views in its first month, 70 percent of which came from outside Japan. Pre-orders are expected to start by the end of this year.
There was no monetary prize for third place.