Shigeharu Yoshii, CEO and President of IP Bridge, Inc. gave a presentation at “Global Innovation and Entrepreneurship Fair 2017” held in May 10, 2017 in Chengdu, China. The Mayer of Chengdu, China invited him to the Fair. R. Rader, a former Chief Judge of the United States Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit (CAFC) and M. Cohen, Sr. Consultant of United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO), were also invited to the Fair as speakers.

　At the Fair, Shigeharu Yoshii was a speaker in one of the panel sessions titled “Patent Fund Protecting SME Innovation, Encouraging Entrepreneurship“. He explained his IP fund business which supports SMEs and entrepreneurs by promoting open IP-based innovation.

 

【About IP Bridge】

　IP Bridge is a management company of Japan’s first and the largest IP dedicated fund with its focus on promoting technological innovation and cooperation within Japan and around the world. IP Bridge has worked with its investors, including Innovation Network Corporation of Japan – a unique partnership between 26 major corporations and the Japanese government – to establish the first fund in Japan aimed at global innovation and IP-related investments. Its mission is to activate and leverage high-quality, under-utilized intellectual property assets to the benefit of a variety of IP owners based in and outside of Japan. And our vision is that these activities will stimulate economic development and a healthy growth of industries worldwide.

　It has approximately US$300M fund focused on IP and innovation. IP Bridge owns large, high quality portfolio of 3,500 patents and growing. It is a largest licensor to MPEG-LA AVC/H.264 patent pool and is investing in long-term growth. In addition, IP Bridge is known for our solid reputation and strong networks throughout Japan, Asia, and the rest of the world.

　IP Bridge is led by an executive team skilled at IP and broad-based business matters, including entrepreneurship, finance, and legal. Its team is comprehensive in its approach, flexible and creative in its offerings, and always practical in its dealings.

For more information about IP Bridge, please visit : IP Bridge, Inc.

　IP Bridge’s innovation operations, in particular the IP-based business in ASEAN nations and its partnerships with universities in Japan, have been introduced at the website of Japan External Trade Organization (JETRO), which is a government-related organization that works to promote mutual trade and investment between Japan and the rest of the world.

 

【The website of Japan External Trade Organization (JETRO)】

English Version
Chinese Version
Korean Version

 

【About IP Bridge】

　IP Bridge is a management company of Japan’s first and the largest IP dedicated fund with its focus on promoting technological innovation and cooperation within Japan and around the world. IP Bridge has worked with its investors, including Innovation Network Corporation of Japan – a unique partnership between 26 major corporations and the Japanese government – to establish the first fund in Japan aimed at global innovation and IP-related investments. Its mission is to activate and leverage high-quality, under-utilized intellectual property assets to the benefit of a variety of IP owners based in and outside of Japan. And our vision is that these activities will stimulate economic development and a healthy growth of industries worldwide.

　We own more than 3000 patents in the world, acquired from large enterprises, SMEs and universities in Japan and US, and promote their commercialization by using a wide range of global network with operating companies, financial institutes/investors and universities, which we have established. While our patents are mostly relevant to the fields of wireless communications, semiconductors, video codecs, displays and electric motors applied to automobiles, robots, home appliances, electric devices, etc., we also promote to commercialize intellectual assets in the fields of healthcare, environment and energy, food products (functional foods, food processing, etc.) and medical engineering.

　We have built an excellent team of professionals from a variety of fields including not only IP division at Japanese major companies but also corporate management, an investment fund, a financial institute and a law firm thereby support our partners in a broad range of IP commercialization business.

 
For more information about IP Bridge, please visit : IP Bridge, Inc.

TOKYO & SINGAPORE–(BUSINESS WIRE)– IP Bridge, Inc (Headquarters: Chiyoda-ku, Tokyo, CEO: Shigeharu Yoshii) and JFDI Pte Ltd (Headquarters: Singapore) today announced their agreement to launch a new program for Japanese Small to Medium Sized Enterprises (SMEs). The ManGO Factory Go Global Program aims to help SMEs across all industry sectors that have “buried intellectual property (IP)” to exploit it internationally through joint ventures, partnerships, licensing or franchise.

