Reporting from Tokyo Global Startup Campus Workshop

We suspect that global developments over the last 7 days have left many of us feeling rather tired, and it wasn’t until this morning that I finally felt re-energized. The cure? Being reminded of the fact that there is still an ocean of people and nations out there with a genuine and infectious passion for global collaboration.

From Mr. Kiuchi Minoru (Minister of State in charge of Science & Technology Policy) to Mr. Robert Langer (MIT Institute Professor, Co-Founder of Moderna, and the world's most cited engineer in history) and Mr. Joichi Ito (President at Chiba Institute of Technology), it was clear that there are many brilliant people our there working tirelessly to create positive change. People I can selfishly derive energy and motivation from.

Interestingly, while you might expect a prolific inventor such as Mr. Langer to focus on more exciting topics, I think his key advice for Japan is a dull sounding combination of two words: tax-breaks. The best way to move big money over the long-term and across a whole economy is often through very straight forward approaches (no need to reinvent the wheel). If I remember correctly, this is a theme also echoed by Mr. Richard Katz in his excellent book "The Contest for Japan's Economic Future" (read it!)

Today's meeting was part of the build-up for Tokyo's work-in-progress Global Startup Campus Initiative. Thank you for the invitation, Tadako Yamamoto-san, and we look forward to seeing you all soon again!