| William H. Saito | |
|---|---|
William Hiroyuki Saito, 2008 |
|
| Born | March 23, 1971 Los Angeles, California |
| Residence | Tokyo, Japan |
| Nationality | Japanese American |
| Alma mater | University of California, Riverside |
| Known for | Information security, biometrics, entrepreneurship, innovation |
William Hiroyuki Saito (ウィリアム 浩幸 齋藤, born March 23, 1971) is an entrepreneur, venture capitalist and educator who has founded start-ups, managed public corporations and worked on global information security policy over the past two decades. He holds multiple patents in the U.S. and Japan based on his work in information and data security, particularly the field of biometrics. Ernst & Young, NASDAQ and USA Today named Saito Entrepreneur of the Year in 1998,[1] and he was inducted into the Collegiate Entrepreneurs' Organization Hall of Fame in 2001. He has won other awards and industry accolades as well as Congressional recognition.
In addition to being a public speaker[2] and writer in English and Japanese, Saito is regularly quoted in the media on both sides of the Pacific. He has contributed time and expertise over the years to various charitable organizations, business groups and communities. Saito currently lives in Japan, where he runs InTecur—a consultancy that helps companies identify, develop and market innovative technologies.
At the 2011 World Economic Forum, Saito was named a Young Global Leader,[3] one of just 190 individuals from 65 countries chosen from nearly five thousand candidates worldwide this year. The selection committee was chaired by H.M. Queen Rania Al Abdullah of the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan and was composed of respected international leaders from business, government and media. The honor recognizes leaders under forty years of age for their outstanding leadership, professional accomplishments, commitment to society and potential to shape the future of the world. The individuals named become part of a community known as the Forum of Young Global Leaders.[4]
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Saito’s parents emigrated from Japan to the United States in 1969, two years before William was born in Los Angeles, California. Both his father and mother—a chemist and veterinarian, respectively—stressed the value of acquiring math skills. Saito was solving college-level math problems by the time he finished primary school, and working on the school’s only computer. While still in junior high, he began performing coding jobs for Merrill Lynch and other firms.
Saito and a like-minded high school classmate, Tas Dienes, later began doing business as I/O Software. Saito graduated a year early from high school in 1987, and went on to earn a degree in biomedical science from the University of California, Riverside (UCR).
Saito and Dienes formally incorporated I/O Software, Inc. in late 1991 while they were still in college, and began operating out of an industrial park in Rancho Cucamonga. The company eventually moving to Riverside, California, and rapidly grew into a leading developer of highly flexible, scalable information security solutions based on advanced user authentication and encryption (e.g., biometrics, smart cards, security tokens) utilized in digital certificates, public key infrastructure (PKI) and e-commerce systems.
Saito made use of his bilingual upbringing in 1992 when Datastorm Technologies, Inc., intent on entering the Japanese market, asked I/O Software to localize Procomm Plus for NEC’s PC98 series of computers. After Symantec acquired Datastorm, it made a similar request for Norton Utilities. Saito performed those tasks and also devised methods for displaying Japanese characters on IBM-compatible machines and printing them on a PostScript printer. This technology became a necessity when the more expensive PC98 machines were not always available and printing Japanese in the U.S. was still not feasible.
An influx of localization and translation work for various software products and documentation bound for Japan followed, including market development related to the upcoming Windows platform. Saito and I/O also used their knowledge of Windows on behalf of a number of various Japanese peripheral manufacturers to develop device drivers for printers, scanners, cameras and other components.
In 1995, I/O Software's biggest customer, Toshiba, developed a new standard for high-speed, high-resolution videocameras that used a ZV port. Saito and I/O Software developed a device driver optimized for this specification, helped Toshiba develop the hardware and created the first Windows-based videoconferencing application.
Sony wanted to resell the application. I/O Software's products subsequently became part of Sony’s successful videoconferencing system lineup. When Sony asked for suggestions on other practical applications for their cameras, Saito recommended developing a fingerprint recognition system for the PC. Sony agreed, and I/O Software developed the related drivers, algorithms and software which later won numerous industry awards and accolades.
Saito realized the potential of a common platform for biometric devices that any manufacturer could adopt. The company built the platform initially for fingerprints and later for other technologies such as iris, voice and facial recognition. They called this platform the BioAPI or BAPI.
In May 2000, Saito negotiated an agreement with Microsoft Corporation to integrate the BAPI and I/O Software’s core authentication technology, SecureSuite, into the Windows operating system. The technology was eventually licensed to several dozen companies worldwide, including Intel and Sony. The BAPI platform became an ANSI and ISO standard, and was later added to the permanent collection of the Smithsonian Technology Institute.
The Microsoft license and a high-profile investment by Sony created intense interest in I/O Software, culminating in a successful buyout at high valuation in December 2004.
