What is TECH PLANTER | TECH PLANTER by Riverness

Exploring Deep Tech & Solving Deep Issues

Deep Tech Ecosystems Created by "Heat

Tech Planter is Asia's largest deep tech venture ecosystem, solving unsolved "deep issues" with "deep tech", a collection of science and technology.
It is an ecosystem of "passionate" participation that transcends national boundaries by all players in solving social issues through deep tech, including venture companies and researchers aspiring to start their own businesses, major corporations, local factories, medium-sized companies, small and medium-sized companies, professionals such as venture capitalists, lawyers, patent attorneys, and accountants, research support organizations, and local government bodies. It is a deep-tech ecosystem in which all players, regardless of national boundaries, participate with "passion" in order to solve social issues through deep-tech.

Ecosystems across 7 regions, 12 territories, and 6 countries

The Tech Planter consists of three elements: a domain-specific Tech Planter that sets deep issues in seven fields and aims to solve problems in each area, a regional Tech Planter that will be held in 12 regions to create a foundation for new industries in the region, and a country-specific Tech Planter that will be held in six Southeast Asian countries outside of Japan. The Tech Planters will be held in six countries in Southeast Asia outside of Japan. The players participating in each Tech Planter are stored in an integrated database, and we use these to advance solutions to various issues as a collective body of science and technology across regions and countries.

Deep Tech needed a new ecosystem.

What happened to Japanese ventures in the 2000s.

In 2001, Japan's Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry (METI) launched the "1000 University Ventures Plan.^{note 1}The company has announced a new project. The program aims to strengthen Japan's industrial competitiveness by actively promoting the commercialization of research results, with the goal of creating 1,000 venture companies in three years. As a result, the number of university-launched ventures reached 1207 at the end of fiscal 2004. Numerically, the program has achieved a certain level of success.

To further encourage this trend, the revised Companies Act was enacted in 2006, greatly lowering the hurdles to incorporation. The venture era had finally arrived in Japan. Everyone expected so. In reality, however, the pace of increase in the number of university-launched ventures over the next decade was sluggish. Why was this? The reason is now clear.

Ventures exist, but there is no system capable of fostering ventures. Key words such as "hands-on" and "industry-academia collaboration" exist, but they are not accompanied by the know-how. There may be one-off success stories, but there is no movement to connect the dots into a line. Therefore, reproducibility does not emerge, and university-launched ventures do not reach the point where they form a major trend. This was Japan in the 2000s.

Why Silicon Valley Incubation Succeeded

On the other hand, at the same time, a major breakthrough in venture business took place in the United States. Centered in Silicon Valley on the West Coast, successful IT venture capitalists invest their own personal assets in "fostering the next generation" and create a seed accelerator model to grow them in a short period of time^*2The following is a list of the most common problems with the

In the incubation space that serves as the base, not only young venture businesses, but also incubators from venture businesses, large corporations, financial institutions, local government agencies, and other diverse human resources mingle, and new stars are produced one after another. This was truly an ecosystem for venture development.

The same system must be established in Japan. Moreover, we must create an ecosystem for venture development in the area of deep-tech ventures, where Japan's strengths lie, rather than in IT ventures, where the trend has already been established. Otherwise, there is no future for Japan. This sense of crisis was the beginning of Tech Planter.^*3The following is a list of the most common problems with the

The Real Reason Why Large Companies' Participation is Essential to the Ecosystem in the Deep Tech Space

Every large company is an "ex-venture".

The explanation for large companies' participation in accelerator programs is generally centered on "business synergies. Large companies support ventures in the hope of generating business synergies in their own related areas. The venture grows through the support, including financial support. However, TECH PLANTER does not adopt this concept.

What TECH PLANTER expects most from large companies is their knowledge as "former ventures. All large companies did not start out as large companies. Large companies that have grown by creating businesses that do not yet exist in the world with a noble founding spirit must have internalized the secrets of venture development through their own experience. We would like them to use this knowledge to nurture the next generation and solve social issues. This is the greatest element that TECH PLANTER expects from the participation of large companies.

Ecosystem where large companies participate as human beings and grow as human beings

The process of large companies reflecting on their own origins and sharing their knowledge with young ventures should provide new opportunities for growth for the large companies themselves. By combining the venture company's perspective on the future with reflection on its own origins, a new business creation opportunity can be created for large companies as well. We hope to establish such a place.

In this sense, the reason for large companies to participate in TECH PLANTER can be expressed as "human resources. The knowledge of large companies as "human resources" is shared with young venture companies, and through this process, the large companies themselves grow as "human resources" in a new way. In other words, this is why TECH PLANTER is an ecosystem.

Research alone is not enough to create "products. However, there are factories in Japan.

For social implementation of knowledge, manufacturing without drawings is essential.

Universities have knowledge. However, there is a big gap between that knowledge and society, and the two are not connected. This awareness of the issue is the reason why LIVERNESS was established, and TECH PLANTER can be positioned as an extension of it. So, what is needed to connect knowledge to society, in other words, to implement knowledge in society? That is "manufacturing.