The ManGO Factory Go Global Program will start in April 2017 with around ten SMEs receiving mentoring from IP Bridge and JFDI.Asia in Tokyo collaborating with Mitsui Fudosan’s co-working space, Clip Nihonbashi, to explore their potential to expand outside Japan. The program is motivated by Mitsui Fudosan’s ambition to co-create new ventures and industries with new partners and the mission of IP Bridge to help Japanese companies to create more wealth from IP that they are not currently exploiting globally.

Satoshi Kanno, Director of IP Bridge, said: “Among the patent applications filed in Japan by Japanese companies, the rate of filing in other countries is only about 15% in the case of SMEs and about 30% in the case of large companies, even though the technologies behind such applications have high potential for global use. This program intends to help such companies with excellent ‘buried IP’ to connect with partners internationally”.

The ManGO Factory Go Global Program will be based in two locations that both support strong entrepreneur communities. Japanese SMEs will prepare for their international expansion at “31 Ventures Clip Nihonbashi” in Chuo-ku, Tokyo, with mentoring from IP Bridge and JFDI.Asia. Then, when they are ready to “Go Global”, the SMEs will spend up to three months in Singapore co-located with JFDI.Asia.

Hugh Mason, CEO of JFDI.Asia, said: “This program will be a bridge to bring Japanese technologies to those who can create wealth from them outside Japan, benefiting not only Japan but also people of all nations. Once we have proved the pathway for SMEs to take “Buried IP” out of Japan we then want to explore how this new bridge can also support international businesses seeking access to the Japanese market to bring their know-how to entrepreneurs in Japan”.
 

SMEs interested to participate in ManGO Factory Go Global Program or the below seminar in April should contact：seminar@ipbridge.co.jp
 

Tentative Schedule for the ManGO Factory Go Global Program 2017

April 14th: Kickoff Seminar in Nihonbashi
Mid May: Selection of up to 10 candidates
Early June: Kick off gathering
June – August: SMEs prepare in Tokyo
September: SMEs make facilitated presentations to potential partners in Singapore
 

About IP Bridge

https://ipbridge.co.jp/
IP Bridge is the first and largest intellectual property fund management company in Japan. It was established in 2013 with a fund size of US $300 million provided by a major public-private fund Innovation Network Corporation of Japan and other investors. IP Bridge’s mission is to promote open innovation through the use of intellectual property. IP Bridge creates community and connections to encourage the sound development of industry. In addition to licensing its own patents, IP Bridge’s business includes creating and supporting new businesses with partner companies in Japan and overseas based on intellectual properties, and finding financial solutions based on intellectual properties.

IP Bridge currently holds more than 3000 Japan and foreign patents acquired from major companies in Japan and the United States, small and medium enterprises, universities, etc. Through a wide network of companies, financial institutions and universities IP Bridge promotes the utilization of its patents. The technical domains of the patents relate mainly to mobile communications, semiconductors, image codecs, displays and motors (automobiles, robots, consumer electronics, electronics), etc., but not limited to the ICT area, healthcare, environment. IP Bridge is promoting the use of intellectual property in a wide range of fields including energy, food related (functional foods, food processing), medical engineering collaboration.

IP Bridge staff includes both intellectual property experts who have been active in the intellectual property department of major Japanese companies for many years, as well as a team of experts from various fields such as corporate management, investment companies, financial institutions and law firms. This has allowed IP Bridge to establish a system that can respond to a wide range of intellectual property utilization models.

 

About JFDI.Asia

http://jfdi.asia
JFDI’s experience, processes and international community of entrepreneurs, investors and mentors were formed through the experience of accelerating and investing $3m into 70+ startups. The team began taking shape in 2009 when founders Hugh Mason and Meng Wong led the co-founders of Hackerspace.sg, Singapore’s first co-working space. It was pivotal in bringing together a community of innovators and gave them confidence to launch JFDI.Asia a year later as Southeast Asia’s first accelerator program for tech startups. More than 50% of the startups that JFDI nurtured went on to secure seed funding, creating a portfolio now valued at $60m+. More recently JFDI has hosted approximately 50 startups from countries as diverse as Norway, Kazakhstan, Korea and Russia that are seeking to ‘Go Global’. Several have raised substantial funding, set up partnerships, joint ventures and have acquired other businesses as a direct result of this work.

