Innovate the essence of innovation. We reveal a part of that methodology.

Vincent Philippe, President and CEO of Plug and Play (PnP) Japan—which runs programs with over 1,000 startups globally each year—was interviewed by Akihiro Shimura of Dentsu Inc. Kyoto Business Acceleration Center, a partner organization. Shimura posed questions from various angles about the essence of innovation in business. The venue connecting the two was engawa Kyoto(※).

※ engawa Kyoto: Dentsu Inc.'s innovation office in Kyoto. Established in July 2019, engawa Kyoto aims to connect the "bonds" (en) of individuals and companies gathering there, serving as a place to support business creation that will become the driving force for Japan's future vitality. Plug and Play, a world-class accelerator, has also established its second Japanese base, "Plug and Play Kyoto," here. Leveraging Kyoto's unique ability to broadcast ideas, it is anticipated to become an unprecedented hub for collaborative business creation.

 

From left: Vincent Philipp, President and CEO of Plug and Play Japan; Akihiro Shimura, Dentsu Inc. Kyoto Business Acceleration Center

To spark innovation, you need "places for encounters" and
and a "collaborative framework" to expand upon them


 

Shimura: Web Dentsu Inc. News has featured engawa four times in the past. This time, we want to focus on PnP, a company that has an office at engawa and could be called engawa's "co-creation partner." Our meeting with Philippe was about two and a half years ago, right? We've known each other since before PnP JAPAN even existed, so it's a bit late to ask now, but what kind of company is PnP, fundamentally?

Philippe: We call ourselves an "Innovation Platform." In a nutshell, we're a company that runs accelerator programs for ventures and startups worldwide, tailored by industry. We offer a three-month program called "Batch" to over 1,000 companies globally and nearly 200 in Japan annually. We have over 300 partner companies globally. Essentially, we provide "places for encounters" to spark innovation.

Shimura: That company chose engawa Kyoto, launched by Dentsu Inc., as its second co-creation hub. My first question is: Why Kyoto?

Philippe: When it comes to innovation, Japan tends to focus heavily on Tokyo. Kyoto, on the other hand, offers a good balance of industry, government, and academia. First, Kyoto is home to a high concentration of major global corporations. Collaboration with the local government is also relatively easy. And the most crucial point is the "academia" element, led by Kyoto University.

Shimura: In Europe and the US, startups often have close ties with academia.

Philip: It's easier to visualize if you think of it as creating connections with major corporations for people aiming to start a business through the three-month Batch program.

Shimura: That explanation is clear. It's not just about providing a meeting place for innovation, but about creating a large collaborative framework involving industry, government, and academia.

Turning innovation into big business.
The most effective approach for this is collaboration between industry, government, and academia.
 

Philip: When building this "collaborative framework" with industry, government, and academia, defining "categories" is crucial.

Shimura: You mean the part you explained at the beginning about "providing accelerator programs tailored to specific business sectors"?

Philip: In Kyoto, it was easier to define "categories" for running batches. For example, the theme of the first program we ran with engawa was "Hard Tech & Health." It wasn't just about healthcare businesses. We designed the program with the vision of involving the companies and industries concentrated in Kyoto.

Shimura: By broadening the scope to include hard tech, it becomes easier to attract sponsors like B2B companies with cutting-edge technology, real estate firms, and insurance companies – businesses that might initially seem unrelated to the healthcare industry. This draws in people from diverse fields, regardless of whether they're science or liberal arts backgrounds.

Philippe: Companies also benefit. For example, collaborating with students on the program allows them to showcase their appeal. Connections with companies from different industries also emerge.

Shimura: Unlike simple training or job-hunting seminars, participating in PnP's program itself creates an environment where new business is more likely to emerge.

Philip: Exactly.

Shimura: When implementing such programs, Kyoto's unique culture really makes a big difference, doesn't it? That "resilience" of long-established businesses that have lasted 100 or 200 years.
It's like the entire city embodies that resilience.

Philip: If you describe it using words like history, culture, or atmosphere, it becomes a question of what meaning that has for future business. But if you think of it as a kind of "magnetic field" that draws people's hearts, it becomes easier to understand.
Kyoto's "magnetic pull" attracts many people, and from that, new business "global formats" are born.

