NGK Spark Plug Co. hosted a grand opening for its Venture Lab, a technical exhibition and collaboration space dedicated to the creation of new business opportunities through open innovation.

Officially launched in April 2018, the Venture Lab “represents NGK’s forward-looking commitment to the co-creation and incubation of technologies with potential partners and startups,” the company noted. The space will serve as headquarters for the NGK/NTK Venture Lab, which has additional sites in Tokyo and Paris.

For the grand opening, representatives from startups, venture capital firms, accelerators, academics and industry were in attendance. Radenka Maric, VP for research at the University of Connecticut, was a guest speaker.

“We plan to use this space to inspire ideas for collaboration with potential partners,” said Toru Matsui, NGK’s global executive vice president. “The Venture Lab showcases a wide range of NGK technologies, beyond just spark plugs, through a large video display and augmented reality. It also includes a shared office, which we will offer to our startup partners to use as their own. Our primary intention is to make strategic investments in early-stage startups, working together to bring new technologies to market.”