 

About 31 VENTURES Clip Nihonbashi
http://www.31ventures.jp/en/ventureoffice/clip-nihonabashi/

　Shigeharu Yoshii, CEO and president of IP Bridge spoke its innovation business strategies in Southeast Asian nations in an interview with IAM*. The full interview report can be checked at IAM’s Blog on January 31, 2017.

　Director responsible for Innovation Division at IP Bridge, Satoshi Konno presented as a moderator at one of the panel sessions where he and other speakers from Singapore, Malaysia and Thai shared their views of the current status and strategies for open innovation in these countries together with their case studies.

*IAM’s Website : http://www.iam-media.com/

 

【About IP Bridge】

　IP Bridge is a management company of Japan’s first and the largest IP dedicated fund with its focus on promoting technological innovation and cooperation within Japan and around the world. IP Bridge has worked with its investors, including Innovation Network Corporation of Japan – a unique partnership between 26 major corporations and the Japanese government – to establish the first fund in Japan aimed at global innovation and IP-related investments. Its mission is to activate and leverage high-quality, under-utilized intellectual property assets to the benefit of a variety of IP owners based in and outside of Japan. And our vision is that these activities will stimulate economic development and a healthy growth of industries worldwide.

　IP Bridge is a management company of Japan’s first and the largest IP dedicated fund with its focus on promoting technological innovation and cooperation within Japan and around the world. IP Bridge has worked with its investors, including Innovation Network Corporation of Japan – a unique partnership between 26 major corporations and the Japanese government – to establish the first fund in Japan aimed at global innovation and IP-related investments. Its mission is to activate and leverage high-quality, under-utilized intellectual property assets to the benefit of a variety of IP owners based in and outside of Japan. And our vision is that these activities will stimulate economic development and a healthy growth of industries worldwide.

　IP Bridge is led by an executive team skilled at IP and broad-based business matters, including entrepreneurship, finance, and legal. Its team is comprehensive in its approach, flexible and creative in its offerings, and always practical in its dealings.

For more information about IP Bridge, please visit : IP Bridge, Inc.

　IP Bridge (IPB) is casting its eyes towards ASEAN. IPB was founded with the strong support of the Innovation Network Corporation Japan, growing to manage an intellectual property (IP) fund reaching 30 billion yen. IPB’s mission is to promote Open Innovation, by discovering un- or under-utilized IP, and then being the bridge between the owner of these IP with those that could best commercialize with these IP. IPB is paying close attention to ASEAN because it includes over 600 million people, with an overall high sustained GDP growth rate, and from IPB’s experience with local companies expressing their strong interest in utilizing Japanese IP.

　There are several reasons why Japanese IP were not utilized overseas. These primarily include the inability or lack of awareness of many Japanese companies to assess the value of their IP, especially small and medium sized entities’ difficulty in ascertaining what needs for their IP exist among the ASEAN countries. Another obstacle is that companies are deeply skeptical of developing countries’ ability to protect and enforce IP rights.

 

【Discovering the Needs on behalf of Companies】

　For these reasons, IPB is assessing the IP needs on behalf of Japanese corporations, as well as providing various advice to protect themselves. For example, by establishing a joint venture or forming a business partnership with a local company in exchange for an equity interest ensures that there will be a relationship that allows for perpetually generating profits. “Japanese companies traditionally exported goods or expanded into developing countries to benefit from these countries’ growth, but we seek to create a future where both sides can grow by sharing IP,” IPB President Yoshii said.

　IPB’s current operation centers around Singapore, Malaysia, Indonesia, and Thailand. In addition to the relationship IPB built with the government of Singapore, Malaysia Digital Economy Corp. (a government entity whose mission is to promote domestic IT) and IPB signed a Memorandum of Understanding this year, on October 3rd. IPB focused on Malaysia because of the impressive development of domestic IT companies that possess their own unique technologies, the growth of financial services that support entrepreneurialism, as well as the continuous maturation of their patent system over years of support from the Japanese Patent Office.

