Biomanufacturing as a new field

What was discussed

The session discussed how to connect technology and markets in order to expand manufacturing with microorganisms as a business. It introduced a business that ferments unused resources such as rice bran and okara with multiple microorganisms, and a research foundation that speeds up microorganism development by repeating design, experiment, evaluation, and learning. A sense that sustainability alone does not sell products and that function and economic rationality must be communicated was also shared. Along with the use of AI to handle large amounts of data, the importance of judging results with a feel for the experimental setting was pointed out.

About this session

Bio-manufacturing is the field born where biotechnology and mechanical engineering cross. Biotechnology, long confined largely to the laboratory bench, is now entering a new stage in concert with automation and AI. In this session we read the frontier of bio-manufacturing and widen the vision toward its industrialisation, together with professionals in business development support.

Speakers

• 

  Kazuhiko Kawashita

  quantum inc.　President and CEO

  After creative work in marketing, PR and advertising production at Hakuhodo, he joined quantum in 2017. He has worked on business development in manufacturing, entertainment, education and welfare, launching ventures in wheelchairs, talent matching and gait training among others. He became head of creative in 2020, co-CEO and director in 2022, and President and CEO in April 2025. He supports companies in creating businesses, from conception through to implementation.

• 

  Lina Sakai

  Fermenstation　Representative Director

  After graduating from International Christian University she worked at several financial institutions including Fuji Bank and Deutsche Securities. Drawn to fermentation, she enrolled in the Department of Fermentation Science at Tokyo University of Agriculture, graduating in March 2009. That year she founded Fermenstation and became its representative director. The company ferments and distils unused biomass such as food residues, turning it into ethanol and ingredients for food and cosmetics, and works with companies and regions to bring unused resources back into circulation.

• 

  Yuka Tanimoto

  ModeratorForbes JAPAN (Linkties Co., Ltd.)　Executive Officer and Web Editor-in-Chief

  After working at a securities firm, she anchored financial and economic programmes on Bloomberg TV and took an MBA in the United States in 2004. She then worked as a presenter at Nikkei CNBC, where she became the broadcaster's first female commentator, and has been Executive Officer and Web Editor-in-Chief of Forbes JAPAN since June 2020. She has interviewed more than three thousand leading figures worldwide, among them former British prime minister Tony Blair, Apple co-founder Steve Wozniak and Starbucks founder Howard Schultz. She also moderates economic symposia and serves as a judge for government-backed startup competitions. Her books include a guide to listening and a study of the passions of the world's top leaders.

• 

  Akihiko Kondo

  OnlineBacchus Bio Innovation Co., Ltd.　President and CEO

  He completed his doctorate in chemical engineering at Kyoto University's Graduate School of Engineering. At Kobe University he has led research in biorefinery, centred on cell surface engineering and metabolic engineering, that puts microorganisms to work producing materials. In 2020 he founded Bacchus Bio Innovation, where as President and CEO he is commercialising an integrated biofoundry that cycles through design, build, test and learn. At Kobe University he serves as Professor Emeritus, Adviser to the President, and Visiting Professor at the Graduate School of Science, Technology and Innovation.