Bridging Borders Open Innovation for Japanese corporations

On Friday April 4th, we held a fantastic session focusing on corporate–startup engagement and open innovation strategies for Japanese corporations at Ritsumeikan University.

Here is the insights from three amazing panelists:

1. Eitan Bienstock, formerly of Intel Corporation in the US, and now leading the Future Leaders Lab at UNSW in Sydney, shared critical ingredients for successful CVC operations:

Each investment decision should strongly align with the corporate’s core business for sustained effectiveness. Internally, strong collaboration is key—CVC, innovation teams, and relevant business units must operate as one to optimize the startup’s success and, consequently, the ROI of investments.

2. Itaru Ueda, CEO of Japan Tech and partner in Black Belt™ (Corporate Innovation Consulting & Fund) emphasized empathy as the foundation of cross-border collaboration:

Overseas startups need to understand how Japanese corporations operate, but equally, corporations must recognize the startups’ limited resources and unique business logic. Each startup and founder team is distinct, requiring time and deep understanding to maximize success.

3. Marisa Watanabe, Japan Business Development Manager for UNSW, highlighted a perception gap in the market:

While significant capital may be available for technology investments in Japan, the individual check sizes offered can sometimes be uncompetitive compared to global standards—especially at various stages of the startup investment cycle. So the value adds and commercial opportunities a corporate can offer a startup outside of the CVC investments become even more crucial

It was also great to see active participation from a wide range of corporate attendees—Toyobo, CMIC Group, and Nitto Denko Corporation were among those asking thoughtful questions and sharing perspectives.

A big highlight of the evening was seeing a graduate from Innovation Dojo Japan’s past talent development program. He thanked us for the profound impact the program had on his career trajectory—he’s now working for a global startup based in Kansai!

We also received great feedback from participants, reaffirming the need for programs like our Corporate Mentorship Program under the Black Belt™ (Corporate Innovation Consulting & Fund) initiative. Having Itaru and me (both involved in Black Belt) present on stage felt very fitting.

For any Japanese corporations interested in our programs or exploring related opportunities, we’d love to hear from you. Let’s keep the momentum going to drive more robust and empathetic corporate–startup engagement in Japan and beyond!

A huge thank you to our partners Venture Café Tokyo and the host Ritsumeikan University for enabling this session to happen!