Track record

Business development, not introductions

The strongest evidence for Knowgic's work is not that we know both countries. It is that we have helped technology move from one market into another through acquisition, customer development, institutional alignment, and public-sector adoption.

Before founding Knowgic, Tetsu worked at Wolfram Research and Cybernet Systems, then moved into the Canada-Japan engineering software corridor that still defines Knowgic's work. At Cybernet Systems, he identified Maplesoft as a Canadian engineering software company with strategic value for a Japanese industrial technology group, proposed the acquisition, and helped carry it through to completion. He later served as executive vice president at Maplesoft, where he built the company's Japan business across universities, automotive manufacturers, and machinery companies.

That sequence is the core case study: find a Canadian technology asset before the market has fully priced it, make the strategic case to a Japanese buyer, align the organizations, and then build the commercial market after the transaction.

After founding Knowgic, the same work continued from Waterloo. Knowgic supported Acerta Analytics, a Kitchener-Waterloo industrial AI company, as its Japan business lead. The work centered on Japanese customer development: translating a Waterloo startup's product into the business, quality, and manufacturing language used by Japanese automotive and industrial buyers.

For Canadian companies, this is the relevant proof. Knowgic is useful when a technology company needs Japan not as a conference market, but as a customer market, a strategic-buyer market, a university and public-sector adoption market, or a long-term industrial partner market.

Projects

1 / AI startup in Kitchener

Supported Acerta Analytics, a Kitchener-Waterloo industrial AI company, as Japan business lead. The work covered Japanese customer development and translating a Waterloo startup's technology into the terms Japanese automotive and manufacturing buyers use.

2 / Solution Provider in Tokyo

Advisory to Altex Corporation on Japanese government funding plans and on the design of technical education programs — including subsidy application structure, commercial and IP terms, and curriculum materials developed with university faculty.

3 / Japanese Automotive OEM

Structured and supported a research collaboration between a Japanese automotive manufacturer's R&D organization and a Canadian university, spanning the technical scope, the institutional agreement, and the commercial terms.

4 / Physical AI Vendor in Markham

Advisor to Quanser, the Markham, Ontario company whose platform is used by universities worldwide to teach robotics and control engineering. Our work covers explaining how the company's technology fits Canadian and Ontario policy priorities, preparing materials for government and university-sector audiences, and building the relationships that turn a product into a funded skills program.

5 / Regional Economic Development in Ottawa

Ongoing advisory relationships with Canadian economic development organizations, including Invest Ottawa and Waterloo EDC, on Japanese market strategy and on identifying Japanese companies for inbound investment and partnership.