A Special THANK YOU to all the Rakuten Technology Conference 2025 Attendees, Speakers, Partners, Sponsors and Staff!
A Special THANK YOU to all the Rakuten Technology Conference 2025 Attendees, Speakers, Partners, Sponsors and Staff!
The Rakuten Technology Conference is Rakuten's annual tech event which brings tech leaders, engineers, researchers and tech enthusiasts from around the world together at Rakuten Group's headquarters in Tokyo to explore the future horizons of technology.
Under the theme of "AI-nization with U," this year's talks and panel discussions will focus on the impact of AI on society and industry, with a spotlight on agentic AI and the role of AI agents as powerful, personal assistants.
The Rakuten Technology Conference is open to anyone and free to join. We look forward to seeing you at the event.
Keynote Speakers
Mickey Mikitani
Founder, Chairman and CEO,
Rakuten Group, Inc.
Tiju Johnson
Principal Architect,
Cisco Systems, Inc.
Hamidou Dia
VP, Applied AI Engineering,
Google, LLC
Session Speakers
Akihito Kurozumi
Group Senior Managing Executive Officer, Group CIO & Group CTO,
Rakuten Group, Inc.
Toshi Yasuda
Director, Head of Japan Specialists,
Amazon Web Services Japan G.K.
Shuji Omoto
Executive Officer, Head of Cloud & AI Architect Division, Customer Success Unit,
Microsoft Japan Co., Ltd.
Taku Okoshi
Executive Officer, Director of AI Services Supervisory Department, Office Manager of Global CDO Office,
Rakuten Group, Inc.
Yasuhiro Sasaki
Executive Officer, CIO,
Rakuten Wallet, Inc.
Koji Hamamoto
CTO, Deputy General Manager of System Division,
Rakuten Bank, Ltd.
Eric Olsen
Director, Security Eng. & Ops Supervisory Department,
Rakuten Mobile, Inc.
Nagayasu Kano
Vice General Manager, Cyber Security Defense Dept.,
Rakuten Group, Inc.
Kaz Miyata
Vice General Manager, Membership Platform Dept., Ecosystem Platform Supervisory Dept.,
Rakuten Group, Inc.
Toshinori Serata
Senior Manager, QA Management Section, EC Marketplace Development Dept.,
Rakuten Group, Inc.
Yogesh Babanrao Nagawade
Manager, QA Management Section, EC Marketplace Development Dept.,
Rakuten Group, Inc.
Toshiaki Ishibashi
Senior Manager, Ad Product Development Dept.,
Rakuten Group, Inc.
Yasutaka Misumi
Manager, Ad Product Development Dept.,
Rakuten Group, Inc.
Ryo Aoshima
Computational Linguist / Data Analyst, AI & Data Consulting Dept., AI & Data Division,
Rakuten Group, Inc.
Yuto Yamada
Vice Manager, Travel Development Dept.,
Rakuten Group, Inc.
Maksim Tkachenko
General Manager, Frontier Research Department,
Rakuten Asia, Pte. Ltd.
Nobumichi Atobe
Vice General Manager, Entertainment Service Development Dept.,
Rakuten Group, Inc.
Ting Cai
Group Senior Managing Executive Officer, Group CAIDO,
Rakuten Group, Inc.
Shinji Taketsume
Senior Vice President / Executive Operating Officer, Cloud Business Unit,
Oracle Corporation Japan
Marc Einstein
Research Director,
Counterpoint
Hironori Yoshida
Executive Officer, Director, Cloud Platform Supervisory Dept.,
Rakuten Group, Inc.
Kenji Takeuchi
Executive Officer, CAIDO, General Manager of Data Intelligence Division,
Rakuten Bank, Ltd.
Sachin Verma
Director - AI & Data Supervisory Division,
Rakuten Mobile, Inc.
Shuhei Yamamoto
GM, Cloud Platform Enablement Dept., GM, Data Platform Dept.,
Rakuten Group, Inc.
Puneet Handa
Executive Officer - Product & Strategy,
Rakuten Mobile, Inc.
Duc Thuan Ngo
Manager, AI Platform Group, AI Engineering Section, Conversational Experiences Dept.,
Rakuten Group, Inc.
Dilip Kumar
Manager, QA Management Section, EC Marketplace Development Dept.,
Rakuten Group, Inc.
