TEAM

Mr. Taka Nagao co-founded Kyoto Fusioneering in 2019. As CEO, he launched a nuclear fusion business based on lab-scale R&D, and promoted strategic planning, fundraising, and recruitment. Prior to establishing Kyoto Fusioneering, Taka worked at Arthur D. Little Japan, where he provided strategic consulting services for new businesses, as well as at Eneres, an energy startup, where he contributed to the company’s public listing on to the Tokyo Stock Exchange, leading on capital and business alliances and R&D using AI. He is now an affiliated scientist at Kyoto University. Taka holds an M.S in Mechanical Engineering from Kyoto University.

Prof. Satoshi Konishi co-founded Kyoto Fusioneering in 2019. He is responsible for technology development, as well as technology planning and strategy as Chief Fusioneer. Satoshi, who has a PhD in Engineering from the University of Tokyo, has been involved in R&D in fusion technology, advanced nuclear system design, and tritium engineering, including on the ITER project, for four decades. In his position at Kyoto University, where he is a tenured professor, Satoshi has been the Chair of the Test Blanket Program for ITER (from 2009) and has also served as the Japanese representative on the ITER committee (2012). As Director of The Institute of Sustainable Science at Kyoto University since 2008, he has also been involved in sustainability science, and has a lifelong ambition to find a solution for harmonized co-existence of humankind and the natural environment.

Prof. Keishi Sakamoto joined Kyoto Fusioneering in April 2021 as an Executive Officer. He has been engaged in R&D for plasma heating technology for several decades, most recently at the National Institute for Quantum Science and Technology in Japan. In particular, he has been extensively involved in the development of gyrotrons, high-power millimeter-wave generators based on the theory of relativity. As a result, Keishi was the first in the world to simultaneously achieve an output energy of 1 MW an energy conversion efficiency of more than 50%, with continuous output. For his work, he has received awards from MEXT in Japan and the European Physical Society Plasma Division (Innovation Prize). He is now a Specially Appointed Professor at Institute of Advanced Energy, Kyoto University, and has a Ph.D. in Science from Kyushu University.

Mr. Kiyoshi Seko joined Kyoto Fusioneering in April 2021 as an Executive Officer. Kiyoshi is responsible for business development, fundraising, and also PR and marketing. Prior to joining KF, he worked for Mitsubishi Corporation for almost 10 years, where he was involved in business development and strategic investments, including for the establishment of overseas JVs and cross-border M&As. After obtaining his MBA, he worked for Coral Capital, a leading VC firm in Japan, where he made several investments – including one in Kyoto Fusioneering before joining the company – mainly in the deeptech area. Kiyoshi has an M.S in Mechanical Engineering from Kyoto University and an M.S in Applied Physics from University of Tokyo, as well as an MBA from IE Business School, Spain. His hobbies include reading, sports, and research of new science and technology.

Dr. Richard Pearson co-founded Kyoto Fusioneering in 2019. He serves as the company’s Chief Innovator, sitting between the technology and business functions, and is responsible for supporting the company’s growth into global markets. He is also appointed as the company’s UK Director. Richard’s previous work focused on fusion technology innovation, strategy and policy, including for tritium breeding blanket technology. He is widely involved in activities relating to fusion energy, with a strong focus on commercialization. This includes a position as Guest Editor for a Special Issue of the Journal of Fusion Energy on the subject of private fusion enterprises (appointed 2021). Richard has a PhD in Engineering and Innovation from The Open University, UK, an MSc in Nuclear Engineering from from Imperial College London, UK, and is a Visiting Researcher at Kyoto University. His hobbies include cycling, craft beer and football (he is a fan of Arsenal FC).

Prof. Shutaro Takeda co-founded Kyoto Fusioneering in 2019. He is responsible for international relations and technological strategic planning. At the age of 31, He became the youngest Program-Specific Associate Professor of Kyoto University. He has received many prizes, including NIG Early Career Award 2021 from the Institute of Physics and the Director General’s Recognition Award. He formerly worked at the IAEA, and was the first Japanese citizen to work for the UN as an Associate Officer in the fusion division. He has also served as a member of IAEA International Program Advisory Committee Member for Fusion Enterprises Workshop, and as an Expert to the Fusion Energy Sciences Advisory Committee: Japanese MEXT. Shutaro has a PhD in Energy Science from Kyoto University, and M.S. in Sustainability from Harvard University.

Mr. Takashi Imai joined Kyoto Fusioneering in April 2021 as a Director. Takashi is responsible for overall company management, from financial accounting to compliance and IT. In his early career, he worked as an engineer in the nuclear industry, subsequently going on to hold management positions in several major US companies. He later became the President of the Japanese subsidiary of a major insurance company for 10 years, before serving as COO of Eneres, an energy start-up. For the last several years, he has been teaching 15 sessions of data science per year at a city university in Osaka. Takashi is a Certified U.S. Public Accountant and has an M.S in Applied Science from Yale University, USA.

In 2019, after supporting the founding of Kyoto Fusioneering, Prof. Nobuhiro Yagi was appointed as an external director to the company. He has a background in education and research spanning several areas, across: industry, government, and academic laboratories. He also has unique experience in business development licensing in the private sector (Kyowa Kirin Co., Ltd.). He specializes in structuring and investing in university-based deep technology. Currently he is Senior Officer of the investment department at KYOTO-iCAP, and belongs to Kyoto University’s Office of Society-Academia Collaboration for Innovation. Nobuhiro has a PhD in Pharmaceutical Sciences from Toho University.