Gave presentation to the Telecommunications Committee of the American Chamber of Commerce in Japan (ACCJ) on October 7, 2009. My talk was attended by about 30-40 executives from major global telecom operators, global banks, new-age payment companies, and from major internet companies.
Outline:
What is money?
Medium of exchange
Unit of account
Store of value
(Standard of deferred payment, unit for debt)
e-Cash value to society:
reduced cash handling costs
Higher transaction speed
Convenience
Greater security (especially mobile) vs. reduced privacy
Why should be care? (Summary)
Electronic money is here to stay
One e-money card/Japanese person
2% of banknotes and coins today
YEN 100 billion outstanding
YEN 100 billion transactions/month
Japan is far in advance, rest-of-world is likely to follow. But can Japan capture the value? maybe not.
Two keynotes on “Evolution of TV” and “Social TV” and chaired session at BCWW2009 Global Media Forum, Seoul, Korea, September 10, 2009
Evolution of TV and social TV (Keynotes at BCWW2009 Global Media Forum, Seoul, Korea Sept. 10, 2009)Evolution of TV and social TV (Keynotes at BCWW2009 Global Media Forum, Seoul, Korea Sept. 10, 2009)Evolution of TV and social TV (Keynotes at BCWW2009 Global Media Forum, Seoul, Korea Sept. 10, 2009)Evolution of TV and social TV (Keynotes at BCWW2009 Global Media Forum, Seoul, Korea Sept. 10, 2009)Evolution of TV and social TV (Keynotes at BCWW2009 Global Media Forum, Seoul, Korea Sept. 10, 2009)
The total solar eclipse could be seen clearly today around 11:13am in Tokyo – however in Tokyo the coverage was not total. Here is a picture taken with a standard Canon digital camera:
It’s not all doom and gloom here in Japan. Nintendo’s sales and operating profits are rising 8.8% year-on-year. KDDI saw its net profits increasing 59% year on year. Yahoo Japan increases dividends by 22%-25% for 2008. Who are today’s winners in Japan’s IT industry? Gerhard Fasol will show us how and why some great Japanese companies excel in today’s crisis.
The talk reviews today’s status of Japan’s electrical companies, the telecommunications sector and the internet sector, and introduces seven different companies, which show rapid growth of revenues, operating income and net income despite the crisis. These seven companies we introduce turn the crisis into an opportunity.
Mr Fasol is one of the best specialists of Japan’s IT industry. After 12 years in Japan working for the most prestigious Japanese institutions and companies (the University of Tokyo, NTT, Hitachi…), he founded the strategy and M&A firm Eurotechnology Japan KK in 1996. Mr Fasol has advised some of the greatest companies, including NTT, SIEMENS, Deutsche Telekom, Cubic, Unaxis and about 100 fund managers on strategy for Japan, as well as the President of Germany. He helped a French pharmaceutical company acquire a factory in Japan.
He comments regularly on CNBC on Japan’s tech sector.
Professor Junichi Hamada: expert on law of journalism, freedom of press and media regulation
Attended Professor Junichi Hamada’s presentation at Tokyo University. Professor Hamada is expert on the legal aspects of journalism, freedom of press and media regulation. Professor Hamada will be the new President of Tokyo University from April 2009.
In his presentation Professor Hamada discussed the changes in the media sector, and of course also his views and strategies for Tokyo University.
Questioned on the relatively low global ranking of Tokyo University, Professor Hamada answered that serving society is much more important than ranking lists
Asked during question time about his views of University ranking lists, his answer was that serving society is much more important than ranking lists.
on Friday, 20th February 2009 (Boltzmann’s birthday, 165 years ago)
14:00 Welcome by HE the Ambassador of Austria to Japan
14:05-14:35 Hisashi Kobayashi,
Sherman Fairchild University Professor Emeritus, Princeton University, Executive Advisor, National Institute for Information and Communications Technology (NICT), Japan.
“Ludwig Boltzmann: His Impacts on Information and Communications Technologies”
14:35-14:45 Coffee Break
14:45-15:15 Gerhard Fasol, CEO, Eurotechnology Japan KK “Ludwig Boltzmann’s scientific achievements”
15:15-15:45 Kazu Ishikawa (EXA Japan) Demonstrations:
“Boltzmann’s equation for simulation and visualizing flow for the construction of cars, airplanes…”
15:45-16:00 Coffee Break
16:00-16:30 Kiyoshi Kurokawa,
Professor, National Graduate Institute for Policy Science, Tokyo, Science and Technology, Former President of the Science Council of Japan, and
Special Advisor to the Cabinet
“Science and Technology Leadership and Society”
16:30-17:00 Gerhard Fasol, “Ludwig Boltzmann’s three trips to America and his human achievements ”
Followed by reception (private, invitation only)
Registration: latest 14 February 2009 Further information: Gerhard Fasol Georg Poestinger, Counsellor, Austrian Embassy, Tel 03-3451-8281
Summary
Ludwig Boltzmann was one of the most important physicists and philosophers: it is almost impossible for any engineer, chemist or physicist to do a day’s work without using Boltzmann’s tools and results every day. Ludwig Boltzmann is this author’s and Eurotechnology Japan KK’s founder’s great grandfather – and his excellence is our company’s guiding light.
Ludwig Boltzmann was born 165 years ago on February 20, 1844, and last Friday, February 20, 2009 we celebrated by inviting several of Japan’s science and technology leaders to the Ludwig Boltzmann Symposium in Tokyo with kind cooperation and hospitality by the Ambassador of Austria and the Austrian Embassy.
