Research Presentations (2 of 5) - Osumi, Sakurai, Xie

Thursday, May 23, 2013
12:00 PM - 2:00 PM
(Pacific)
Philippines Conference Room
Speaker: 
  • Kazuaki Osumi,
  • Kenta Sakurai,
  • Mao Xie


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In this session of the Shorenstein APARC Corporate Affiliate Visiting Fellows Research Presentations, the following will be presented:

 

Kazuaki Osumi, "A Comparative Study of VCs in the United States and Japan"

There is no doubt that start-ups are one of the most important players for innovation.  And venture capital firms (VCs) play a vital role in improving their business.  In his research, Osumi tries to find out what the role is for the Japanese government in this area by comparing the differences between VCs in the United States and Japan.

 

Kenta Sakurai, "Establishing the Optimal System of Patent Examination"

The patent war between Apple and Samsung Electronics, which was big news in the summer of 2012, has been spreading throughout the world, including Europe and Asia.  However, this is not the only problem these two companies have.  In order to prepare for the other forth-coming patent wars, technology companies are trying to win an “armament race”, acquiring as many patents (“weapons”) as possible.  While heating the races, the total number of patent applications filed at the national patent offices has been rapidly increasing over the last decade.  As a result, the most serious problem for each of these offices has become examining this flood of applications, creating a trade-off between swiftness and accuracy of examination.

In his presentation, Sakurai argues what is the optimal patent examination process, understanding the importance of both timely patent issuance and deterrence of superfluous provision of “weapons”.

 

Mao Xie, "Downstream Gas Business Management"

In recent years, the role of natural gas in facilitating low carbon economic growth, energy consumption mix optimization and environmental protection has become more prominent.  After the deregulation of the wellhead prices, interstate pipeline regulation and the emergence of the marketers, the United States’ natural gas industry has entered its mature stage and become one of the most developed gas markets in the world.

To develop a strong natural gas business constitutes a key part of constructing a green, internationalized and sustainable PetroChina.  Through market environment comparison and case studies involving the downstream area, Xie attempts to understand the best and most appropriate experiences that a state-owned company like PetroChina can learn and apply to its own practices.