Speakers
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Michael Sagara
BAOBAB Inc.
Michael Sagara
BAOBAB Inc. President & CEO
Since its founding in 2010, Baobab has provided AI training data construction services to corporate and research institutions in Japan and abroad, including Carnegie Mellon University, NTT, and Google.2022: Co-authored a paper titled “Social Value of Inclusive Employment Environments” published in Stanford Social Innovation Review Japan Edition 03: Science, Technology, and Inclusion.2024: Awarded by Forbes JAPAN as one of the '30 Women Changing the World in Technology.
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Michael Silvers
the Los Angeles Tribune
Michael Silvers
Vice President, Los Angeles Tribune
Michael Silvers, Vice President of The Los Angeles Tribune, is a prominent leader in technology, AI, and media. Renowned as a speaker and panel moderator, he has shared stages with figures like Tony Robbins and President George Bush. At the Tribune, Michael has led major tech-driven events, including LA Tech Week 2024 and the AI Symposium, reaching nearly 2 million viewers. He also founded The Podcast Network, fostering a collaborative community for podcasters. Known for his dedication to service, Michael empowers individuals and teams to harness technology for personal and professional growth, guided by his values of loyalty, integrity, and teamwork.
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Michiko Kato
Woven Capital
Michiko Kato
Woven Capital Partner
Michiko Kato is a partner at Woven Capital, the growth stage fund of Toyota, where she led Woven Capital’s investments globally in Nuro, Ridecell, WHILL, Enecoat Technologies. She also serves as an independent director at HENNGE and Excite Holdings.Prior to joining Woven Capital, Michiko was CFO at ABEJA. She also worked on various investment and financing deals at leading investment firms such as Unison Capital, International Finance Corporation and Morgan Stanley.
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Miho Muramatsu
EdGift Inc.
Miho Muramatsu
EdGift Inc. CEO
Born in Nagoya City, Japan. She holds a master's degree from the Graduate School of Engineering at Nagoya University. While still in graduate school, She founded EdGift Inc., driven by the mission to "Unleashing the gift in every child." She developed and marketed the educational toy "TEGUMII" and organized events at commercial facilities like AEON Mall. In 2024, EdGift joined forces with Kouyu Co., Ltd., which operates over 300 "Hanamaru Learning Centers," early childhood education schools nationwide.
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Miki Oikawa
Dialogue Japan Society
Miki Oikawa
Dialogue Japan Society director
Born in Ishinomaki City, Miyagi Prefecture. Graduated fromTokyo Woman's Christian University, Faculty of Letters, Arts and Sciences, Department of English and American Literature.In 1991, she joined POLA Cosmetics Honpo Co.While raising her children, she became Area Manager in Saitama in her 30s. 2009: General Manager of Product Planning Department. 2012: Executive Officer, 2014: Director. Experienced the value chain, including product planning, marketing, and sales, and served as the company's president and representative director from 2020 to 2024. She had been leading Purpose Management and Diversity Management with the mission of realizing rebranding and creating a society where everyone can open up their own potential.She has been a member of the board of directors of Dialogue Japan Society since 2021. She supports the management of the Dialogue Forest Museum, which operates Dialogue in the Dark and other programs.
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NIKO WOISCHNIK
Tech Open Air
NIKO WOISCHNIK
Tech Open Air CEO
Dedicated to developing Berlin's technology and startup ecosystem and connecting it with the world. Niko founded TechBerlin, the city's first English-language blog on technology and startups, as a side project while working in venture capital, sparking his interest in serving the tech ecosystem and enhancing entrepreneurship. He later founded Ahoy! Berlin, which was recently acquired by Knotel. Additionally, he founded Tech Open Air (TOA), a technology festival, and Openers, a communications agency for technology companies.
