Global IT Park Minami Uonuma initiated in 2016 with an aim to practice and promote open innovation between Japanese companies, Sri Lankan IT companies and other foreign IT companies. Adam Innovation came up with this concept through its global strategy consulting services for Japanese companies.
“Japan is a very unique country. Compared to many other countries in the world Japan has deeply rooted business culture and extraordinary achievements. By the 1970s and 1980s, Japan extended its domination to the global electronics industry as it manufactured the majority of the world’s consumer electronics products. They introduced innovative and revolutionary new products such as the pocket transistor radio, the VHS recorder and the Sony Walkman, which created a totally new market that was similar to the Apple iPod and iPhone in recent years. Japanese electronics manufacturers also established a strategic foothold in the growing computer hardware industry, virtually Japan’s Bubble Economy: Nintendo monopolizing the market for semiconductor chips, circuit boards and other computer components – nearly everything except for CPU chip production, which was still dominated by American companies. In the 1980s, many people believed that the Japanese firms Sony and Hitachi would eventually acquire American electronics giants Intel and IBM”, said President, Adam Innovations Co., Ltd, Kaushal Wawlagala.
“In Japan, industries dominated by large business conglomerates “keiretsu” in Japanese. Typical keiretsu conglomerates were arranged in the form of a series of interlocking industrial corporations organized around a Japanese bank. There are also a large number of “monozukuri” companies who manufacture products and services for those keiretsu conglomerates. Monozukuri literally means ‘production’ or ‘making of things’ in Japanese. But, monozukuri is more than just crafting; it is a mindset, a spirit, a philosophy. It is the Japanese work ethic and the drive toward perfection”, he said.
“Due to this strong bond among Japanese companies, it’s really difficult for foreign companies to break this barrier. To have a business contract with a Japanese company is extremely difficult. I have seen many Sri Lankan companies are coming to Japan to start business with Japanese companies. They also initiate some good discussions. But, when it comes to business contracts it is almost impossible. That is one of the reasons we helped Sri Lankan IT companies to set up their Japan office in Global IT Park”, he said.
Global IT Park is not just a business park to provide office space. It is a total support system for foreign IT companies. Even a Sri Lankan startup can start its office in Japan and be able to work with Japanese companies. We like to support startups because they approach problems differently, are constantly finding solutions, and are driven to make the most out of their time and work. Global IT Park has a good mix of startups and mature companies from Sri Lanka and India. We provide various support for them to get business in Japan. We conduct various business activities such as organizing regular business seminars and discussions with Japanese counterparts. We build partnerships with universities and business associations such as chambers and IT Associations. We conduct events and activities to build communication between Japanese and foreigners. We participate in major exhibitions too. Last year Global IT Park booth at “Niigata Biz Expo” got the highest number of B2B Meetings and number of visitors”, he said.
“Global IT Park is a very challenging project there are many things that we need to consider. There are language barriers and strong cultural barriers. More than that software development projects are not much visible to Japanese monozukuri companies as they are used to manufacturing hardware. Most companies do not have IT departments and top management do not understand the value of software. Therefore, the customer journey of closing a sale is long and time consuming. On the other hand, foreign companies expect quick wins. Thus, satisfying those two counterparts are extremely challenging. We utilize a lot of resources to create this harmony”, he said.
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| Kaushal Wawlagala with executive delegation from Niigata Keizai Doyukai (Niigata Association of Corporate Executives), consists of top executives in Niigata companies |
“Last two years we spend a lot of time and money on PR activities as it is important to build awareness about technologies and foreign companies among Japanese companies. However, in last two years we were able to start a few amazing projects with Japanese companies and government entities. To name few, we developed a health monitoring application for Japanese construction and mining workers. We completed the phase one of the Ocular disease screening systems. We developed a multilingual restaurant App for foreigners to enjoy Japanese cuisine. We are in the process of developing a highly intelligent competency matching platform to match the skills and competencies for a particular project, Smart Parking Solutions, Foreigners’ registration system for City offices. Document Management system for large organizations, Smart toilet to monitor the health of senior citizens. Most of these projects are handled by Sri Lankan IT companies,” he said.
“We are very optimistic about the future of the Global IT Park. The government of Japan is to introduce a big stimulus package to motivate Japanese monozukuri companies to use new generation IT technologies. The Cabinet already passed the new Economic Policy Package to push up productivity through the use of technologies such as artificial intelligence, robots, IoT. This will help Sri Lankan IT companies to work hand in hand with Japanese companies to develop new generation technologies,” he said.
Currently, there are six Sri Lankan IT companies registered at Global IT Park Japan. Those registered companies obtain the project and pass it to their Sri Lankan office for development. The management of those projects is done by the Japanese office together with Adam Innovations. This has high confidence and visibility for Japanese companies than directly passing a project to a foreign company,” he said.
“Sri Lanka has talented IT Engineers who can design and develop world-class solutions. We want to find good companies with a talented pool of such Engineers. This will help us to raise the bar of Sri Lanka in Japan and also to bring a lot of foreign revenue to Sri Lanka,” he added.
Global IT Park in Japan is planning to showcase their new technologies in October Niigata Biz Expo and 2nd Anniversary events.
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