Ryosuke Kakehashi
Vice General Manager, Global Ad Product Development Strategy Dept,
Rakuten ASIA
Vishal Kshirsagar
Product Manager, Visual Intelligence Engineering Dept., AI Data Dept.,
Rakuten ASIA
Vikas Sharma
Project Design Manager,
Rakuten Wallet, Inc.
Steven Morton
Director & Senior Development Manager of Rakuten Blockchain Lab,
Rakuten Group, Inc.
Gen Sato
Associate Applications Engineer, Travel Development Dept.,
Rakuten Group, Inc.
Johanes Effendi
Research Scientist, Frontier Research Department,
Rakuten Asia, Pte. Ltd.
Timetable
Saturday, November 15
Get the RTC Event Timetable and Floor Map PDF now for easy access
11:00 - 11:40
Puneet Handa, Marc Einstein
Puneet Handa
Marc Einstein
12:00 - 12:15
Akihito Kurozumi
Akihito Kurozumi
12:15 - 13:00
Mickey Mikitani
Mickey Mikitani
13:15 - 13:55
Hamidou Dia, Taku Okoshi
Hamidou Dia
Taku Okoshi
14:10 - 14:50
Tiju Johnson, Nagayasu Kano
Tiju Johnson
Nagayasu Kano
15:05 - 15:50
Hironori Yoshida, Toshi Yasuda, Shinji Taketsume, Shuji Omoto, Shuhei Yamamoto
Hironori Yoshida
Toshi Yasuda
Shinji Taketsume
Shuji Omoto
Shuhei Yamamoto
16:05 - 16:45
Ting Cai
Ting Cai
17:00 - 17:55
17:55 - 18:00
Akihito Kurozumi
Akihito Kurozumi
18:00 - 20:00
NETWORKING
Interact with speakers, guests, and Rakutenians. Have a coffee break or join after party from 18:00 to 20:00.
FOOD AND DRINK
Enjoy lunch and refreshments at the company cafeteria.
Join us at the award ceremony for Rakuten Technology Excellence Award winners.
Kids Park
Calling tech enthusiasts of all ages!
Come and join us at Kids Park where you can enjoy the latest technologies, foster logical thinking, and feel the future!
Rakuten AI Photobooth x Flower Arrangement
Create beautiful flower mug bouquets and step into the Rakuten AI Photobooth to transform your photos into personalized masterpieces.
Rakuten Robot Club
Learn about robotics and AI at this fun and educational showcase from the Rakuten Robot Club.
Play Area
Take a break from the busy conference and enjoy the play area with your kids. (Photo is for illustration purposes only).
Drawing Space
Unleash your creativity at our drawing space! Kids and families can enjoy fun coloring and drawing activities together.
Photos with Okaimono Panda
Capture magical moments with Okaimono Panda! Our fun photo area is filled with our event themed backdrops perfect for family photos.
Event Venue
Satellite Locations
Domestic
Overseas
FUKUOKA
Rakuten Technology Conference @Fukuoka is back again this year! We have a lot of attractive sessions in Fukuoka, including great speakers from our team and also external companies. We'll update the timetable soon. Don't miss it!
OSAKA
「AI-nization with U」We're thrilled to announce that the Rakuten Technology Conference is returning to our Rakuten Osaka branch in 2025! Get ready for a day packed with unique Osaka-original content and a lineup of fascinating sessions that you won't want to miss.
SENDAI
We are so happy for this announcement again this year! In Sendai Satellite, we will have unique content again for engineer. Please feel free to join even just for lunch and beer bash!
CHINA (DALIAN)
The annual Rakuten Technology Conference is back with the theme “AI-nization with U”, which will focus on the impact of AI on society and industry, with a spotlight on agentic AI and the role of AI agents as powerful, personal assistants. Dalian, a pretty city in China, will participate as the satellite, there you can see the Main Stage Live Streaming and the wonderful topics from local experts. Looking forward to your arrival!
CHINA (SHANGHAI)
The annual Rakuten Technology Conference is back with the theme “AI-nization with U”, which will focus on the impact of AI on society and industry, with a spotlight on agentic AI and the role of AI agents as powerful, personal assistants. Shanghai, a pretty city in China, will participate as the satellite, there you can see the Main Stage Live Streaming and the wonderful topics from local experts. Looking forward to your arrival!
INDIA (BENGALURU)
The Rakuten Technology Conference 2025 is back. This year's theme, AI-nization with U, puts people at the center of AI and innovation. Bangalore, the tech capital of India, joins the global conversation as the main in-person satellite. Come explore how AI can move forward in unison with people, embrace unique perspectives, and create solutions that are truly universal.
