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About us
Innovation Dojo Japan is where ordinary people make extraordinary impacts. Founded in 2016, we have developed experience and know-how across three key areas: entrepreneurial talent development, startup incubation and services supporting innovation-related business development and capital raising. Our team maintains an effective mix of business development experience and seasoned leadership.
Meet our team
Joshua Flannery
Joshua is a recognised innovation ecosystem leader in both Japan and Australia, as the co-founder and CEO of Innovation Dojo group, including operations in both countries. His experience includes leading the Japan expansion efforts for both European open innovation firm Rainmaking (later acquired by Bain & Company), and Australian SaaS company StudyLink (later acquired by Flywire). As an employee of the New South Wales government, Joshua has held the Lead director position for the largest startup hub in the Southern Hemisphere, Sydney Startup Hub, and was the first hire and penned the initial plans for the University of New South Wales startup programs, which grew to become the leading university for entrepreneurs in APAC.
Aside from managing Innovation Dojo, Joshua personally mentors science-based ventures at Osaka University, consults large Japanese corporations on startup engagement strategy participating in the J-Bridge program, and holds an Adjunct Professor role in Entrepreneurship at the Kansai University of International Studies. Joshua is recognized by METI Kinki as an Official Startup Recommender under the J-Startup Kansai initiative, is a Board Director for the Australia Japan Business Council of Victoria, and sits on the Innovation, Technology & Startups (ITS) Sub-Committee for the Australia Japan Business Cooperation Committee.
＜主な実績＞
- 神戸市を拠点とする弊社チームを率い、GMPおよびKSH事業を通じて、200社を超える国内外のスタートアップの支援を成功に導く。
- オーストラリア・ニューサウスウェールズ州政府のベンチャー市場参入プログラム「Cybersecurity to Japan」では、2021年度に成熟ステージにあるサイバーセキュリティ領域のスタートアップ6社の日本市場参入活動を支援。
- Rainmaking Innovation JapanとStartupbootcamp Scale Osakaの取り組みでは、2019年と2020年に関西でビジネス展開を目指して、世界のスタートアップから1,000件以上の応募を獲得。70名を超えるメンターのネットワークが集まり、阪急阪神ホールディングス、JR西日本、読売新聞など、関西に拠点を置く企業と連携しながら、海外・国内のスタートアップを支援した。その結果、香港のMapxus社が兵庫県淡路市に会社を設立するなど、参加企業のうち数社が日本での子会社設立に至っている。
- 弊社のオーストラリア本社は、東京工業大学や九州大学などの一流大学の学生や研究者など、日本の若い才能を結集し、初めての起業に挑む国内外の起業家を対象に、新しいスタートアップの創出に焦点を当てたコミュニティを形成してきた。同社は、JETROのオーストラリアにおけるグローバル・アクセラレーション・ハブ事業の公式パートナーに選定されている。また、日立とのプログラムをはじめ、異なる国籍の学生を集め、大企業と連携したイノベーションプロジェクトを立ち上げた経験も有する。
- ニューサウスウェールズ大学の「ファウンダーズ・プログラム」は、国内最大の大学によるスタートアップ・起業家支援プログラムとして、2012年から毎年100社以上のスタートアップと数千人の学生を支援してきた。ジョシュアは、2012年にこの取り組みの最初のスタッフとなり、10種類のプログラムが同時に進行するまでに成長させ、在職中に少なくとも700社のスタートアップの創出または支援に貢献。この経験から、起業を志すか検討中の起業家予備軍から、すでに複数の会社を立ち上げている起業家まで、幅広く支援する独自の能力を備えている。
ジョシュアは、関西のエコシステムにおいて重要な役割を担っており、ゲストスピーカーやパネルディスカッションの登壇者として、以下のようなイベントに参加している。
- ひょうご・神戸投資サポートセンター、兵庫県ワシントン州事務所、神戸シアトルビジネスオフィス主催の「Prime Locations for Business Success in Japan」イベント
- 日欧フォーラム EU-Japan Forum
- Hack Osaka（2021年）
- カナダ最大のスタートアップイベント「Collision Conference」（2021年）
Ayumi Mizoshiri
Ayumi is the founder of Innovation Dojo, and also a founder of Sazae. In 2015, he saw an opportunity in the IT market for an agency that specialises in serving Japanese businesses based in Australia. His background is in Web/Mobile Apps development and has accumulated a wealth of consultation experiences through corporates and other innovative projects across Japan and Australia.
An entrepreneur at heart, he is passionate about evaluating different business models, understanding the company’s IT infrastructure and designing the best technology solution to help them reach their business goals. He founded JAIT (now in Sydney, Melbourne, Adelaide and Tokyo) a networking event for Japanese & Australian professionals to exchange ideas and learn from each other’s cultures. Under Ayumi’s leadership, the community had grown to over 800 members since its humble beginning in 2009.
Naoya yoshizumi
Naoya is focused on developing new business initiatives with corporate, government, and university partners in the areas on global innovation and entrepreneurship. With a strong background working within local Japanese governments, he has a deep understanding of both the public and private sectors, and most recently was employed in a tech startup focused on operations at management level.
Naoya spent over 3 years working for JETRO (Japan's External Trade Organisation) with a particular focus on global startups and innovation, which gives him top-class Japan market entry and regulatory know-how and networks.
He spent these three years working with top UK and Nordic startup accelerators and incubators, supporting startups and promoting open innovation on behalf of Japanese corporations from both the Tokyo HQ and London office.
Before joining Innovation Dojo Japan, Naoya also worked as a manager for a Japan-based AI-based tech startup in the travel industry.
Moe Gotoda
Moe is a talented Kobe native, bilingual having grown up in the US and has a strong background as an office and community manager.She spent several years with a major Japanese airline learning Japanese service level expectations and management best-practices and also has experience as a teacher and mentor for foreigners learning Japanese language.
Moe has been working full-time with Innovation Dojo Japan as the Startup Coordinator since August 2021, helping over 200 startups from Kobe, Japan and around the world connect with mentors, programs, events and organisations with a focus on growing and visualizing the startup ecosystem powered by Kobe City.
kanako murase
Kana started her career working in overseas sales and marketing for a major electronics manufacturer in Japan. Following that, Kana worked for one of the four largest global consulting firms, and then joined the Ministry of Foreign Affairs on a posting to Melbourne, Australia, where she was tasked with supporting Japanese companies' overseas expansion and business matching. After that, Kana joined the global engagement team at a prestigious Australian university, working on R&D collaboration and startup support between universities and overseas companies, and gained valuable experience in closing numerous research collaborations and licensing contracts.
Passionate about developing Japan-Australia relations, Kana was also selected as a 2019 Japan-Australia Youth Dialogue (AJYD) delegate and continues to serve on the AJYD committee.
junik bae
Junik is fluent in Japanese, Korean, and English and has experience doing business on a global scale. He worked for a major Japanese human resources company for a little less than 10 years, and then worked for a global venture capital accelerator, where he was in charge of corporate partnerships. In this program, he will provide support in connecting domestic companies with overseas startups.
He graduated from APU Ritsumeikan University with a degree in International Business.