​Welcome to our first TAI Reverse Pitch, where Panasonic and Syngenta, global leaders in their respective fields, will propose challenges AI startups could solve.

​Our objective is to increase the level of collaboration between Enterprise and startups, with a focus on AI solutions.

​In addition to the two guest companies presenting their problem statements and their innovation approaches, we will have a panel on ways to work with Enterprise (read: how to get those POCs!).

​1. AgriTech @ Syngenta

​Speaker: Yuichi Yanagida (profile)

​Head of Strategy and Business Development, Syngenta Japan

​Bio: After conquering product marketing in Agri-biz in Syngenta, Yuichi leveled up to his current role in October 2024. Now, he's on a mission to revolutionize Japanese rice farming with a blend of traditional and cutting-edge tech.

​Challenge Statements 

• ​Transforming rice paddies into smart, sustainable ecosystems.

• ​Championing Risocare and water-saving direct seeding techniques (Think: precision agriculture meets centuries-old wisdom).

• ​Seeking AI Wizards and agri-tech Ninjas to join our rice revolution! 

​Yuichi is always on the lookout for brilliant minds to hack the future of agriculture.

​2. AI Applications @ Panasonic

​Speaker: Sotaro Tsukizawa (profile)

​Associate General Manager, DX & CPS Division, Technology Sector, Panasonic Holdings Corporation

​Bio: Engaged in the development of image recognition technology in the R&D department at Panasonic, primarily focusing on ADAS (Advanced Driver Assistance Systems) and autonomous driving systems. From 2015 to 2017, stationed in Silicon Valley, creating mechanisms for the practical application of advanced AI technologies in collaboration with Stanford University and UC Berkeley. Since 2022, transferred to the Automotive Business Division, participating in the establishment of next-generation development environments for in-car software. In 2024, returned to the R&D department and took charge of the strategy for AI.

​Challenge Statements

• ​Quality assurance for AI-powered services: GenAI is prone to mistakes and hallucinations, which causes considerable disadvantages to users, and is unacceptable to the majority of customers. How do we address such disadvantages, and how do we ensure the quality of AI model output?

• ​Vendor neutrality: AI is rapidly evolving, with no guarantee the currently best model will continue to fit our business tomorrow and in five years. Before starting an AI project, how do we need to take into account switching costs for various AI service providers?

​3. Panel @ Enterprise x Startup

​Finally, the two guest corporations will join us for a panel to provide insights into how they work with startups. For this panel, Panasonic (Sotaro Tsukizawa) and Syngenta (Taiki Fukunaga) will be joined by Florian Geier, currently a Senior Director at the startup generator Antler, who spent years in FUJIFILM working on innovation and startup collaboration. With this panel, we want to start our series on the startup x enterprise collaboration, to make it easier to run early-stage POCs and shorten sales cycles for our startups.