Yosuke Maeda

Yosuke was born in 1992 in rural Japan. He graduated from The University of Tokyo with a Bachelor's degree in Architecture, then went on to The University of Tokyo Graduate School of Engineering, where he earned a Master's degree in Engineering.

He was born and raised in a natural environment without water and sewage systems.

He was familiar with biology and chemistry from an early age and studied spider silk tensile strength and optimal foraging strategies during his junior high school years. His research won first place in Japan for student scientific research and was accepted to the U.S. Dispatch Program, which sent him to the NIH and NASA. There, he heard a speech by Vice President Al Gore and became interested in environmental issues.

During his high school years, he became interested in local wastewater pollution and researched how to obtain gamma-polyglutamic acid from edible natto for water purification, which he presented at the Pharmaceutical Society of Japan.

He then moved to Tokyo on March 10, 2011 to attend The University of Tokyo, and the next day, he experienced the Great East Japan Earthquake. This exposed him to the issues of water and sanitation in times of disaster.

In addition, while still in school, he worked as an engineer at teamLab, a world-class digital art collective, where he was engaged in the development of sensors and controls.

Later, he started his own business, jointly developing water supply equipment with a major housing equipment manufacturer and developing energy-saving control systems and system infrastructure for buildings, and sold the business to a major construction company.

Later, as CEO of WOTA Corp, he successfully developed the world's first and smallest home-sized Direct Potable Water Reuse System. He aims to provide structural solutions to the world's water problems.