“Actually, our journey has just started. We want to continue until the four of us establish a company.”

Amano

Congratulations on becoming a Tongali Business Plan Contest prize winner.

All

Thank you.

Amano

What do you think about the current situation during the COVID-19 pandemic?

Aoshima

While the DII program allows students to develop any kind of project, they can be roughly divided into manufacturing and software development. As ProGlass, which the four of us are developing, is a manufacturing type project, we were not able to get together to work on it and had to halt the project temporarily.

Yamada

Still, a variety of tools and businesses emerged suddenly, and we were strongly aware that we were moving with the times as a team aiming to launch a startup. On the other hand, we thought that the current situation might represent an opportunity for us.

Inukai

I changed my mindset considerably. Seeing large companies go bankrupt or dismiss tens of thousands of employees, I became aware that the word “stable” is not applicable anymore. To survive this kind of era, you need to increase your own activities, and that will be the best way to achieve stability in the future.
In this context, I thought that planning a business on our own like this and creating a product that will actually sell were very good experiences. So, I am thinking of moving forward with it aggressively.

Fukushima

Mentors always ask us, “What’s the problem?” “What do we want to solve?” and “Who is troubled by what?” When this situation started in April, it became clear that everyone was troubled by a variety of issues. I realized that people who can step lightly and steadily solve those kinds of things will create the society of the future.

Amano

ProGlass was presented by Mr. Inukai in QE1. Had this team been already formed at that time?

Aoshima

Yes. Because of QE1, it was suggested that we form some kind of team, and we received instructions to form a Deployer (business entrepreneur), Innovator (product developer), and Investigator (seed creator) team. However, none of us had any distinctive expertise at that time. So, thinking that a team of close friends might create something interesting, the four of us tentatively decided to form a team.

Inukai

At that time, we had not yet decided on a theme, so we presented our ideas about what we wanted to do and what we could solve technologically and discussed what we thought we could realistically do at present. Then, we decided to start our project with laser goggles.

Amano

You’re all working on activities in the DII program while also conducting research and writing dissertations to obtain your degrees. Is it a burden on you?

Aoshima

This is certainly a burden, but it is more important to keep the four of us motivated because our activities will stagnate if any of us suddenly becomes busy doing research and less motivated to be involved in the DII program. We have managed it well somehow so far, so I don’t feel like the burden is too much.

Amano

All in all, is working with multiple people closer to ideal than working alone?

Inukai

Yes, it makes a huge difference.

Amano

Winning prizes is not your ultimate goal, is it? What will you do next?

Inukai

Actually, I feel like our journey has just begun. We’re doctoral students, but it is not very interesting to do research only. It’s better to be a two-way player who is not only familiar with engineering but also knows business management. In that sense as well, we want to continue working as this group of four people until we establish a company. So, we are also consulting with Nagoya University Academic Research & Industry-Academia-Government Collaboration.

Amano

That’s good. Are you thinking of selling your products throughout Japan, or are you going to take on the challenge of trying to enter the global market?

Aoshima

The selection process for the NEDO TCP has started, and we are now reviewing our plan together with mentors.

Inukai

Originally, it felt like an activity for the DII program, but now I feel that our activities are partly supported by the DII program, by Nagoya University, and by NEDO. It feels like our supporters are steadily increasing and that the scope of our project is growing.

Amano

Then, what is most needed now?

Yamada

I guess we need personnel most.

Inukai

Also, money. Money is important. Trying to improve the quality increases the cost of production by so much that we would not be able to afford it.

Aoshima

For laser goggles, the display plays a key role. But, it will cost tens of millions of yen to outsource production. So, we came up with the idea to obtain a display of an appropriate size by disassembling and rewiring a commercially available product.

Amano

Is VR not applicable?

Inukai

No. Even if we thought that production would be technologically possible, we would be desperately short of money to realize it. It is difficult to produce an ideal product under the current circumstances.

Amano

see. What will you do to move on to the next step? It seems like you need investors.

Inukai

That is one of the reasons why we participate in competitions. We think it is very important to attract the attention of as many people as possible to raise our profile. Ideally, investors and manufacturers will turn up who will get to know us and cooperate with us.

Amano

You’re referring to connections with people from different fields.

Aoshima

n terms of connecting with professionals, the DII program is very effective. When developing the laser goggles, we were introduced to professors and talked with professors from the Graduate School of Informatics of Nagoya University, and this helped us a lot technologically.

Inukai

We were also introduced to an ophthalmologist and a plastic surgeon from the School of Medicine, and we consulted them about whether there is an actual need for laser goggles in medical fields, about what we should pay attention to with respect to damage to the eyes, and about other issues.

Aoshima

The plastic surgeon told us that lasers are also used to remove spots and moles and that it is difficult to see them while wearing laser goggles. We incorporated the need for laser goggles that allow the user to see spots and moles clearly into our plan for the business contest, which received a fairly high evaluation. I think such feedback is necessary.

Amano

So, you mean know the field and listen to the opinions of experts.

Aoshima

In addition to that, we had originally participated in social gatherings for the three WISE Programs of Nagoya University, DII, GTR, and CIBoG, and that led to opportunities for discussions.

Amano

It is a big advantage to have places where you can make such connections.

Aoshima

For YOGA as well, we were introduced to professional yoga instructors, and it was created based on feedback from them. They are still part of our team.

Amano

YOGA seems like it will sell well. ProGlass will certainly sell, but its sales may not be so large because it is used in laboratories.

Inukai

While it is a basic approach for this type of startup to go after small markets first and then try to enter larger ones, the sales volume in the early stage is small even in our estimates. It is rather difficult to anticipate profits at the beginning.

Amano

Still, I am looking forward to it and have high hopes for you.