Touchence Inc. was awarded the Invention Grand Prize by the Japan Society for the Advancement of Inventions. This was featured in the March 6, 2020, morning edition of the Nikkan Kogyo Shimbun newspaper.

Our end of year and New Year’s business hours will be as indicated below. Holidays: December 28, 2019, to January 5, 2020

Resumption of business: January 6, 2020

However, we will be able to receive inquiries during the holiday period. Inquiries received during the holiday period will be responded to in the order that they were received in once business hours resume. Thank you for your understanding.

Touchence enters license agreement with Kagawa University, begins third-generation tactile sensor development

Touchence has entered a license agreement with Kagawa University and begun third-generation tactile sensor development.

Touchence Inc. (location: Taito-ku, Tokyo, representative: Kenichi Ogata, which develops, manufactures, and sells tactile sensors, has announced that it has entered a license agreement with Kagawa University regarding technologies related to the Takao Laboratory’s MEMS tactile sensors and tactile feel evaluation methods. They have begun the development of new tactile sensors.

■ Background behind this license agreement

Touchence was formed in 2011 as a collaboration between industry, academia, and government. It is a development-focused venture business that engages in activities aimed at the mass production of tactile sensors in the research and development stage. It has already succeeded in being the first company in the world to commercialize and mass produce flexible tactile sensor technologies, first-generation tactile sensors which are themselves capable of flexible deformation. In 2018, it performed third-party allocation of shares with DEFTA Healthcare Technologies, L.P. (business locations: U.S., Israel, Japan, Hong Kong, etc., representative: Joji Hara), etc. as recipients to procure financing. It is currently engaged in development aimed at the mass production of second-generation sensors, the world’s most compact multi-axis tactile sensors developed based on the MEMS tactile sensor technologies of the University of Tokyo’s Shimoyama Laboratory. Kagawa University has positively evaluated our commercialization and business deployment results and our expertise as a leader of the tactile sensor market, and we have positively evaluated the MEMS tactile sensor technologies developed by Kagawa University’s Takao Laboratory, specializing in tactile feel measurement. This mutual recognition has led to Kagawa University and Touchence concluding a license agreement. This technology uses the research results produced by the Japan Science and Technology Agency’s CREST project, spearheaded by the Takao Laboratory. By making new MEMS tactile sensor devices more compact and less expensive while providing them with tactile detection capabilities that exceed those of the human finger, we hope to create new tactile sensor markets in robot, beauty, and healthcare fields. 

■Future business development

In addition to the Shokac Cube, a flexible tactile sensor, and the Shokac Chip, the world’s most compact multi-axis tactile sensor, we will search for a joint development partner for the Shokac Probe, a tactile sensor that uses this tactile feel measurement, and we plan to commercially release the results in two years. This sensor will contribute to the creation of products such as new user interfaces, more advanced robot hands, compact and high performance beauty and healthcare devices, and intelligent medical devices. Through these, we hope to reach 10 billion yen in sales in 2025. 

■ Company overview
 Company name: Touchence Inc.
 Representative: President Kenichi Ogata
 Established: 2011
Capital as of April: 127,987,500 yen (after increase in capitalization)
Business contents: Development, manufacture and sale of tactile sensors
 Address: 2-21-10 Kitaueno, Taito-ku, Tokyo
 Tel: 03-3847-9551
 Fax: 03-3847-9552
 URL:  http://www.touchence.jp

 ■DEFTA Healthcare Technologies, L.P.
Business locations: U.S., Israel, Japan, Hong Kong, etc. (business development regions: U.S., Israel, Japan)
Business development fields: Advanced medicine and regenerative medicine, next-generation medical devices, healthcare
IoT – ICTURL: http://deftapartners.com/ (DEFTA Partners)

 ■Inquiries
Touchence Inc. inquiry contact: Naoya Maruyama
Tel: 03-3847-9551
 Fax: 03-3847-9552
 E-mail: maruyama@touchence.jp 

We wish to inform you that we have decided to increase our company’s capitalization in order to contribute to its business development. Details are indicated below. All of our employees will work as one, dedicating themselves to meeting the expectations of our stakeholders.

Increase in capitalization       37,987,500 yen

Capital after capital increase   27,987,500 yen

Date of increase in capitalization     August 30, 2019 

The South China Morning Post, a daily English-language newspaper published in Hong Kong, ran an article introducing the SATAKE Group. Read the article