'Mr. Electronic Compass' Masaya Yamashita Appointed Advisor to株式会社原石, Developer of GEN-SEKI Lab, an AI SaaS Specialized for Enterprise R&D

株式会社原石 (HQ: Chuo-ku, Tokyo; CEO: Kenta Katada) announced that Masaya Yamashita, widely known as 'Mr. Electronic Compass' for building the world's leading electronic compass business, has joined the company as an advisor.

In addition, the company has completed a pre-seed funding round led by Delight Ventures, founded by entrepreneur Tomoko Namba, and announced the official launch of 'GEN-SEKI Lab,' a generative AI SaaS specialized in utilizing technology seeds from large enterprise R&D, on June 29, 2026.

Key Release Points:
- Masaya Yamashita (formerly of Asahi Kasei), recipient of the Imperial Invention Prize and the Medal with Purple Ribbon, has joined as an advisor.
- Completed pre-seed funding from Delight Ventures, led by entrepreneur Tomoko Namba.
- 'GEN-SEKI Lab,' a generative AI SaaS focused on enterprise R&D technology seeds, will be officially launched on June 29, 2026.

Background: The 'Buried Technology Seed' Problem Exhausting Researchers
Japan's major manufacturers boast world-class R&D investment. However, in reality, 63% of technologies* remain undeveloped and buried within companies.

Excellent technologies and insights are scattered throughout companies like 'pieces' of a puzzle. Technologies that could generate value if combined, or technology and market needs, fail to meet due to departmental barriers. Their value is lost because specialized terminology prevents effective communication and consensus-building. The reality is that decisions on what to research, how to solve specific problems, and where to apply them rely heavily on the intuition and memory of a few veteran employees.

In recent years, the 'AI for Science' trend, which accelerates R&D, has spread globally, along with the rapid adoption of various generative AI tools. However, most of these efforts remain limited to enhancing individual research or personal productivity; they fail to utilize technology assets organizationally. In fact, this creates a situation where 'the use of generative AI itself becomes siloed'—effectively remaining a 'personal-level' AI war.
* Cabinet Office 'Annual Economic and Fiscal Report, Fiscal 2018'

1. Advisor Appointment of Masaya Yamashita
Masaya Yamashita, who grew the electronic compass business at Asahi Kasei to the world's top share and received the Imperial Invention Prize and the Medal with Purple Ribbon, has joined as an advisor. Leveraging his experience in commercialization, he will provide guidance centered on the product design of 'GEN-SEKI Lab'.

Masaya Yamashita Profile:
Completed doctoral course in Physical Engineering at the University of Tokyo in 1982 and joined Asahi Kasei Kogyo (now Asahi Kasei). Experienced the entire process from technology development to business expansion in MRI and LIB (lithium-ion batteries). Initiated the electronic compass business in 2000 and led product development. In 2008 and 2009, his products were standard-mounted in Android OS and iOS smartphones, respectively, growing the business into a multi-tens-of-billions-yen scale. One of Japan's leading practitioners in technology commercialization. Received the Imperial Invention Prize in 2012 and the Medal with Purple Ribbon in the Spring of 2015.

Why 'Mr. Electronic Compass' joined GEN-SEKI Lab: The Development Story
The 3-axis electronic compass that Yamashita built to world No. 1 share was not born from a single great invention. It was the result of 'pieces' sleeping throughout the company and in his own career interlocking under one objective.

The story began by questioning a conventional wisdom. In 2000, the standard belief among magnetic sensor engineers was that 'high-sensitivity sensors are needed to measure weak geomagnetic fields' and 'direction must be measured accurately.' However, Yamashita focused on an unverified premise: 'Are geomagnetic fields in the city actually pointing North correctly?' He measured city geomagnetic fields for two months himself. The result: geomagnetic fields were off by ±10-20 degrees in most places. 'If the object being measured is inaccurate, high-precision measurement is meaningless. All that matters for navigation is not getting lost.' When this 'high sensitivity is justice' belief was overturned, existing low-sensitivity sensors, previously considered 'useless,' became the stars. Their weaknesses were compensated by his experience in 'measuring weak magnetic fields by integration' from his MRI days, lithium-ion battery expertise optimized manufacturing processes like the 3-axis structure, and his MRI-honed software skills led to the 'DOE (Dynamic Offset Estimation)' invention, where correction is completed through natural user movement. 'Pieces' scattered across different departments, businesses, and eras were multiplied.