After the September 11 terrorist attacks, the U.S. Department of Defense, Federal Bureau of Investigation and other governmental bodies sought Saito out as an advisor, drawing him deeper into the security realm. Groups he has worked with include the DoD’s Counter-Terrorism Task Force and Technical Support Working Group and the FBI’s Information Technology Study Group and InfraGard. To date, he has been involved in efforts to increase information security and enhance travel and border security at the federal and international levels, including the use of biometrics and advanced cryptography.
Saito also had roles in several industrial organizations, including ANSI, ISO, and the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST). In the academic realm, he was an adjunct professor at UCR in 2001.
After selling I/O Software in 2004, Saito moved to Japan. From Tokyo, he focused on advising clients worldwide on business and technology issues and educating people about security and entrepreneurship.
In February 2005, Saito returned to the corporate world, accepting the position as executive vice president and chief technology officer of Forval Corporation in Tokyo. While there, he devised innovative Internet-based technologies and services and presented technical strategies to analysts, bankers and public stockholders. He later established Forval International, a Newport Beach, California-based subsidiary, and served as its chairman and CEO.
In early 2006, Saito was named co-chairman and CEO of Giuliani Security and Safety Asia (GSSA), a subsidiary of Giuliani Partners, as well as the group's chief technical officer (CTO). Founded in 2002 by former New York Mayor Rudolph Giuliani, Giuliani Partners helps solve strategic security and safety issues worldwide. Saito developed innovative security consulting services in Asia for the company through the consolidation of physical, logical and operational services.
In July 2007, Saito established a consultancy called InTecur, which he still runs. InTecur assists companies with innovative technologies to identify and develop applications and markets in such areas as information and communication technologies, IT security and product and global corporate strategy development. The company also helps corporations cope with economic changes by repositioning and revamping their technologies to fit profitable new markets and geographies.
Saito maintains a strong connection to traditional academia and education. During his years at GSSA, for example, he helped develop an academic security and crisis management program at Tokyo Metropolitan University in cooperation with the Tokyo government. He is also a visiting professor at the Tokyo University of Agriculture and Technology in the Department of Computer and Information Sciences.
He acts as an advisor to various other organizations as well. He is both a visiting researcher at the Research Center for Information Security and a start-up advisor at the Venture Support Center—-both part of the National Institute of Advanced Industrial Science and Technology, which in turn is under the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry (METI). Saito does similar work as an advisor at Industrial Growth Platform, Inc., an M&A restructuring and strategic consultant that counsels client firms and their principal stakeholders on the long-term risks associated with achieving sustainable growth in value.
To build entrepreneurial spirit in Japan, Saito also acts as CEO for the Innovation Platform Technology Fund (IPTF), a venture capital fund established by ex-Sony CEO Nobuyuki Idei and Kazuhiko Toyama, the former COO of the Industrial Revitalization Corporation of Japan (IRCJ). The IPTF seeks to produce more successful global ventures in Japan by creating a genuine venture environment.
In addition, Saito has managed projects for the Mitoh “Super Creator” Program—-part of METI’s Information-Technology Promotion Agency (IPA)-—evaluating the originality of new technologies presented. He has guided projects related to ubiquitous network browsers, middleware tools that connect cellular phones and computers, and home phone networks employing identity tokens. In March 2008, IPA and other managers, including Saito, organized a business presentation meeting in Silicon Valley for the selected few from their Exploratory Software Project. The new developers presented their technologies and business models to established venture capitalists in the effort to expand their businesses to the United States.
Saito is a frequent panelist, participant and commentator on business and entrepreneurship, technology, security and related matters.
Saito has been a keynote speaker, panelist and moderator at the Milken Institute Global Conference, Forbes Global CEO Conference, Kauffman Foundation, Comdex and numerous academic conferences.
Saito served as a judge and chair of the Ernst & Young Entrepreneur of the Year Award program in the U.S. between 1999 and 2004. He has also acted as a judge for the program in Japan since its inception, and was a judge at the 2007 world program in Monte Carlo. He has performed the same function at numerous other entrepreneurial competitions worldwide.
He is currently a Global Agenda Council Member amongst the Young Global Leaders at the World Economic Forum, as well as a founding curator for the Japan hub of the Global Shapers Community (GSC).
Recent activities as speaker or participant at world conferences include;
Saito was a panelist at the “Climate Change & Constructive Entrepreneurship,” Athgo Global Innovation Forum, World Bank Headquarters in Washington, D.C., August 10-12, 2011.
At the Australian Leadership Retreat, Australian Davos Connection in Hayman Island, August 26 – 28, 2011, Saito participated in two presentations on the topics of cyber security and the reconstruction of Japan as well as his own 'Conversation With William Saito'.