SINGAPORE
The theme of the Rakuten Technology Conference 2025 is "AI-nization with U" and for the Singapore Satellite event this year, we will have topics such as Evaluating Function Calling in Large Language Models (LLMs), guest speaker from Couchbase and the panel discussion featuring the topic of “AI Strategy Paving the Way for the Future of Advertising Business.
US (SAN MATEO)
Graphic Recording
Rakuten's in-house Graphic Recording Team created live drawings during every session!
Gallery
Explore memorable moments, speaker highlights, and behind-the-scenes glimpses
James Bell, Hana Yamamoto, Huaiyin Zhang, Mikiko Homma, Christos Pallas, Gabrielle Kamie
Stanley Sum, Shinsuke Inomata
Yu Hirate, Mitsuru Nakazawa
Satomi Horikiri
Daisuke Kodajima, Shinya Yoshitake, Jesse Lemaster, Leo Senges, Lakshmi Sravya Koppula
Akiko Yamamura, Yayoi Katsuya
Luke Chatelain, Tanapat Ratana, Jasleen Kaur, James Dartnell
Daniel Nishijima, Noli Fernan Jr Perez
Ajeeth Kumar, Rasmus Nilsson, Wahei Mochizuki
Nozomi Tokunaga
Mikiko Homma, Margis Matsuura, Waka Tsumakawa, Saya Ota
Hiroaki Saito
Rakuten India
Kalyani G, Chandan Patro, Maninath Sahoo, Vinayak ks, Deepak Krishnamurthy, Rohith Maddineni, Ashwini Ms, Midhun R, Nikita Gade, Lakshmi Sarvani, Amrut Bolishetty
Rohini Pandu
Balamurugan K
Abhinav Mishra, Abhinavram a Ananth, Alrick a Vincent, Amanda Lu, Amdad Muhammed P V, Amit Phalke, Arnold Elpedes, Arya Nugroho, Ashish e Kumar, Ayushi Gupta, Brian Tannert, Chandani Dhruv, Chintan Vikam, Claire Hong, Clifford Wong, Deepanshu Chouhan, Dengke Li, Devendra Shiv Dutt, Dineshkumar Elumalai, Emarie Carbajosa, Erina Nishimura, Gajanan Patil, Gaya Kaluarachchi, Gurunath Angadi, Hannah Shiera Jimenez, Hisako Matsumoto, Hitomi Toyama, Horleang Choeng, Hyejin Lee, Ishaan Yadav, James Bayonon, Jay Prakash, Kai Torben Ohlhus, Kalyana Pendyala, Kana Ito, Kaoru Matsuda, Ken Yeo Moriuchi, Kim Cubillan, Kim Hyun, Takashi Konomi, Manaho Yanagisawa, Manish Anand, Marfiandhi Putra, Mariko Hongo, Mark Navera, Mary Jane Aganon, Mary Jean Saberon, Masahiro Kusuda, Max Sugiyama, Md Imran Choudhury, MdHumayun Kabir, Meghna Jakhar, Miki Seki, Min Song, Miyu Suzuki, Muhammad Umer, Nabeel Muhammad, Nitendra Singh Deora, Oli Manzano, Parshva Jain, Patrick Watanabe, Pavan Mahadevaiah, Pongsapak L, Prabhat Parajuli, Queenie Nicole Evangelista, Rahul Aruna Pugalendhi, Rahul Yedavi, Rajat Dayma, Rakesh Upadhyaya, Ramyashree Devareddipalli Raghunathareddy, Ridvan Baluyos, Rina Kim, Ryuji Otaki, S M Rakibul Haque, Sagar Kumar, Saori Hayashi, Shaiful Islam, Shubham Samrat, Siddharth Datthathreya, Siddhartha Trivedi, Soumik Pramanik, Soundarya Raveendran, Takahashi Saya, Vikash Dahiya, Wyut Hmone Khaing, Yan Chen, Yoshiaki Mashita, Youngseung Yang, Yu Zhu, Yurou Duan
Robot Club, Flower Arrangement Club, Graphic Recording Club, TECH Human Resources & General Affairs Department, Global Talent Acquisition Department, Rakuten Mobile, Inc.
Yuiko Narita, Mikiko Homma, Wahei Mochizuki, Satoshi Katagiri
Tsubasa Shiraishi
Akihito Kurozumi
Get Started
Thinking about working at Rakuten?
Connect with our career team and explore your future today!