　President Yoshii’s policy is to emphasize not the theory of capital, but the theory of IP. Under the theory of capital, IP aggregates towards an entity with greater capital, which uses the IP to produce profit, which in turn grows that entity’s capital. However, under the theory of IP, every entity is codependent on one another, sharing ideas and technologies, like a true ecosystem, to generate profits and allowing for great many innovations to be made. Additionally, as Japanese companies focus on their core businesses and divest unneeded IP, President Yoshii is enthusiastic about making full use of these IP and their associated and experienced engineers. He points out that “being divested and discarded does not necessarily mean that they are in any way inferior,” and expressed his desire to find the right places for these technologies to shine.

The original article appeared in ASEAN Economic Journal on October 31, 2016.

　IP Bridge, Inc. (Chiyoda-ku Tokyo, President Shigeharu Yoshii) (IP Bridge) participated in “Intellectual Property Business Congress (IPBC) Asia 2016” (organized by Intellectual Asset Management (IAM)) in Shanghai on December 4th to 6th as a Sponsor. IP top managements and innovation promotion leaders of many global leading companies and research institutes, CEOs of famous IP service providers, IP investors and legal professionals including lawyers and patent attorneys participated in this event. The number of participants was more than hour hundreds (400). A lot of panel discussion were arranged to discuss “Maximizing IP value in Asia”.

 

　Director responsible for Innovation Division at IP Bridge, Satoshi Konno presented as a moderator at one of the panel sessions where he and other speakers from Singapore, Malaysia and Thai shared their views of the current status and strategies for open innovation in these countries together with their case studies.

 

　

 

【Topic】

IP and open innovation in fast growing markets

【Moderator】

Satoshi Konno, Innovation director, IP Bridge

【Speakers】

Sidney Yee, Executive vice president and head of incubation and start-up management, Agency for Science Technology & Research (A*STAR)

Suracha Udomsak, R&D director and head of technology business group, SCG Chemicals Co, Ltd.

Siva Kumar Ramanathan, Chief strategy officer, Malaysia Digital Economy Corporation (MDEC)

 

　IP Bridge continues to contribute the development of IP fields as a global opinion leader. Furthermore, we contribute the development of healthy growth of industries by promoting a global innovation though IP commercialization.

 

【About IP Bridge】

　At IP Bridge, our focus is on promoting technological innovation and cooperation within Japan and around the world. We’ve worked with our investors, including Innovation Network Corporation of Japan – a unique partnership between 26 major corporations and the Japanese government – to establish the first and largest fund in Japan (approximately $300M) aimed at global innovation and IP-related investments. Our mission is to activate and leverage high-quality, under-utilized intellectual property assets to the benefit of a variety of IP owners based in and outside of Japan. And our vision is that these activities will stimulate economic development and a healthy growth of industries worldwide.

　We’ve worked with leading technology companies, small and medium size enterprises (SMEs) and universities to build large, high quality portfolios of 3,500 worldwide patents and growing, including patents in the fields of wireless communications, semiconductors, video codecs, display technologies, automotive technologies, robotics, home appliances, electric devices, healthcare, environment and energy, food technologies, and medical engineering.

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Kyushu University, a national university in Japan (Fukuoka-shi, Fukuoka, President: Chiharu Kubo) (Kyushu University) and IP Bridge, Inc. and its subsidiary Godo Kaisha IP Bridge 1 (IP Fund) (collectively “IP Bridge”) (Chiyoda-ku, Tokyo, President: Shigeharu Yoshii) have entered into joint research and development of drug discovery in the pharmaceutical industries using engineering technology based on industry-university cooperation.

In particular, Kyushu University and IP Bridge will study medical properties which are physically and chemically sensitive by using microcapsule technology (*1) consisting of Silica porous materials (*2) which has been studied by Kishida, Ph.D., a Professor of Kyushu University. The joint research aims to develop a new drug delivery system and realize the microcapsule technology through the joint efforts of IP Bridge and Kyushu University in cooperation with pharmaceutical companies to promote open-innovation.

