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Asian Entrepreneurship Award Announces 2014 Award Winners
T.Ware Pte. Ltd. of Singapore Takes First Prize

July 16, 2014
Future Design Center Incorporated Association
TX Entrepreneur Partners General Incorporated Association
Division of University Corporate Relations - The University of Tokyo
Mitsui Fudosan Co., Ltd.

Future Design Center, TX Entrepreneur Partners, the University of Tokyo’s Division of University Corporate Relations, and Mitsui Fudosan Co., Ltd., are pleased to announce the winners of the Asian Entrepreneurship Award (AEA) 2014. T.Ware Pte. Ltd. from Singapore was awarded the first prize. This international business competition for Asian startups was held at Gate Square in Chiba Prefecture’s Kashiwa-no-ha Smart City from July 13 through 15, 2014. Entrepreneurs, professional mentors who cultivate and support ventures, representatives from research institutions and private enterprises seeking new business partners and ideas, investors, and students wishing to start their own businesses, attended the event.

AEA aims to nurture entrepreneurialism in Asia while establishing Kashiwa-no-ha Smart City, the fruit of cutting-edge urban planning, to foster new industries, as a major hub of global innovation. AEA’s third year saw representatives of 17 startup teams with proprietary technologies and research capabilities from 12 countries and economies across Asia present their technologies and business plans. They competed for primacy in the following areas: innovation, economic and social impact potential and implementation feasibility.

57 entrepreneurs gathered at Gate Square’s Kashiwa-no-ha Open Innovation Lab (KOIL) and the Kashiwa-no-ha Conference Center (KCC), to take part in various programs. On the first day, professionals who support venture companies in Japan helped these people polish their business plans and presentations. Participants also discussed and shared ideas. On the second day, six of the 17 startup teams went through to the Final. On the third and last day, the finalists presented their technologies and business plans before a large, enthusiastic audience. After careful consideration, the judging panel announced the following award winners:

Asian Entrepreneurship Award 2014 Winners

Judging Criteria:

Innovativeness, commercial viability and social impact of the business, with consideration given to the potential of the business to expand and bring about changes in the global economy and society.
Business performance, which includes the nominee’s competitive advantages, management team, strategic vision, and communication capabilities, including presentation skills.

First Prize	T.Ware Pte. Ltd. (Singapore) Representative: James Teh (CEO) Provides interactive healing digital media (touch) Prize: 3 million yen*1
Second Prize	GISSCO CO., LTD. (Thailand) Representative: Jessada WANNASIN (Co-Founder) Develops semi-solid metal die casting Prize: 1 million yen*1
Third Prize	YTODAY SDN. BHD. (Malaysia) Representative: Tan Yee MEI (CEO) Provides online platform between young people and advertisers Prize: 500,000 yen*1
Intel Prize *2	Kyoto Materials Co., Ltd. (Japan) Representative: Masato YAMASHITA (Representative Director) Utilizes knowledge gained from research of materials science Prize: Invitation to APEC Accelerator Network Summit 2014 *3
Shui On Prize*4	YTODAY SDN. BHD. (Malaysia) Representative: Tan Yee MEI (CEO) Provides online platform between young people and advertisers Right to use InnoSpace*5 for free for six months, free business-matching sessions, free support services for incorporation of business, recruiting, legal consultation, and other business support in Shanghai Return air ticket for two persons of the winning team between their home country and Shanghai, China
Japan New Business Conferences President’s Prize	RAD Green Solutions Inc. (Philippines) Representative: Ivan LIM (President & CEO) Develops a technology producing more heat using less fuel Prize: 300,000 yen

*1 Bonus prizes were: Free tenancy for two years at KOIL Park for the first, the second and the third prize winners from Mitsui Fudosan Co., Ltd.; JAL Bonus Miles from Japan Airlines Co., Ltd. (50,000 miles for two people as first prize, 40,000 for two people as second prize, and 30,000 for two people as third prize); Laptop computers courtesy of Hewlett-Packard Japan, Ltd. (three for first prize, two for second prize, and one for third prize).

*2 The Intel Prize was awarded to one person of the top-placing team among the entrants from Japan.

*3 APEC Accelerator Network Summit 2014 is an Asian entrepreneur competition sponsored by Intel Corporation, to be held in Taiwan in August 2014.

*4 The Shui On Prize was awarded to the top-placing entrant whose business deals with IT or IT-related clean technology.

*5 InnoSpace is an incubation facility located in the Knowledge and Information Community (KIC) complex in Shanghai.

AEA is a Japanese business competition that is a platform for building an ecosystem of fostering venture companies in Asia. The event has established the reputation of Kashiwa-no-ha Smart City in Kashiwa, Chiba Prefecture, as a major hub of global innovation. This location is the fruit of collaboration between the public and private sectors and academia in urban planning for new industry creation. AEA was created in 2012 to foster cutting-edge technologies and ideas from Asia. This year’s event saw all activities consolidated at one location for the first time, at Kashiwa-no-ha Smart City’s Gate Square, which opened on July 8. The three-day contest afforded opportunities for creative innovation through engagement between individuals and the programs. Through this event, the host and the sponsors encouraged the creation of new value through open innovation in keeping with the KOIL concept of bringing together people with diverse perspectives to combine their knowledge, technologies, and ideas.