Since 2016, Leave a Nest Co, Ltd., in collaboration with Ota City, has been welcoming overseas deeptech startups to accelerate their business development by supporting their prototyping process. The hallmark of this initiative became a big success last year. We supported three startups from Malaysia, Thailand, and Singapore by about 50K USD grant for each team’s prototyping and hands-on acceleration program with small to medium sized highly skilled manufacturing factories (a.k.a. Super Factories) in Ota City, Tokyo. Now, 4 startups as Year 2019 Batch were selected, and the kickoff showcase event for this collaboration will be held in Tokyo on the 8th of September.  

【Selected startups in 2019】

PT. Teknologi Kanggo Nusantara Bagja (Tech Prom Lab) (Indonesia) using blocks from industrial waste, this startup develops well-drained paving blocks for road construction.

ReadRing Co., Ltd. (Thailand) develops an affordable wearable braille smart device using computer/smartphone screen text via USB/bluetooth

Singapore Heavy Engineering Pte. Ltd. (Singapore) develops an air purification system that can clean the air on an urban scale

OUTSENSE Co., Ltd. (Japan) develops origami technology for easy construction of 3D structures

The above selected startups will be invited to the September 8th kickoff event (schedule overview listed below). The kick-off event will be held with the cooperation of Ebara Manufacturing Co., Ltd., one of the major enterprises in Ota City that provides water management technology (such as, pump, precision machinery), compressors and turbines business, and environmental solutions. After this event, each startup will be paired up with respective Super Factory to work on prototyping and business development for 6 months. The final showcase event will be held in Hyper Interdisciplinary Conference (HIC) in March 2020 (organized by Leave a Nest, supported by Ota City).  

Media interested in covering this kickoff event and the final showcase at HIC should contact Tajima Wakako at gpd@lnest.jp or +81-3-5227-4198.

About Kick-Off Event

Kick off event (English translation available):

Date: 8th September 2019 (Sunday)  

Time: 1pm-4pm

Venue: EBARA CORPORATION Tokyo Head Office

Address: 11-1, Haneda Asahi-cho, Ota-ku, Tokyo 144-8510, Japan

【Selected startups in 2018】

iVET Co., Ltd. (Thailand) Running an animal hospital and developing technologies for pets (mainly cats and dogs) that will be used by veterinarians when advising treatment. They worked with an expert of metal process called SANRIKI CORPORATION to create a sustainable and lightweight wheelchair prototype.

ACeT Innovates Sdn. Bhd. (Malaysia) Aimed to be the pioneer in production and manufacturing of enzyme for the Kenaf industry. They worked with a total engineering super factory called I・OTA LLC to create an automated device to produce eco-enzyme from locally isolated fungus that will help the retting process of Kenaf to obtain fibre.

Red Dot Drone Pte. Ltd. (Singapore) This drone startup is focussing on automatic aerial filming technology for sports events. They worked with a super factory called Kowa Techno LLC to create a physical GPS device for Drone for sports entertainment.

About Ota City:

The heart manufacturing spot located in Tokyo, Japan. With its close proximity to Haneda Airport, it makes an excellent gateway for startups seeking reputable manufacturing partners for their prototyping needs. The local government of Ota City adopted the “nakama-mawashi” principle in the development of its manufacturing hub - different expertise takes each part of a prototyping needs to create a one-stop manufacturing process. Through this method, they are able to meet most manufacturing needs.

About Leave a Nest:

Leave a Nest, with 80 staff in Japan, over 15 staff overseas with deep academic research experience, is establishing the Knowledge-based Platform in Japan by connecting knowledge from researchers interdisciplinary manner for Advancing Science and Technology for Global Happiness. It is also the organiser of the largest Real-Tech Seed Acceleration Program called TECH PLANTER actively held in Japan and ASEAN regions.