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Members Introduction
Kiichiro Katsumata
Kiichiro Katsumata
COO, President
For 23 years at Microsoft, he contributed to the creation of the foundation of the current IT industry through support for the development of domestic OEM PCs and sales promotions for retailers during the early days and expansion of Windows.
In 2007, he was appointed executive director.
He left the company in November 2014.
“Using drones and IoT, we will revitalize and make a leap forward in the skills of agricultural craftsmen, the origin of Japan’s manufacturing. With this in mind, he started Drone Japan Co., Ltd. in December 2015 with his partner Sunohara.
As a pioneer in the “drone x agriculture” industry, we are currently expanding our business both domestically and internationally. He is also a guest lecturer at educational corporations and NPOs such as “Business Concept Graduate University” and “16-Year-Old Work School.” He gives lectures on AI & Big Data, using the case study of “drone x agriculture” to a wide range of people from high school students to working adults.
Hisanori Sunohara
Hisanori Sunohara
executive chairman
He has contributed to the spread of PCs since the early days of the PC market at Mitsui & Co. Digital and Microsoft. In 2013, he threw himself into the drone business.
In 2015, he became Chairman of the Secure Drone Council. In the same year, he established Drone Japan Co., Ltd. with Katsumata.
In August 2017, he became the representative director of the Drone Autonomous Flight Development Association (DADA).
He writes the “Drone Business Research Report” published by Impress every year.
Currently, he is proposing the use of industrial drones, planning and consulting on various new drone businesses for manufacturers in various industries, and is launching many new drone businesses.
Masaki Shibuya
Masaki Shibuya
Technology management
Robot engineer. He met Drone Japan at the 10th class of the Drone Engineer Training School in 2020, and joined the instructors from the 13th class in 2022. Since August 2023, he has been providing lecture-style explanations and technical support on how to effectively utilize open source software for drones, especially ArduPilot, as a technology supervisor.