Brian Walsh has joined Japan-based office equipment manufacturer Konica Minolta as head of new ventures, Silicon Valley Business Journal reported yesterday.
Walsh will lead the company’s innovation strategy and venture development activities in North America. The role will involve work on corporate venturing investments as well as partnerships, startup incubation and acquisition deals.
The position is situated at Konica Minolta’s Business Innovation Center in Silicon Valley, which was launched in 2014 as one of five global centres tasked with facilitating corporate innovation.
Konica Minola has invested in security technology provider Knightscope, medical device startup Zebra Medical Technologies and modular sensing platform developer Sigsense in the US.
Walsh comes to the group from Red Belly Ventures, the advisory services firm he launched in 2016, but his key expertise concerns internet-of-things (IoT) and analytics technology. He was co-founder in 2012 and CEO of Vital Herd, a developer of sensor technology for livestock.
The head of new ventures role will involve a focus on robotics and smarter work environments, and is expected to incorporate big data, IoT, data analytics and artificial intelligence.