2004年度（2004.4～2005.3）　ワークショップ講演

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Entrepreneurship Workshop I

April 8, 2004
“My Experience as an Entrepreneur Starting a Business ― From Vision to IPO”

Guest speaker: Mr. Tsuyoshi Idei
President of Idei Office Co. Ltd. (formerly CEO of Trans Genic Inc.)

1. Profile of Mr. Tsuyoshi Idei
In 1987, Mr. Tsuyoshi Idei started to work at Pana, a firm founded by his father, Hiroyuki Idei. In 1997, he established Kumamoto Antibody Research Institute, which used technology from Kumamoto University. In 2000, he changed the company name to Trans Genic Inc. in connection with the company’s marketing of the Gene Knockout Mouse. In 2002, he received an award from Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi for his efforts to build a new business. In the same year, the company was listed on the Mothers section of the Tokyo Stock Exchange.

2. Summary of Speech
(1) On Hi-tech Industry
If the present conditions continue, a great disparity will arise in hi-tech industry between Japan and America. Countries without hi-tech industry will be left behind before they know it. Establishment of venture companies, help in developing local hi-tech industries, and government development assistance are no doubt national issues.
First of all, hi-tech businesses require a great deal of money. A bio-venture company in America requires an initial capital outlay of 5 billion yen, and another 15 billion yen when it goes public. This is quite different from starting a business in a back room to save money for development. From now on, western-style ventures, where universities first go public and then produce industries, will become standard.

(2) Looking Back on the Founding of the Business ― Message to Entrepreneurs
Mr. Idei took on the responsibility of a guarantor when his father’s business failed. Some time later, he happened to meet a researcher in the Department of Medicine at Kumamoto University, which is well-known as one of the best local national universities and has forged close relationships with researchers 30-40 years old who are most inquisitive. His debut product was a reagent to measure environmental hormones. An entrepreneur must be able to cull kernels from cutting-edge research papers and make business connections, an intuitive knack. (In other words, an entrepreneur has to be able to connect up cutting-edge research and investors, like a Honen or Shinran around spreading hard-to-understand Buddhist sutras to the general public during the Kamakura period.) Intuitive ability and sensitivity can’t be taught. They probably get polished through the appreciation of many movies and books, and through romantic experiences.
A person who aspires to be an entrepreneur must above all take action, irrespective of the field. Otherwise, he will just end up a sage. However, in Japan an entrepreneur who is ready to take risks in order to accomplish something often gets the cold shoulder. The first step requires courage. Summon your courage!

３. Closing Comments
Mr. Idei shared a variety of difficulties on the road to an IPO with us. What matters before anything else is our initial determination. We should take seriously what he said to us with enthusiasm: the roles of the university are: (1) education; (2) research (state-of-the-art research, advanced technologies, and accomplished scholars); and (3) using the results of the research to contribute to society. If universities lose sight of these roles, their existence loses meaning. He thinks that many of the universities in Japan are closed societies that are close to losing significance. We have been brought to recognize that the student’s mission is to obtain working (practical) knowledge, not spend time merely accumulating information.

Osamu Yamashita
Graduate student in charge of minutes

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