vol.8 “Food game changers” gather in Nihonbashi! Japan’s largest food tech conference “SKS JAPAN2024” event report [Mitsui Fudosan ✕ UnlocX]

&mog by Mitsui Fudosan is a one-stop platform that supports food business development, from concept design to urban implementation. The keyword for this project, which started in Nihonbashi this spring, is “Future food grown in the city.” Mitsui Fudosan is working with partner companies related to food to carry out a variety of activities to create new innovations.
“&mog Kingdom” introduces monthly project events and the latest news. We will report on the new food trends starting in Nihonbashi!

As a food business creation project
“&mog by Mitsui Fudosan” will also be on stage!
Thinking about co-creation that is possible only in different industries
Japan’s largest food tech conference “SKS JAPAN2024” was held in Nihonbashi, Tokyo for three days from October 24th (Thursday) to 26th (Saturday). This year, the 7th time, there were 44 sessions with approximately 100 speakers from Japan and abroad, covering a wide range of themes.
The first day will start with an overview of trends and overviews of global food tech, and the second day will focus on how AI will change alternative proteins, which are a global food issue. This led to a more concrete direction, such as taking on the challenge of a new co-creation model. On the third and final day, students will further explore the future, including the future direction of regenerative agriculture aimed at by the Walton Family Foundation, which was founded by the founding family of Walmart, the world’s largest retailer, and solutions to Japan’s food security issues. The focus was on those aimed at In-depth discussions were also held in small groups.
What makes “SKS JAPAN” unique is not only these sessions, but also the richness of the exhibition halls set up in three major locations. At Coredo Muromachi Terrace, the venue, 40 companies, about twice as many as last year, exhibited new technologies and services. In addition, from October 26th (Saturday) to October 27th (Sunday), “Food Mirai Yokocho” was held on Nakadori in Nihonbashi, where the general public could participate, to the enjoyment of people passing through Nihonbashi.
In addition, from this year, unique events such as “A night to experience Japanese plant-based technology that challenges the world’s standards!” and “It’s delicious. That’s why it connects to the future,” created by Chef Horie of the innovative Italian restaurant H1, will also be held. Linked events were also launched, and the conference on thinking about the “future of food” expanded greatly.


The top performer of the main session was Hirotaka Tanaka, the representative of UnlocX Co., Ltd., which organizes “SKS JAPAN 2024” and a key figure behind holding “SKS JAPAN” in Japan. Michael Wolff, CEO of The Spoon, is the founder of the global food tech summit “SKS”.
The two appeared on stage to the sound of joyful drums as the venue was filled with many participants waiting for them. “We’ve been running SKS JAPAN since 2017, and we’ve strengthened it every time, and Mike always says, “Japan’s strength is the amazing power of the community.” This year, too, we’re making use of that and making it even more exciting. I would like to come, so please do so!” Mr. Tanaka began.
Mr. Michael Wolfe, who was listening intently to Mr. Tanaka’s passionate speech, talked about trends in food tech from a global perspective. Participants listened with great interest as they talked about various other topics that will support food tech in the future, such as various restaurant technology topics and the growing interest in hybrid products that may use fermentation-based products. was.
After this top conference, there will be topics such as “Overview of global food system innovation and Japan’s role” and “Can Japan’s food industry revolution be realized?” “and “The Evolution of Kitchen OS,” which were appropriate for the first day, were followed by conferences with big themes, and with more than 400 participants, expectations for the future of food tech were high. In addition to these sessions, a variety of other programs were also prepared during the event, including roundtables where visitors and speakers could interact, demonstrating that this was a conference where everyone could participate, not just listen.

“&mog by Mitsui Fudosan” took the stage in the afternoon of the second day and held a conference with the theme of “Creating a food industry through urban development.” The members who took the stage were Mr. Katsuhisa Nanao, General Manager of the Nihonbashi Urban Development Promotion Department (Mitsui Fudosan Co., Ltd.), Mr. Yoshito Kikunaga, Group Manager, Mr. Shunichi Shibanuma of Sigmaxis Investment Co., Ltd., and a sales representative from Mitsubishi UFJ Bank, Ltd. There were five people, including director Yuji Kosugi and moderator Hirotaka Tanaka.
This session will discuss why Mitsui Fudosan has launched &mog by Mitsui Fudosan, a platform to promote food innovation projects, with the aim of evolving Nihonbashi into not only a place to eat, but also a place to create food innovation. We started with the theme, “Are there any?”
“This time, we have received support from Mitsui Fudosan as a platinum partner, including various scenes such as the SKS Partner Dinner. &mog by Mitsui Fudosan, this is also a quite unique initiative,” Mr. Tanaka said at the outset. When I spoke, Mr. Kikunaga accepted it.
“Thank you. Mitsui Fudosan is a company that develops towns and is particularly focused on the Nihonbashi area. I’m sure some of you are wondering why town planning and food are related in the first place. I would like to introduce you to that as well.”
“We are also involved in the &mog by Mitsui Fudosan project in a variety of ways, but even in the food innovation map announced yesterday, there is a strong link between city and town development, the evolution of food, and the social implementation of food. It is explained that In addition, the creation of competitive bases, “cities and towns,” and “the relationship between cities and food” are currently attracting a lot of attention around the world.
On the first day (October 24th), there was a conference featuring Sara Roversi, the representative of Italy’s Future Food Institute, which works to create a global food network to combat climate change. In Italy, which is home to regions where people live to be over 100 years old, efforts have begun to create a food system that is regenerative for the environment and longevity for humans. I introduced that there is. With this trend happening all over the world, the &mog by Mitsui Fudosan project is also attracting attention. Now, Mr. Kikunaga, I would like to introduce our activities.”