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Peter Swain
FUTURIST
Peter Swain
FUTURIST
Peter is an international speaker, best selling author and advocate for AI enablement in all areas of business. Prior to his newfound career in helping people and companies decode AI, Peter was a digital marketeer with over 25 years at the forefront of technology disruption. With a tech career that started with developing yelp (before internet explorer was launched!) he has owned and managed agencies involved in over 1,400 projects with market leaders such as Jamie Oliver, Microsoft, Apple, Google and more. Peter's current focus is to use the knowledge and experience gained from being at the epicentre of 2 tech paradigm shifts to help individuals and institutions see what they have, what they need to succeed and how to bridge the two.On a personal front, Peter is a grateful husband and proud father of two children that continually remind him of the power of being present, 3 time business mastery winner and a terrible golfer that splits his time between Miami and the UK. Peter's driving force is the power of "why?", a word and thought process he believes is often skipped over in favor of words like "how", "who" and "what".
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Ruriko Tsushima
Medical Corporation Women's Wellness Life Clinic
Ruriko Tsushima
Medical Corporation Women's Wellness Life Clinic President
Obstetrician and Gynecologist, Doctor of Medicine. Chairperson of Women's Wellness Women's Life Clinic Ginza Shinjuku Medical Corporation. Graduated from Hirosaki University School of Medicine in 1984, and opened Women's Wellness Ginza Clinic (now Women's Life Clinic Ginza) in 2002. Provides comprehensive medical care for women. In 2003, established the NPO Women's Medical Network with a comprehensive view of women's minds, bodies, and society. Provides information on lifelong health support for women, conducts awareness-raising activities, and makes policy recommendations. Established the Japan Women's Foundation in 2020, a system in which supporters work together to help women who are in poverty and have nowhere to go.
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Ryusuke Komura
Venture Café Tokyo
Ryusuke Komura
Venture Café Tokyo / Executive Director
Experienced in IT and organizational development, with an MBA from Babson College. Led the launch of Venture Café Tokyo in 2018, fostering global innovation ecosystems. Currently serving in a leadership role since January 2024.
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Yukie Tamagawa
Proto-β LLC.
Yukie Tamagawa
President, Proto-β LLC.
Born in 1984 in Gifu Prefecture. A producer of tiles. The president of Proto-β LLC., providing tile brand “TILEmade”.She established a company to plan tiles, utilizing the technology from her family business “Tamagawa Glaze”, aiming at the promotion of the tiles from Gifu / Higashi-Mino and succession of the culture. Before the launch of her company, she worked for six years in Tokyo, as a secretary to members of the Minato City Council, a member of a startup company, and a project manager at an urban development company.In 2017, She returned to her hometown and work in the custom-made tile business and local communitydevelopment. In her private life, she loves traveling, climbing mountains, and picking up trash activity.
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Emori Seita
Institute for Future Initiatives, The University of Tokyo
Emori Seita
Professor, Institute for Future Initiatives, The University of Tokyo
Born in 1970 in Kanagawa Prefecture. After obtaining a Ph.D. in Interdisciplinary Cultural Studies from the Graduate School of Arts and Sciences at the University of Tokyo in 1997, he worked at the National Institute for Environmental Studies. He served as Head of the Climate Risk Assessment Research Section and Deputy Director of the Earth System Division before assuming his current position in 2022. He also supervises students at the Graduate School of Arts and Sciences, University of Tokyo. His expertise is in climate science. He was a lead author for both the Fifth and Sixth Assessment Reports of the IPCC (Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change). His publications include Extreme Weather and Human Choices and Is the Prediction of Global Warming 'Correct'?, co-authored works such as How 'Scary' is Global Warming?, and supervised works like Recently, It's Been Too Hot on Earth.
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Rina Sakai
FERMENSTATION Co., Ltd.
Rina Sakai
CEO, FERMENSTATION Co., Ltd.
After graduating from International Christian University (ICU), she worked at several financial institutions, including Fuji Bank and Deutsche Securities. She developed an interest in fermentation technology and enrolled in the Department of Brewing Science at Tokyo University of Agriculture's Faculty of Applied Biosciences, graduating in March 2009. In the same year, she founded Ferment Station Co., Ltd. and became its CEO, a position she holds to this day.