IP Bridge will continue to contribute to the development of industries by supporting universities and enterprises in adapting research results (technologies and intellectual properties) of universities to industrial enterprises, thereby allowing enterprises to accelerate their growth and enhance their competitive advantage and profitability.

*1 Technology for forming structure capsuling substances

*2 Silicon dioxide with nanoscale pores

Contact: IP Bridge, Inc.

IP Bridge, Inc. (IP Bridge), a management company of Japan’s first and the largest IP dedicated fund of approximately US$300M mainly supported by Japanese sovereign fund (SPF), Innovation Network Corporation of Japan (INCJ) and The Malaysia Digital Economy Corporation (MDEC), an agency under the Ministry of Communications and Multimedia Malaysia, signed a collaboration agreement today, to enable Malaysian tech companies to leverage on Japan’s vast research & development field for creating innovations in technology as well as entering the Japanese market.

The MoU will see both countries jointly collaborating in promoting development of new intellectual properties (IP) towards innovative technologies. IP Bridge is allocating its Intellectual Property resources to invest in tech companies around ASEAN nations including Malaysia, Singapore, Thailand and Indonesia with the goal to bring the companies to do business in Japan. The push for innovation, particularly in areas such as Internet of Things (IoT), Cloud, Big Data Analytics (BDA), Cybersecurity, e-Commerce and Fintech in addition to artificial intelligence (AI), will benefit both countries in advancing the IT industry within the region. It will also facilitate the implementation of joint projects on research and development, as well as innovations in respect to sustainable smart society development and technologies.

Speaking at the event, Dato’ Ng Wan Peng, Chief Operating Officer of MDEC said, “As Malaysia continues to embrace Digital Economy, it is becoming increasingly important for us to collaborate with other pioneers in this sector to further push the boundaries of innovation.

With this in mind, we are proud to partner with IP Bridge to fast-track the development of the new innovative technologies as well as provide opportunities for businesses from both nations to collaborate and enhance talent capabilities.”

Shigeharu Yoshii, CEO and president of IP Bridge added, “IP Bridge has been expanding its network globally with its initial focus on ASEAN nations, including Malaysia and we are extremely excited working with MDEC. Now, innovative ICT technologies are developing regardless of countries. We can see a lot of opportunities among ICT related countries including Malaysia and Japan. We are sure that this joint work by MDEC & IP Bridge will accelerate the sustainable growth of ICT industries in the both countries and the world.”

Contact: IP Bridge, Inc.

About Malaysia Digital Economy Corporation (MDEC)

Malaysia Digital Economy Corporation Sdn. Bhd. or MDEC (formerly known as Multimedia Development Corporation Sdn. Bhd.) is an agency under the Ministry of Communications and Multimedia Malaysia. MDEC has been entrusted to develop, coordinate, and promote Malaysia’s digital economy, information and communications technology (ICT) industry, and the adoption of digital technology amongst Malaysians.

Incorporated on 5th June 1996, MDEC was officially established to strategically advise the Malaysian Government on legislation, policies and standards for ICT and multimedia operations. Additionally, MDEC is also entrusted to oversee the development of the MSC Malaysia initiative, the platform to nurture the growth of local tech companies whilst attracting foreign direct investments (FDIs) and domestic direct investments (DDIs) from global multinational companies to invest and develop cutting-edge digital and creative solutions in Malaysia.

In 2011, MDEC’s mandate was broadened to drive Malaysia’s transition towards a developed digital economy by 2020. In 2012, Digital Malaysia was official unveiled as the nation’s transformational programme to achieve this objective. Digital Malaysia is a national agenda that is fully developed with a sustainable digital economy built upon a vibrant domestic ICT industry, transformative adoption of digital solutions by government, businesses and citizens, as well as a robust enabling ecosystem.

For more information about MDEC, please visit

About IP Bridge

IP Bridge is a management company of Japan’s first and the largest IP dedicated fund with its focus on promoting technological innovation and cooperation within Japan and around the world. IP Bridge has worked with its investors, including Innovation Network Corporation of Japan – a unique partnership between 26 major corporations and the Japanese government – to establish the first fund in Japan aimed at global innovation and IP-related investments. Its mission is to activate and leverage high-quality, under-utilized intellectual property assets to the benefit of a variety of IP owners based in and outside of Japan. And our vision is that these activities will stimulate economic development and a healthy growth of industries worldwide.

