Hydrovenus Inc. Selected for the ICT Startup League Sponsored by the Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications

Hydrovenus Inc. (Headquarters: Okayama City, Okayama Prefecture; President: Tsuyoshi Ueda; hereinafter 'the Company') is pleased to announce that it has been selected as an adopted company in the 'ICT Startup League', an advanced ICT (Information and Communication Technology) startup support program sponsored by the Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications (MIC), following a rigorous screening process.

■ What is the ICT Startup League?

This support program started in FY2023, triggered by the MIC's 'Startup Creation-type Exploratory Research and Development Support Project'. In addition to R&D expense support and accompaniment support through MIC projects, the program collaborates with media to widely disseminate the businesses and initiatives of participating startups. By increasing the number of people supporting startups, it also develops as an ecosystem that accelerates business growth and regional revitalization.

■ Details of the Adopted Business

The Company's core technology, Hydro-VENUS (Hydrokinetic Vortex ENergy Utilization System), is a power generation technology invented at Okayama University that generates electricity in flowing water environments. Compared to conventional hydropower, it features the ability to generate power in flowing water environments with almost no head, resistance to entanglement with drifting debris, and low installation costs, overcoming difficulties that have plagued conventional small hydropower. Demand has been received as an IoT power source in mountainous areas, heavy snowfall regions, sewage, and underwater environments, where solar power is unsuitable, and the Company has previously engaged in data analysis-oriented efforts such as sluice gate management. This time, the ICT Startup League initiative aims to package the technology with communication technologies. Specifically, it will solidify technologies such as verification of output and installation methods according to locations like mountainous areas and offshore, as well as remote monitoring of equipment, to serve as a foundation for ensuring functions as an infrastructure node that expands electricity, communication, and data in aquatic areas.

■ CEO Comment

We are deeply honored and feel a renewed sense of responsibility to have been selected. We aim to achieve both sustainable energy and disaster risk reduction, providing technology that contributes to more people. By taking advantage of this program's development, we will accelerate further technological development and social implementation, and we hope to collaborate with many companies and local governments.

■ Future Outlook

We will expand 'infrastructure nodes' based on communication networks and distributed power sources to agricultural waterways, rivers, underground waterways, and seas, where visualization and remote control have been impossible due to lack of power. This will effectively attach a nervous system to the waterway network, which is like blood vessels, enabling data acquisition and AI utilization for flood control. By expanding the power scale and number of units, we will develop automatic control of sluice gates and charging infrastructure for drones. To achieve this, we intend to establish partnerships with companies and local governments through demonstration tests.

■ Company Information

Company Name: Hydrovenus Inc.
Representative: President Tsuyoshi Ueda
Locations: Okayama Headquarters: KIBINOVE, Okayama University Co-Creation Innovation Lab, 3-1-1 Tsushimanaka, Kita-ku, Okayama City, Okayama Prefecture; Tokyo Office: Room 308, Rokugō BASE, 3-10-16 Minamirokugō, Ōta-ku, Tokyo
Established: January 2015
Business: Manufacturing and sales of hydrokinetic power generators and development of infrastructure node services utilizing them
URL: https://hydrovenus.co.jp
[Contact Information] Public Relations Department, Email: info@hydrovenus.co.jp, Tel: 03-6821-8156