What does PnP expect from Dentsu Inc. or engawa?

Shimura: It feels a bit awkward to ask this again, but what does engawa represent for PnP?

Philippe: It's an indispensable "meeting place" for running our programs. That's engawa. We describe innovation explosions as "0→1," "1→10," and "10→100." PnP excels at the "1→10" stage—nurturing the sprouts that emerge. We expect engawa to provide the "space" that sparks the "0→1" stage where business seeds sprout, while Dentsu Inc. helps scale the 10s we've nurtured into 100-scale businesses. That's why we partnered with engawa.

Shimura: To put it another way, they valued our production capabilities in both creation and acceleration.

Philippe: We have a "space" where we can connect with innovation players. We nurture the sprouts that emerge there through our programs and grow them into big businesses.

Shimura: So communication is crucial at each stage, right?

Philip: Exactly. That's the key point. When we think of innovation, we often imagine a young genius suddenly having a brilliant idea, launching a business, and achieving massive success—like Nobel or Edison. But whether it's discovering genius talent, nurturing it, or elevating it into a business, the most crucial element at every stage is actually communication.

Shimura: So the driving force behind creating and nurturing innovation lies in communication.

Philip: In that sense, both engawa and Dentsu Inc. can be seen as "hubs" for PnP's business.

Shimura: Today, Dentsu Inc. project members received presentations from startups aiming for corporate partnerships.

Scene from a startup presentation seeking corporate partnerships

The keyword is "Open Innovation"

Shimura: Now that we've clarified the "space" and "collaborative framework" for generating innovation, could you tell us about global business trends?

Philippe: It's often said, but the era where "big fish eat little fish"
is over. From now on, it's an era where "fish that can move faster than big fish" will survive.

Shimura: That's a problem many companies, especially large ones, are grappling with.

Philippe: Fast-moving fish get a constant influx of information and connections. That's why they can move even faster.

Shimura: Speed of decision-making is important too, right?

Philip: Exactly. Speed is important, but so is being ahead of the curve. It's about acting faster than your rivals, already being in motion. It's about reaching the next stage while others are still waiting for decisions. To achieve that, you must always be at the forefront.

Shimura: The speed demanded of companies going forward is actually about "speed" and "swiftness."

Philip: And what generates that speed is "open innovation."

Shimura: Now we're getting to the heart of it.

Philippe: Innovation isn't about "1 + 1 = 2." It's about turning "1 + 1" into 3, 10, or even 100. I believe the Japanese are world-class at "1 + 1 = 2," but that alone isn't enough. It doesn't create innovation.

Shimura: "1 + 1 = 2" could also be called an opportunity loss, right?

Philippe: Exactly. That's why I emphasized communication is crucial earlier. It means not hoarding information, keeping it hidden, and trying to succeed alone. What's vital is opening up ideas early on. By opening up, people will jump on that idea. People will come who can expand that idea. That's where speed and scale emerge. That's what open innovation is.

The goal of innovation lies in the "big deal."

Shimura: Why do you think the mindset of open innovation struggles to take root in Japan? Is it because people want to protect their vested interests, or something like that?

Philippe: I think it's because people don't understand what the "return" on open innovation is, or how to manage the "risks" involved in pursuing it.
I think that's the problem.

Shimura: Even we don't know, do we?

Shimura: That's the so-called "big deal," right?

Shimura: That's what they call a "big deal," right?

Philip: If you're just "starting small and nurturing it steadily,"
you won't get innovation.

Shimura: Because the essence of innovation is precisely what doesn't come from ordinary "logic."

Philip: But it's not gambling. When many people get excited about a single idea and jump on board, that power of communication creates the "big deal." The best part of this job is meeting all kinds of people.

Shimura: Because no matter who you introduce him to, Philip talks clearly and without hesitation.

Philip: Because it's fun! There's no time to be intimidated.

Shimura: When you think about it, it's pretty lucky. You get to meet people you'd never normally meet.

Philip: Encounters that would never happen under normal circumstances. It's the communication born from those encounters that sparks innovation and makes the big deal possible.

Shimura: You summed it up perfectly. Thanks for today.