LEVANES Corporation, on behalf of the City of Sendai, is promoting the Sendai-Tohoku Expansion Program (STEP), which supports startups from Sendai and Tohoku to take on the challenge of solving global issues. As part of this program, a series of global business seminars ("Learn from the Pioneers of Global Expansion! series) are held from August to December.

6th: Global Business Seminar
Date: Saturday, November 8, 2025, 10:00-11:00
Location: Forest Sendai (1-2-45 Kashiwagi, Aoba-ku, Sendai, Miyagi 981-0933)
Title: What will change when you create a subsidiary company?
Organized by: City of Sendai, Operated by: Riverness Inc.

Special Lecture: Mr. Yota Takakura, CEO, Inoka Co.
Moderator: Jyo Inoue, President and CCO, Liverness, Inc.

Accelerate research at overseas sites" and "Accelerate joint demonstrations with international companies.

What Changes when a Subsidiary Company is Created? Mr. Yota Takakura, President of INOCA Corporation, spoke on the theme of "What changes when you create a subsidiary" and described the three pillars of accelerating overseas expansion, starting with the creation of a market utilizing seaweed beds and coral reefs by entering Malaysia with the business axis of marine ecosystem restoration. (1) Establish a "box" such as a local subsidiary as quickly as possible and secure a foothold. (2) Use the MOU with universities as a weapon to break through strict biological resource regulations and build a network of trust for co-creation. (iii) Using the subsidiary as a mother ship, appoint doctoral-level local researchers and establish a high-speed, low-cost R&D system with a time difference of one hour. Through these efforts, we obtained the knowledge that demonstration and acquisition of funds and customers created a virtuous cycle.

⸻ 1.Boxes and shapes can be quickly arranged.
To accelerate overseas expansion, it is essential to establish a firm "base" in terms of physical, legal, and reliability as soon as possible. Since it is relatively easy to establish a subsidiary, as soon as the base is established, the company should first be quickly set up as a "box" rather than an entity. How quickly this "location" is secured is the key to determining the initial speed of overseas business development.

⸻ 2.University MOU to break through regulations and build a foundation for co-creation
The date for the MOU signing ceremony with Universiti Sains Malaysia and others was decided before the negotiations, which enabled a quick conclusion of the agreement. This also enabled the company to quickly obtain research permits related to bio-resource regulations, which are essential for coral and algae research, and to make rapid progress in collaboration with the universities and establish a local research system. The signing of this agreement and the media coverage of the ceremony helped to build trust, and as a result, collaboration and contacts with Japanese companies and local governments have expanded.

⸻ 3.Subsidiary + local PhD personnel to speed up the process
As a result of recruiting activities at its overseas offices, the company has received a flood of applications from master's and doctoral level research personnel, despite a salary level less than half that of Japan. With this subsidiary as the nucleus, a cycle of demonstration experiments has been established. Taking advantage of the one-hour time difference, the company is speeding up decision-making and simultaneously disseminating information to academic societies and government agencies. This has enabled the establishment of a low-cost, international-level R&D center.

The seminar was a practical one, showing how the company decided to base itself in Malaysia with the business axis of marine ecosystem restoration after visiting various places in the region, and how quickly it moved from there. In particular, I believe that the method of first establishing a subsidiary, then quickly promoting collaboration with universities, and then enriching the contents of the subsidiary by hiring local research personnel will encourage companies seeking to expand overseas.

Click here to see the past implementation reports.

Session 1 Lecturer: Mr. Kengo Suzuki, Co-founder and Executive Fellow

Session 2 Lecturer: Mr. Shingo Akao, President, Ball Wave Corporation

Lecturer: Mr. Ken Matsui, CEO and Representative Director, ugo Co.

Lecturer: Mr. Hong-Kyung Min, President of Liberaware, Inc.

Lecturer: Mr. Hideaki Itami, Director, Asia Region, Platinum Bio Co.

At the 7th meeting on Wednesday, November 19, Mr. Yukihiro Ishida, CEO of Second Heart Co., Ltd. will be invited to speak on the theme of "Advancing collaboration with a partner who has hit upon a collaboration hypothesis in the field.

RIVERNESS will do its utmost to support the process of startups facing real local challenges and growing through the fusion of business and research. We look forward to welcoming all deep tech startups who want to join the challenge of "changing the world with the power of deep tech.

*Non-startup companies entering this program are also free to attend.

Researchers, private companies, and government officials are encouraged to attend.

To apply, please register at the following page.

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Inquiries regarding this matter
RIVANES Corporation (Attn: Mai Inoue, Saito)
TEL：03-5227-4198 E-mail：[email protected]