Deep Tech ventures have cutting-edge technologies and ideas. However, if they cannot actually give shape to these ideas, they cannot be useful to society. This is not the kind of manufacturing that major Japanese companies do, which is based on precise drawings and production plans under defined specifications, but rather manufacturing that cannot even be drawn up yet. And conventionally, there was no counterpart with whom ventures could consult for such manufacturing.

The Spirit of the Machi-Factories That Brought Japanese Manufacturing to the World

Here, a town factory in Sumida-ku, Tokyo, came forward.Hamano Manufacturing Co.It is. The company is now making great strides by practicing "understanding the venture's vision and proposing concrete manufacturing solutions."Oly Instituteand WHILL prototyping. Just as the town factories of the Showa period propelled Japan's manufacturing industry to the world, the town factories of the future will support ventures with their manufacturing capabilities. At the root of Hamano Seisakusho was the spirit of a machi-factory.

Currently, this initiative is being carried out by six local factories in Tokyo, Osaka, and Tochigi.superfactory groupThe company has developed into a "POC" (Product Involvement Center), an environment that enables not only prototyping but also mass production in units of 100-1,000 units. Furthermore, as a base for PoCcenter of a garageis now up and running, and manufacturing and test marketing support is being enhanced with the participation of top niche manufacturers and large companies. With these strong partners, TechPlanter has gained the ability to support venture manufacturing and push it to the next stage!^*4The following is a list of the most common problems with the

Why does TECH PLANTER implement small investments?

Provide funding for social implementation to researchers with heat and technology across national and regional boundaries

Between the time of Techplanter's launch and the present, the funding environment for deep tech ventures has changed dramatically. When Techplanter was launched in 2014, small investments in deep tech ventures were considered an unorthodox approach. However, since then, a number of university-launched VC firms have emerged under the leadership of the government, and the number of VC firms investing in the deep tech area has increased significantly, and the deep tech area is now recognized as a major investment area. However, most of the investment funds tend to go to national universities, mainly in Tokyo, where they acquire a large amount of research funds. On the other hand, there are not many VC firms that understand the passion and technology of researchers in the start-up phase and are willing to invest in researchers who are trying to implement unique technologies developed at local universities and their own efforts in society. This situation is similar in Southeast Asian countries.

A priming of 5 million yen leads to the procurement of more than 10 billion yen per year.

In the TECH PLANTER ecosystem, the role of small investments that VCs cannot invest inLiberace Capitaland ... andGlocalinkThe subsequent seed stage is carried by theReal Tech Fund (now Antrod)and other VC/CVCs are responsible for this seamless system.

The company has the social issues it wants to solve and the core technology to solve them, but is at the idea stage as a venture, and has no financial statements or business plan. By making small initial investments of around 5 million yen in such ventures, we support the growth of deep tech ventures at the timing of their launch and serve as a catalyst for subsequent fundraising. This investment strategy has been successful, and as of 2024, ventures from Tech Planter have raised a total of over 10 billion yen in the most recent year!^*5The following is a list of the most common problems with the

Explore deep tech and solve deep issues

Deep Issues" unearthed through researcher-like thinking

The ventures that gather at TECH PLANTER have one characteristic in common: they are people who are engaged in technology and business development to solve the problems and questions they set for themselves. That is, they are people who are engaged in technology and business development to solve the problems and questions they have set for themselves, in other words, to solve the problems themselves as their business.

The raison d'etre of every researcher is to always work on "world firsts". And that motivation always originates from a personal Question. A simple "Why?" eventually sublimates into a way of life that pursues in depth the issues at hand, which in turn leads to world-class discoveries.

RIVERNESS defines "deep issues" as issues that can only be uncovered through such researcher-like thinking. In other words, TECH PLANTER is a group of people with deep issues!^*6The following is a list of the most common problems with the

Knowledge Manufacturing and Deep Tech. And to the Future of the World

Today, the world is full of challenges that need to be solved. The future of humankind is no longer possible with the way we have always done things. Such a sense of crisis is becoming a reality. There is probably no magic that can instantly reverse this situation. However, if we can solve one deep issue, we can create a future in which one deep issue is solved. We hope to create a new future in this way.^*6

So what provides the solution to deep issues? That is technology.^*7It does not have to be a single technology. It does not have to be a single technology. Multiple players bring their own passions and technologies to the table, and by combining them in layers of "knowledge manufacturing," they can move forward to solve problems. RIVERNESS defines such an aggregation of technologies as "deep tech.

As of 2024, TECH PLANTER has established 7 deep issue fields and its activities are spreading not only in Japan but also in 6 Southeast Asian countries and around the world. Exploring Deep Tech & Solving Deep Issue. TECH PLANTER is an ecosystem for this purpose.

Past Activities and Major Media Coverage

Activities as of September 1, 2024

TECH PLANTER Total number of entries (Japan): 4,302 teams (total of areas and regions)
TECH PLANTER Total number of entries (overseas): 1,936 teams
Regional TP Total number of regions and entries: 17 regions, 1,774 teams (through FY2023)
Estimated amount of funds raised by TECH PLANTER ventures: over 75 billion yen

Major Media Coverage

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What is TECH PLANTER?