A view from overseas on the strengths, weaknesses and opportunities for the Osaka and Kansai ecosystems in Japan. This was presented at the 58th Economics and Management Summit in Kyoto, Japan. Acknowledgements: The GEDI Rankings www.thegedi.org Startup Genome Survey https://startupgenome.com/reports

1. The View from Overseas
Creating Venture Ecosystems by Utilizing Kansai’s Strengths
Joshua Flannery
CEO, Rainmaking Innovation Japan LLC (RMIJ)

2. What defines A
Successful
Innovation
Ecosystem?

3. The Global Entrepreneurship Development Institute (GEDI) rankings represent
the relative health of national entrepreneurial ecosystems around the world,
based on the methodology covering 14 key pillars of entrepreneurship.
(www.thegedi.org)
Global
Rank
1
Global
Rank
19
Global
Rank
57
Global
Rank
10
Global
Rank
16
Global
Rank
28
Global
Rank
5
United States
Chile
South Africa
France
Israel
Japan
Australia
Japan – rank #28
GDP per capita $35,653
Individual variables 53.1%
Institutional variables 89.4%
GEI 51.5%
The GEDI Rankings

4. The Success Factors of an Ecosystem
Resources
Team Local Ecosystem
Networks
(Knowledge flow)
Performance
Resource Attraction
Startup Experience
Talent Funding
Founder Organizations
Global
Connectedness
Local
Connectedness
Ecosystem
Value
Global Market
Reach
Startup
Output
Local
Context
EconomicImpact
Resource Recycling Exits
Startup Genome survey

5. What do global tech startups think about
doing business in Osaka and Kansai?

6. What do global tech startups in Osaka think
about Japan in 2019?
Weakness Strength
General English
ability level
hinders
communication /
language barriers
Sales Cycle is
definitely long
Quality, Trust and
firm legal system
Low software
innovation
(also opportunity)
Desire to import / work
with foreign tech
Need for product
localization
Complexity of
business culture Willingness on an individual
level to try things
Market access
difficult
Trend setter for Asia (success in
Japan = success in Asia)
Cash rich market
Market size
Nobody seems to know who the
decision maker(s) is
Customer loyalty
(hard to break in)
Favours “image of success”
more than “impact of success”

7. Leverage
Kansai
Strengths for
Opportunities
Opportunities
Building Collaboration
Using the learnings for recent
collaboration projects between Kansai
corporations and foreign startups, enable
a larger number of corporates across
Kansai to become partners and
customers of local and foreign startups.
Strengths
Market size
Large concentration of SME’s and
corporates for potential B2B sales and
partnerships. Recent corporate
collaboration with startups.
Weakness
Enterprise Culture
Enterprise culture (Japan wide) is more
risk adverse than nearby countries.
Not much experience or know-how
within corporates regarding working with
(foreign) startups.
Train Innovation Skills
Consolidate Kansai university network via
new platforms, programs and
partnerships that bring together students
across Kansai and train them on
“innovation skills”.
CVCs
Growing amount of Corporate Venture
Capital in Kansai.
Fragmented
Most universities have mini-ecosystems
built around them which a strong alone
but do not naturally connect with other
university ecosystems across Kansai.
High competition over skills (especially
bilingual talent).
Bring together talent
Utilise programs that bring in foreign
startups to attract more serial
entrepreneurs from abroad as mentors
and creating more potential deal flow to
attract early stage investors to Kansai.
Academic
Large number of very high quality
universities and educational institutions.
Lack of Mentoring
Lack of serial entrepreneurs and Angel
investors for mentoring and seed funding
in Kansai based startups.
Increase Activities
Conduct more activity across programs,
platforms and partnerships that join
Kansai together as “one ecosystem”
Strong Growth
Growing capability and resources across
ecosystem
Disconnected Cities
Difficult to cut-through noise from other
cities (Tokyo, Fukuoka) and perceived
disconnect between Osaka, Kyoto and
Kobe.

8. Human Resources Case Study: the State
of New South Wales, Australia

9. Case Study
Consolidating University
Networks
The State government of NSW has established both a
consolidated organization for all universities and state
colleges to gather students interested in entrepreneurship in
the Sydney School of Entrepreneurship. They have also
gathered major startup supporters including co-working
spaces, incubators, accelerators and corporations in the
Sydney Startup Hub.

10. Virtual Internship Program
1,259 students trained in innovation Internship
program Within 3 months.
Sydney School of Entrepreneurship Sydney Startup Hub
11 universities and colleges
Thousands of students
4 co-working spaces, many accelerators
480+ startups

11. Becoming a customer of global startups
Case Study: Startupbootcamp Scale Osaka

12. Startupbootcamp
Scale Osaka
CASE STUDY
Scouting Themes Partners In Japan
• Wellness & Healthtech
• Sportstech
• Foodtech
• Mobility
• Smart Living
• Lifestyle & Tourism
• Smart Cities
• Adtech & Mediatech
Scouting 3,000+ startups
Travelled 14 cities
455 applications
13 PoC candidates Mentors in Japan

13. Ripple on effects of SBC in
Osaka & Kansai

14. University talent development and pipeline building: example
is graduate internship opportunities with foreign startups for
Doshisha Business School MBA program students.
PR and marketing impact attracting more visitors to Kansai:
example is articles in The Yomiuri Shimbun, Nikkan Kogyo
Shimbun and various foreign media that have picked up the
story above this impactful program
Corporate staff learning new innovation skills: example is
work experience in English with innovation team of SBC for
Japanese partner staff
Higher rates of innovation (direct and indirect): all seven
Japanese companies able to introduce new technologies to
Japan via the program
Utilization and optimization of existing assets: example is one
Japanese partner is using existing assets introduce new
technology to its customers
New corporate to corporate collaborations: some Japanese
companies (partners) are collaborating on the same projects
Economic benefit (local and national economies): example is
Some startup and corporate collaboration already positioned
to generate new revenue