We’d like to open up our innovation circle to work closely with startups: Mitsubishi Electric

Players in the tech business with a lengthy history are rare, much alone those that were there when the electric television was first produced successfully in 1927.

One of the few is Mitsubishi Electric, which was founded in 1921 and became a member of the Mitsubishi Group.

The electric hardware corporation is now one of the largest manufacturing organizations in the world with 10 distinct business divisions operating in a variety of sectors, from household appliances to space technologies.

Nevertheless, despite its extensive experience, Mitsubishi Electric sought to venture outside of the manufacturing industry. In collaboration with the Japanese venture capital firm Global Brain, the business formally introduced its 5 billion yen ($34.9 million) ME Innovation Fund in January of this year.

The action is what spurred Mitsubishi Electric to start looking at long-term partnerships with tech entrepreneurs.

“Traditionally, we’ve focused on only developing things by ourselves,” says Kenji Minefuji, manager at the business innovation group of Mitsubishi Electric.

“But now, we’d like to open up our innovation circle to work closely with startups.”