Biography

After graduating from Charles Sturt University in New South Wales, Australia, Takashi received a master's degree at Mie University Graduate School, focusing on agricultural ICT research.

In 2012, he received a Ph.D. (Academic) from the same graduate school for his research on sensor networks and information utilization in agricultural settings.

Since joining SoftBank Mobile Corporation (currently SoftBank Corporation) in January 2013, he has led the technological development of the e-kakashi project. As a department manager, he has been responsible for the e-kakashi business. From 2018, he has served as a project leader for international smart agriculture projects, leading initiatives in Colombia, Ecuador, Brazil, Ethiopia, Mongolia, and Uzbekistan. In 2023, he was appointed as an advisor to the support team for the Hiroshima-style Smart Agriculture Promotion Project.

Biography

Kyosuke was involved in research on high-speed plant phenotyping using image analysis and machine learning at Mie University Graduate School and the University of Tokyo Graduate School. In 2015, he received a Ph.D. in Agriculture from the University of Tokyo.

He joined PS Solutions (a subsidiary of SoftBank Corp.) in 2015. After the e-kakashi business was transferred to SoftBank, he led the research and development of e-kakashi as a section manager at SoftBank. He has authored numerous papers and is actively engaged in initiatives towards decarbonization, including the estimation and visualization of carbon dioxide absorption by plants.

Biography

Mika spent three years living in North America during her student years. After graduating from Tokyo University of Foreign Studies, she worked at Seiko Epson Corporation in the IMS (International Marketing and Sales) division, focusing on marketing and business strategy for new ventures.

From 2008, she worked as a marketing manager for Disney Mobile, an MVNO provided by SoftBank Mobile (currently SoftBank Corporation). She then moved to PS Solutions Corporation, where she was involved in corporate public relations.

Since 2019, she has been dedicated to the e-kakashi business, and from 2021, she has been engaged in team management as the manager of the e-kakashi division.

Biography

Hiroshi graduated from the University of Tokyo's Faculty of Economics and received an MBA from Boston University School of Management. At KDD (currently KDDI), he was involved in international communication service planning, new business development through overseas subsidiaries, and M&A.

From 2006, he worked at Vodafone (later SoftBank) as the MVNO business planning manager. He then served as the business planning and operations manager for Disney Mobile, a joint venture between SoftBank and Walt Disney Japan, first on the SoftBank side and later on the Walt Disney Japan side. He has since been involved in planning, development, partnerships, and business operations for various new businesses in mobile, OTT, and other fields at various companies.

For the past two years, he has been involved in supporting the formulation of business plans for e-kakashi. He also assists overseas companies, primarily in the IT and Green Tech fields, in entering the Japanese market, supports Japanese companies in expanding overseas, and provides assistance with fundraising.

Biography

After obtaining a Master's degree in Agriculture (Tropical Agriculture) from Kyoto University Graduate School, Junichi has been involved in development cooperation at the Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA) for 30 years, primarily focusing on agriculture and rural development in sub-Saharan Africa. He contributed to the creation of new cooperation frameworks such as the "Coalition for African Rice Development (CARD)" and "Enhancing Drought Resilience in the Horn of Africa." During his tenure as the Director of the Zambia Office, he worked on strengthening relationships with emerging donors such as China and India while serving as the chair of the donor group.

In April 2020, he joined the Sasakawa Africa Foundation, where he served in various roles including Director of Programs and Advisor. He handled numerous international projects and worked on mainstreaming decarbonization and environmentally regenerative agriculture.