Saito was a discussion leader at the “A catalyst for Japan’s revival” Roundtable Japan, roundtable discussions in Tokyo from September 9-10, 2011.
As a panelist at the Young Global Leaders Annual Summit Annual Meeting of the New Champions in Dalian, People’s Republic of China from September 14-16, 2011, Saito joined three discussions. The topics were “New Perspectives on Growth,” "Press conference to announce BEYOND Tomorrow kids’ meeting with Sichuan orphans," and “Women Entrepreneurs: How are women changing entrepreneurship and driving growth?”
Saito was a speaker at the GITEX Technology Week Conferences in Dubai, October 9-13, 2011, the Banyan: Ideas for an Asian Century in Singapore on October 18, 2011 and the Asian Business and Management Conference, Osaka, November 12-13, 2011.
Most recently Saito participated at the World Innovation Summit for Education (WISE) in Qatar, November 1-3, 2011 and the World Science Forum in Budapest, Hungary, November 17-19, 2011.
Broadcast media networks including CNN, NHK (Japan’s national broadcast network), and NPR interview him frequently, and Saito is quoted regularly in publications such as Newsweek and The Wall Street Journal. Saito has also written regular columns for several IT publications.
In a February 2011 interview for the German edition of MIT’s Technology Review magazine,[5] Saito responded on topics such as security issues, including WikiLeaks, and the specter of cyberwar. Saito, who advises the Japanese and U.S. governments as well as firms in the United States on matters of security, predicts that the Internet will influence future conflicts.
In March 2011, Saito participated in an Oxford-style debate[6] sponsored by The Economist about one of the tech world’s most divisive topics: whether the disruptive innovation model championed by the West is superior to the incremental innovation of Japan. In his opening remarks supporting the latter, Saito said: “Incremental innovation is like evolution: it may move slowly, but it may also produce what appear to be radically new, even disruptive events. On closer examination, though, we see that these disruptive forms grew out of the same creative gene pool as their predecessors.”
According to a March 2011 interview in The Japan Times[7] Saito believes that Japan has lacked the passion to execute ideas during the past decade or two, calling it the “last-mile problem,” despite having the universities, educated workforce and scientists needed for “converting raw innovation into products and globally recognized companies.”
In the same article, Saito noted that the declining numbers of Japanese students studying abroad “is hurting Japan in the long run. Japan doesn’t have enough global input because of its lack of people going overseas and learning different cultures, its reluctance to speak English, its reluctance to bring in foreigners to make it a more heterogeneous society, even at least in companies.” Despite that, he still firmly believes the Japanese system is capable of creating successful and innovative companies “if the right support is there.”
In April, speaking on the economic impact of the March 2011 Tohoku earthquake and tsunami and subsequent disaster at the Fukushima No. 1 nuclear power plant, Saito told CNN that radiation fears will affect consumer sentiment and buying habits, and that some industries and some companies will not survive.[8]
In July, Saito wrote an opinion piece for the Nikkei Weekly entitled "Entrepreneurs: Japan’s Hidden Resource"[9] in which he advocated that the Japanese government change the spirit of business to allow greater innovation.
Saito also contributed a chapter to the book "Reimagining Japan: The Quest for a Future That Works"[10] titled "Venture and Social Capital: A Vision for Japan." The book examines Japan's long-term challenges to rebuild following the triple disaster of March 11, 2011, with Saito discussing the need for a revitalization of the business sector.
Continuing his recommendation for the need for greater entrepreneurship in Japan, Saito gave a speech at the Swiss Chamber of Commerce and Industry in Japan on July 14[11] in which he said it was time for Japan to hit the "reset button" and restore the "Made in Japan" brand.
Saito was also interviewed by TV Tokyo on July 18 for the show World Business Satellite, in which he discusses the potential of the knowledge base of 'digital natives,' a generation who have grown up on the internet with globally valuable skills.[12] On July 29 he appeared on the BS11 TV show "Inside Out" about entrepreneurship in Japan.[13]
Saito regularly supports charitable and community-based organizations. Starting in March 2003, he served for two years on California’s state board of directors for Childhelp, a nonprofit dedicated to aiding victims of child abuse and neglect throughout the country. In addition, he was on the California board of governors of the Community Foundation, a public nonprofit created by and for the people of Riverside and San Bernardino counties that provides college scholarships and grants.
Saito has also contributed in various ways to his alma mater, UCR. From 1998 to 2005, he was on the board of trustees of the UC Riverside Foundation, a nonprofit corporation that raises, records and manages gifts from individuals, corporations, organizations and foundations for the benefit of the university. He and a fellow UCR graduate spearheaded a capital campaign to fund a new building at the university, Engineering II, which was completed in 2006.