Nordic Digital Transformation (DX) and the New Japan
JETRO x NIH-TYO presenting Nordic DX techs for new Japan
On November 26th, Nordic Innovation House Tokyo (NIH-TYO), in collaboration with JETRO, co hosted a virtual pitch event ”Nordic Digital Transformation (DX) and the New Japan”, showcasing seven DX startups from the Nordics. DX is one field that the Nordics have a step ahead, and for Japan it is a field which is showing a rapid growth of interest. Over 60 participants accessed the event to hear about the cutting edge technologies from the Nordics.
<Summary of the Event>
The event kicked off with brief opening greetings from Nordic Innovation House Tokyo and JETRO.
Niklas Karvonen, Community Director of NIH-TYO:
“NIH-TYO is a Pan Nordic project led by the 5 Nordic trade promoting organization in Tokyo. The first NIH started in Silicon Valley in 2014, from there it expanded to NY, HK, Singapore, and Tokyo is our newest started in May 2020. We are a platform for Nordic tech startups and scaleups looking into the Japanese market and works on a membership model. We collaborate with partners in Japan to provide necessary services to our members. Nordic companies have strength in areas Japan is looking for innovations and solutions, and DX is among one of them.”
Yoshihiko Ito, Director of JETRO London :
“JETRO is a Japanese governmental organization which promotes trade between Japan and other countries. One of our recent pillar activities is to facilitate innovation in Japan by collaborating with innovative overseas companies and support sustainable growth of Japan.The Nordic companies are one of the most innovative countries in the world so I look forward that this event will create new collaboration between Japan and the Nordics.”
After the greetings, the seven pitching Nordic companies came to the stage (5 minutes each with no Q&A session) in the following order:
1. Zoan Paul Yang, Japan President
“We are a 3D/AR/VR company based in Helsinki. Today I would discuss about 5 areas of our product/service: 1) VR concert (the pandemic accelerated the idea of using VR for concert, and one held in Helsinki this spring attracted 1.4 million people live), 2)Webinar frameworks (exhibition in VR city which can show various contents with a click), 3)Outdoor/Indoor entertainment (a big potential for municipal governments), 4)Lifestyle and design (collaboration with IKEA is an example in this field), 5) Real estate (solution for developers who wants to sell expensive real estate without the customer present at sight) . In Japan we are looking for customers, partners, new business ideas, and project investors. We are also engaged in fields such as education ,film making, corporate training, museums and automotive marketing.”
2. FLEXOUND, Mervi Heinaro CEO & Co-founder
“FLEXOUND’s audio deep technology enables you to simultaneously hear the sound and feel the vibration. We were founded in 2015 and have 13 granted international patents. Our hardware can be embedded into various soft products, such as automobile seats and seats for seated entertainment. Last week Hyundai announced that they are looking into FLEXOUND as future technology to be implemented to their vehicles. Also we have cinemas with our seats in South Korea and Malaysia, and are looking forward to expandin g to cinemas in Japan. Our home product HUMU augmented audio cushion is also available in Japan. Augmented audio has a market of 10 billion euros yearly. Our profit strategy is ingredient marketing, same as for example intel and gore-tex. ”
3. Logmore Erik Lehikoinen, Senior Vice president of Global Sales
“We are a combination of software and hardware, providing solutions for better safety and least waste in goods delivery. Our technology enables to securely collect data on temperature, humidity, shock, tilt and light from the goods, with high usability, using the QR code, which was developed by Denso Japan in 1994. Easy to use experience with the operational people. Within a year from launch we were able to serve more than 200 customers around the world. In Japan we have a couple of cases going on but would like to look into more.Forbes mentioned as the top 20 IoT companies to look after in 2020. Areas of application are medicine, food & beverage, machine manufacturing; one very important example will be the delivery of covid-19 vaccine.”
4. ContractBook Anders Christensen, Director of Business Management
“We are a Danish legal tech company founded in 2015. Last November majority of our stake was purchased by Google through their AI fund. We are now active in 92 countries, and clients vary from banks, law firms, to enterprise. We provide a questionnaire based document automation solution, which cuts time in preparing the draft, reduces human error, and cuts time for the document to be approved. We are looking for collaboration and partnership in Japan who we can learn from and expand with. We are also wishing for a search in the market We are a high growing company with 10–15% growth rate per month. ”
5. ScanReach Arild Sale Founder, Chief Commercial Officer
“Our service Connect POB(personnel on board) brings onboard wireless connectivity to the maritime industry. Founded in 2015 our wireless infrastructure which works in steel needs no expensive cables. It is a very easy plug and play installation, simple terms and low cost, long lifetime, and it is certified and approved by the industry. The only components you will need is a digital interface, wireless nodes, and warble device. The wireless nodes does the magic, making it the IoT operating on a vessel. We are also moving into the oil and gas market. We have a clear vision to reach 30 vessels this year, and to become the global leader by 2025. Business model is a yearly subscription based fee. Japan is a very interesting market, and we are looking for sales partners and other partners in the region”
6. Top Data Science Timo Heikkinen, CEO and Founder
“We are based in Finland but owned by a Japanese company, Morpho. We are not a single product company but a co-creation company in the field of AI and machine learning. Customer’s domain knowledge and our AI solution will bring winning solutions. Some of the example of our work is applying AI for quality measurement in internal processes, and computer vision as part of a technology product (deep learning based instant segmentation of rocks/mines). ”
7. 2N Health Hanna Ekman, CEO and Kristina Aastsinki, Head of Customer Success
“ We step into the Japanese market to improve the healthcare environment the country is facing with an aging population, shrinking labor population, and world’s 3rd largest expenditure in the health sector. We already have a Japanese entity and some partners. We have international experience in 11 different countries since 2013, and have been receiving positive feedback. Our service provides remote monitoring, diagnostics, and rehabilitation. It is not restricted to any device, and not only it collects data but prioritizes and connects using AI, which allows the medical professionals to concentrate on patients who need special attention while automated tele health service takes care of other patients. Our technical solution is a certified medical device.”
<Closing Remarks>
The event was wrapped up with information about steps to take for further discussions with the pitching companies. Thank you for your participation, and hope to see you again at our future events.
To learn more, please watch the recording of the event.
本イベントの日本語レポートはこちらから(JETROページ)。
Nordic Innovation House Tokyo is a community platform accelerating high-quality Nordic startups, scale-ups, and growth companies to Japan. Via our strong community and network, we connect Nordic companies to the right ecosystem stakeholders 🗼
ノルディックイノベーションハウス東京は、北欧５カ国のスタートアップ及び成長企業の日本進出を支援する、コミュニティプラットフォームです。強力なコミュニティとネットワークを生かして、北欧企業と日本のステークホルダーを繋いでいきます。
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