It has approximately US$300M fund focused on IP and innovation. IP Bridge owns large, high quality portfolio of 3,500 patents and growing. It is a largest licensor to MPEG-LA AVC/H.264 patent pool and is investing in long-term growth. In addition, IP Bridge is known for our solid reputation and strong networks throughout Japan, Asia, and the rest of the world.

IP Bridge is led by an executive team skilled at IP and broad-based business matters, including entrepreneurship, finance, and legal. Its team is comprehensive in its approach, flexible and creative in its offerings, and always practical in its dealings.

For more information about IP Bridge, please visit

The Nara Institute of Science and Technology (“NAIST”) (Ikoma-shi, Nara, President: Naotake Ogasawara), a Japanese national university, and IP Bridge, Inc. and its subsidiary Godo Kaisha IP Bridge 1 (IP Fund) (collectively “IP Bridge”) (Chiyoda-ku, Tokyo, President: Shigeharu Yoshii) have entered into joint research and development in augmented reality (AR) and invisible markers in AR, a technology developed by Goshiro Yamamoto, Ph.D., a Visiting Assistant Professor of NAIST. This joint research includes adapting the core technology and intellectual property related to the invisible marker technology owned by NAIST to relevant market needs. By supporting the licensing and commercialization of intellectual properties (e.g., patents) created through this joint research with enterprises, IP Bridge promotes implementation of the results of the joint research in society, realization of its value, and further innovations in this area.

IP Bridge can effectively connect companies’ needs/problems with technical seeds owned by universities and other institutions because IP Bridge knows the business needs and technical problems faced by Japanese and non-Japanese enterprises through its promotion of open innovation. IP Bridge’s efforts in cooperation with universities such as NAIST are aimed at promoting commercialization of technologies owned by universities by not only Japanese enterprises but also non-Japanese enterprises, and thus are significantly important for international industry-university cooperation. IP Bridge will continue to contribute to the development of industries in a wide range of fields through the widespread use of technologies owned by universities and other institutions in the market.

*1 Technology used for accurately measuring the position and attitude of users by augmented reality (AR)

Contact: IP Bridge, Inc.

Sep 27, 2016

IP Bridge, Inc. (Chiyoda-ku Tokyo, President Shigeharu Yoshii) (IP Bridge) participated in “Intellectual Property Business Congress (IPBC) Japan 2016” (Presented by Intellectual Asset Management (IAM)) in Hotel Okura, Tokyo on September 8th 2016 as a Supporting Organization.

At this event, following the keynote speech by Yoshinori Komiya, Commissioner of the Japan Patent Office, a number of insightful panel sessions were held. IP senior personnel from major US, European and Asian enterprises as well as key members of IP commercialization in Japanese major enterprises and universities presented at the panel sessions as moderators and speakers.

President and CEO of IP Bridge, Shigeharu Yoshii, presented as one of the speakers at a special session discussing intellectual properties in Japan.

At this special session, Mr. Yoshii introduced IP Bridge’s activities for creating new businesses in Japan and worldwide through the commercialization of intellectual properties owned by Japanese SMEs in cooperation with government organizations in Japan and other countries. His presentation attracted the interest of many from the audience.

At this special session, Mr. Yoshii introduced IP Bridge’s activities for creating new businesses in Japan and worldwide through the commercialization of intellectual properties owned by Japanese SMEs in cooperation with government organizations in Japan and other countries. His presentation attracted the interest of many from the audience.

Introduction of IP Bridge’s Business:

IP Bridge is a management corporation of IPs and funds. By accumulating valuable dormant IPs developed by sophisticated operating companies, IP Bridge deploys services contributing to open innovation in various forms, such as commercialization supports and implementation of one-stop licensing of IPs for establishing new business (Innovation Service), IP licensing services under reasonable and fair terms (Licensing Service), and defensive services for reducing IP risks that threatens operating companies (Defense Service).