Following Mr. Tanaka’s introduction, Mr. Kikuchi explained the specific details of the project.
“In March of this year, we released &mog by Mitsui Fudosan as a platform to support food business development through urban development. This will involve making good use of the hard assets that our group owns, such as commercial facilities and condominiums, while working with partner companies collaborating on this project to develop the food business from both the hard and soft aspects. Let’s support each other.”
Even though it can be called “business development” in one word, the process is wide-ranging. Mr. Kikunaga explains that he will be involved in all aspects of the process, including planning new businesses, designing business concepts, manufacturing prototypes, test marketing, and even expanding sales channels and implementing them in cities after commercialization is decided. Easy-to-understand explanations are provided with specific examples.
“For example, we have someone who has created a prototype and would like us to evaluate its taste. In such cases, we may assign a local chef and hold a tasting event, or we may hold a tasting event that gathers general consumers and retail buyers, or we may collaborate with partner companies to suit your needs. We would like to respond accordingly.We also sometimes receive inquiries from people who want to do test marketing before commercialization. In that case, we will use the commercial facilities we operate to provide opportunities to collect questionnaires, and in some cases, we may even take over the task of collecting the questionnaires on your behalf.”
Case studies that have been undertaken to date in business development support were also introduced in detail, along with materials. Let me introduce an example of this in bullet points below.
Introduction of some case studies of “&mog by Mitsui Fudosan” business development support
1_ Online delivery service support using autonomous robots handled by Mitsubishi Electric. Coordination with the Nihonbashi Neighborhood Association and provision of an office building owned by Mitsui Fudosan as a storage and charging location for the robot.
2_Support for Fermectes Co., Ltd., a venture company originating from Keio University that is working on new food ingredients using natto bacteria. Developing use cases and conducting consumer surveys, developing and proposing recipes in collaboration with chefs who host cooking classes as “&mog by Mitsui Fudosan,” holding tasting events and collecting questionnaires, etc.
3_A plant-based product that reproduces the taste and texture of mentaiko was developed and offered as a pasta menu at a restaurant in Nihonbashi.
4_To support the marketing of dishwashing detergent, conduct sampling among residents of condominiums developed by the Mitsui Fudosan Group.
“For the online delivery service for autonomous robots (1), we utilized the relationships we have in the Nihonbashi area to support the implementation of the latest technology in the city by creating an environment.Also, items 2 and 3 are next-generation ingredients, but I hear that many manufacturers are having a hard time gaining recognition for them. In our project, we were able to gain recognition for this plant-based mentaiko by making it available on menus at restaurants, and we were able to help get feedback on the product. Regarding marketing support in step 4, by sampling individual condominiums, we were able to conduct research that efficiently targeted residents whose attributes varied depending on the area.” Mr. Kikunaga added. Also comments.
He also emphasizes that the strength of &mog by Mitsui Fudosan is that it can support not only the software aspects but also the hardware aspects. “In promoting ‘&mog by Mitsui Fudosan,’ we have heard from many people that they do not have enough equipment to conduct full-scale research and development to become a food R&D base, and that it is difficult to maintain it in-house. I did. To address these issues, we are also planning to open a laboratory that will be equipped with equipment in advance and will be able to start research and development just by moving in,” says Mr. Kikunaga.

Mitsubishi UFJ Bank is also a partner company in this project. Mr. Kosugi of Mitsubishi UFJ Bank, who also appeared on stage, explained the significance of this as follows.
“For the past two and a half years, our bank has been running a “Food Transformation Project,” and we are working with companies that are seriously tackling various social issues related to food. Since then, various connections have expanded, and I am very much looking forward to forming a relationship with Mitsui Fudosan.’Urban development and food’, which ‘&mog by Mitsui Fudosan’ promotes, is exactly the theme we want to work on, so we are truly grateful for this relationship. I think there is also the aspect of transcending the walls of the chaebol (lol), so I would like to use that momentum and topicality as leverage to create excitement.”
In the second half, Mr. Nanao also talked about the future initiatives that “&mog by Mitsui Fudosan” should aim for.

I thought, “Isn’t it okay to have ambitions that go beyond industrial creation as a project, go beyond technological innovation, and create cultural innovation in the world of Nihonbashi and Yaesu, to the point where it goes out into the world?” We believe that this is our role
In response to this, he said, “This platform is truly amazing because it allows us to implement various things in society.Since we started talking about this, more and more concrete ideas have come to mind, so together we can use this platform to create various new things. I would like to work together with them on this grand project of ‘creating a city together,'” Mr. Kosugi said with enthusiasm.
We exchanged opinions on a wide range of topics, including the promotion of future co-creation and the development of “&mog by Mitsui Fudosan” in order to aim for Nihonbashi to become a “destination” for global food innovation, not just domestic activities. progressed.
■CREDIT
text:Jun Okamoto
photo:Yoshiko Yoda