Contact: Susan Parini, Japan Society of Northern California Program Officer 415-986-4383 or Siejen Yin-Stevenson, Assistant Director, US-Asia Technology Management Center 650-724-0096
The Innovation in Japan – U.S. Business and Technology Awards program has today announced the schedule for the second annual Japan – U.S. Innovation Awards Day Symposium Symposium on June 29, 2012, from 1:30 – 6:30 pm at Stanford University. The Symposium will be held in McKenzie Auditorium, Jen-Hsun Huang Engineering Center (3rd Floor), Stanford University, 475 Via Ortega, Stanford, CA. For details and to register, see <http://www.usjinnovate.org>.
At the Symposium, awards for outstanding innovations will be presented to Japanese and U.S. companies in three broad categories: Emerging Leader, Intrapreneur and World Changer. Executive representatives of winning companies will discuss the stories behind their innovations in interactive panel discussions with the audience, while noted futurist Paul Saffo will deliver a keynote presentation on the global outlook for U.S. and Japan innovation. The agenda will also include comments by U.S. Ambassador to Japan John H. Roos and an informal networking reception.
The Japan – U.S. Innovation Awards program and the Awards Day Symposium are organized by the Japan Society of Northern California <http://www.usajapan.org> in cooperation with the Stanford University US-Asia Technology Management Center <http://asia.stanford.edu>. The selection process is carried out by a distinguished 40-person Innovation Advisory Council (IAC) composed of venture capitalists, academic experts and business persons in Japan and the U.S. under the governance of a Steering Committee chaired by Allen Miner, Chairman and CEO of Sunbridge Corporation. Other key IAC or Steering Committee members include Richard Dasher, Director of Stanford’s US-Asia Technology Management Center; Hitoshi Hokamura, Mentor of Open Network Lab and Chairman of Evernote Japan KK; Akira Kitamura, Chairman of JapanVentureResearch; and Hiroshi Menjo, Managing Partner of NetServices Venture Group, to name just a few. See
<http://www.usjinnovate.org/innovation-advisory-council-membership-2012/>.
The selection process for 2012 is largely completed, with Award winners to be announced according to the following schedule:
Emerging Leaders: May 16, 2012
Intrapreneurs: May 23, 2012
World Changers: : May 30, 2012
The Innovation Awards program has received enthusiastic encouragement from Ambassador Roos. Last year’s Award winners included Tesla Motors and SanBio (Emerging Leaders), Mitsubishi Aircraft Corp. (Intrapreneurship), and DeNA and Twitter (World Changers).