Chiba, Japan:
The Asian Entrepreneurship Award 2021 event (AEA 2021) was held fully online from Wednesday, October 27th to Thursday, October 28th with the participation of 30 tech startups selected from Asian countries and regions. Tectonus Limited from New Zealand which develops seismic dampers with self-centering capabilities won first prize.
AEA is a global innovation award for emerging Asian entrepreneurs and startups that are utilizing advanced technology to offer solutions to social issues. The AEA 2021 brought together 30 selected startups from across Asia providing solutions in the three areas of healthcare, work & lifestyle reform, and sustainability, all of which are global key issues going forward.
The startup entrants consistently received mentoring for 1.5 months from mentors specializing in Japanese VCs to brush up their business plans in preparation for the event, and the winner was chosen from six finalists selected on the basis of a wide range of criteria, including innovativeness, the social impact of their products and services, their commercial viability, the potential for collaboration with Japanese companies, and the opportunity for business expansion in Japan.
To commemorate the 10th anniversary of AEA, this year’s event featured a special keynote speech by Grameen Bank founder and Nobel Peace Prize winner Dr. Muhammad Yunus, who shared a concept of Yunus social businesses and next-generation leadership.
Going forward, AEA will continue supporting the creation of new industries by bringing together Asian tech startups and supporters to build an ecosystem for innovation, and actively promoting trials and demonstrations in the Kashiwa-no-ha area to support the creation of new industries.
- AEA 2021 Summary by Shigeo Kagami, Chairman of AEA Steering Committee
This year, the 10th year of AEA, I feel that the level of the Startup Entrants has become very high. Among them, the number of entrepreneurs with a high awareness of social issues such as environmental problems and healthcare has increased. In Asia, businesses with scalability are being created because there is no legacy from the past. This is a point that we should be aware of in Japan as well. We also had a six-week mentoring period before the event. I feel that we are getting closer to what the platform should be. AEA will continue to work to create an ecosystem between Asia and Japan for the creation of new industries.
- AEA2021 Winners
First Prize：Tectonus Limited (New Zealand)
Overview：
The company develops seismic dampers with a self-centering capability that re-center structures during earthquakes and aftershocks.
Comments from the startup：
“I am very surprised. Thank you for acknowledging us. I have received good reviews and feel responsible, and I think I must do my best. I want to achieve my goal of making the world a safer place.”
Comments from the judges：
“Tectonus was evaluated for their practical technology and the fact that they have already commercialized their products with good customer reviews.”
Second Prize：More Foods Innotech Co., Ltd. (Thailand)
Overview：
More Foods Innotech develops healthy vegetarian meat with lower sugar and salt level than existing products.
Comments from the startup：
“I am honored to receive such an award. I was able to announce what we were doing and what our goals were. I think we have achieved great results.”
Comments from the judges：
“More Foods Innotech was evaluated for running a real business marked by environmental friendliness and sustainability. The company is challenging globally in an innovative way by bringing their unique technology.”
Third Prize：Biomass Lab (Vietnam)
Overview：
The company utilizes bacterial cellulose, which can be collected by hydrolyzing paper sludge and has properties such as biodegradability, high durability, and non-toxicity.
Comments from the startup：
“We are very happy to participate in this event and also very surprised to receive this award. Moving forward, we are determined to continue contributing to the world”
Comments from the judges：
“Biomass Lab was evaluated for their basic yet such an exciting technology. If commercialized, we believe that this would make a great impact.”
AEA Yunus Social Business Award : Not applicable
Fujitsu Accelerator Award : Smart Tag Inc. (Taiwan)
Overview：
Smart Tag develops flexible wireless IoT sensors for manufacturing line monitoring which can be mounted on the surface of devices in production lines.
Comments from judges for the special award：
“One of Fujitsu’s key focus areas is ‘Sustainable Manufacturing’. Through the collaboration between Fujitsu and Smart Tag, we believe that the advanced IoT solution offered by Smart Tag can help us addressing the pains and challenges of our customers in manufacturing industry in more rapid and cost-effective manner.”
IP Bridge Award：Onikle Inc (Japan)
Overview：
Onikle Inc. develops a preprint document-search platform with AI recommendations to help scientists discover the best research papers.
Comments from judges for the special award：
“We believe that the preprint document search platform developed by Onikle Inc. helps many scientists and it has a potential to accelerate innovation.”
The Japan Academic Society for Ventures and Entrepreneurs(JASVE) Award：
More Foods Innotech Co., Ltd. (Thailand)
Comments from judges for the special award:
“We have evaluated the company’s effort to target such a very competitive, yet growing global market. We believe that we need as many food alternatives as possible for our future. On behalf of the Japan Academic Society for Ventures and Entrepreneurs, we highly evaluate the company’s potential to make our lives better while collaborating with various stakeholders in our current value chain to seek social impact.”
Life Science Award：KURA Care Inc. (Taiwan)
Overview：
The company develops an AI tele-medicine solution specializing in the treatment of heart disease patients.
Comments from the judges for the special award：
“By combining very advanced AI technologies and the services provided by the hands of human, the company provides a very innovative solutions in a quite important area of heart disease. Their solution has a potential to promote behavioral changes of the patients in the area of the disease prevention and prognosis. We have also evaluated their very attractive management teams in Taiwan and San Diego in the United States.”
Microsoft Award：Tectonus Limited (New Zealand)
Comments from the judges from the special award：
“We felt the potential of the company’s IoT business and the overall growth of the market. The company may have potential to collaborate with Microsoft for our smart building or smart city projects.”
Audience Prize：Peth Yoeung Healthtech (Cambodia)
Overview:
The company develops a cloud-based hospital management software platform providing secure storage of medical records and patient data.
For a list of startup entrants and their businesses, visit https://aea.events/e/startup-entrants/
