Kazuaki Osumi

Kazuaki Osumi is the Director General of the New Energy and Industrial Technology Development Organization (NEDO) Silicon Valley Office. NEDO is a government related organization under the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry (METI) in Japan, which is in charge of funding and managing R&D projects in the areas of new energy, energy efficiency, smart grid and other industrial technologies including IT, robotics and materials. As NEDO’s representative for the west part of the US, he is closely involved in the EV and storage demonstration projects implemented in California. In addition, he manages several initiatives which aim to strengthen Japanese economic competitiveness such as introducing Japanese tech based startups to the Silicon Valley ecosystem and hosting various events. Prior to his current role at NEDO, he was a Deputy Director in METI. Since joining METI in 2002, his career has covered many policy fields such as industrial, energy and Fukushima restoration policies. From 2008 to 2011, he was a director of an industrial related division in Nara Prefecture. Kazuaki earned a master’s degree in Advanced Materials Science from The University of Tokyo. He was a visiting fellow at the APARC program at Stanford University from 2012 to 2013.