First speaker was Professor Hisashi Kobayashi, Founder of the IBM Tokyo Laboratory, former Dean of Engineering of Princeton University. He showed how Entropy and noise in communications is linked to Boltzmann’s generalized Entropy and the H-Theorem. Coming from Princeton, Hisashi also showed us elegantly how strongly Einstein’s work is linked to Boltzmann’s.
Professor Kiyoshi Kurokawa, former Dean of Medicine of Tokai University, former President of Japan’s Science Council and Advisor to two Japanese Prime Ministers and now Professor at Japan’s new Political Science University, gave an intense and passionate speech about which changes are necessary to live in our future which will be hot (as in global warming), flat (as in global communications and internet) and crowded (due do population growth). (Website of the book “Hot, flat and croweded” by Thomas L Friedman) Kiyoshi also made a passionate appeal to Japanese organisations (including the S&T leaders participating at our Symposium) to change, open up and compete globally.
Kazu Ishikawa of Exa Japan gave a fantastic demonstration how Boltzmann’s equations are used to simulate airflow for the construction of cars, airplanes, jet engines … Boltzmann’s equations replace the macroscopic Navier-Stokes equations as numerical wind tunnels. Boltzmann’s equations are particularly needed for the simulation of transients.
Finally, Gerhard Fasol, Ludwig Boltzmann’s Great-Grandson, gave two talks: one talk about Ludwig Boltzmann’s scientific achievements, his search for understanding the 2nd Law of Thermodynamics with mechanics, the effects of collisions and the generalization to non-equilibrium – leading the H-Theorem, and the generalization of Entropy and Boltzmann’s philosophical work. The second talk introduced the human side of Ludwig Boltzmann: his life and his passions.
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Ludwig Boltzmann was one of the most important physicists and philosophers: it is almost impossible for any engineer, chemist or physicist to do a day’s work without using Boltzmann’s tools and results every day. Ludwig Boltzmann is this author’s and Eurotechnology Japan KK’s founder’s great grandfather – and his excellence is our company’s guiding light.
Ludwig Boltzmann was born 165 years ago on February 20, 1844, and last Friday, February 20, 2009 we celebrated by inviting several of Japan’s science and technology leaders to the First Ludwig Boltzmann Forum with kind cooperation and hospitality by the Ambassador of Austria and the Austrian Embassy:
First speaker was Professor Hisashi Kobayashi, Founder of the IBM Tokyo Laboratory, former Dean of Engineering of Princeton University. He showed how Entropy and noise in communications is linked to Boltzmann’s generalized Entropy and the H-Theorem. Coming from Princeton, Hisashi also showed us elegantly how strongly Einstein’s work is linked to Boltzmann’s.
Professor Kiyoshi Kurokawa, former Dean of Medicine of Tokai University, former President of Japan’s Science Council and Advisor to two Japanese Prime Ministers and now Professor at Japan’s new Political Science University, gave an intense and passionate speech about which changes are necessary to live in our future which will be hot (as in global warming), flat (as in global communications and internet) and crowded (due do population growth). Kiyoshi also made a passionate appeal to Japanese organisations (including the S&T leaders participating at our Symposium) to change, open up and compete globally.
Kazu Ishikawa of Exa Japan gave a fantastic demonstration how Boltzmann’s equations are used to simulate airflow for the construction of cars, airplanes, jet engines … Boltzmann’s equations replace the macroscopic Navier-Stokes equations as numerical wind tunnels. Boltzmann’s equations are particularly needed for the simulation of transients.
Finally, Gerhard Fasol, Ludwig Boltzmann’s Great-Grandson, gave two talks: one talk about Ludwig Boltzmann’s scientific achievements, his search for understanding the 2nd Law of Thermodynamics with mechanics, the effects of collisions and the generalization to non-equilibrium – leading the H-Theorem, and the generalization of Entropy and Boltzmann’s philosophical work. The second talk introduced the human side of Ludwig Boltzmann: his life and his passions.
Photo: Hisashi Kobayashi shows why Boltzmann’s work is important for telecommunications, and how Einstein’s work is linked to Boltzmann’s. Her Excellency, the Austrian Ambassador follows closely:
Hisashi Kobayashi at the Ludwig Boltzmann Symposium – the Ambassador of Austria listens
Photo: Hot, flat and crowded. In a passionate speech, former science and tech advisor of two Japanese Prime-Ministers, Kiyoshi Kurokawa talks about the future, and how to be prepared to compete:
Kiyoshi Kurokawa: Hot, flat and crowded
Photo: The Austrian Ambassador invited the participants of the Ludwig Boltzmann Symposium to the Austrian Residence:
Was invited to coffee with the Foreign Minister of Austria, Mr Michael Spindelegger, at the Embassy in Tokyo. Minister Spindelegger is in Tokyo for celebrating 140 years of Austria-Japan diplomatic relations, and he gave a short presentation.
Another reason for the Minister’s visit to Japan is that both Japan and Austria are non-permanent members of the United Nations UN Security Council for the two year period from January 1, 2009 to December 31, 2010.
Since Shuji Nakamura’s first commercialization of GaN LEDs (read the Blue Laser Diode Book) LEDs are progressing rapidly to make the US$ 400 Billion global lighting industry more environmentally friendly, reducing CO2 output and reducing electricity bills for lighting dramatically. Recently rail stations in Japan have begun to test plug-compatible replacement of fluorescent tubes by LED based solid state lighting.
This year our company advised a number of investment fund managers on technology, business models, financial models and trends of the solid state lighting industry. Please find a detailed Solid State Lighting report here – we continuously update this report.
Christmas lighting with blue LEDs in Tokyo Midtown. Tokyo Tower can be seen in the back, lighted using traditional lamps, though. Merry Christmas!
Blue GaN LEDs in Tokyo/Midtown for Christmas illumination
