Hajime Tanahashi was invited to the "Business Law and Innovation Conference", held on October 31st and November 1st at Columbia Law School in New York, and spoke on "Venture Capital Financing in Japan." A large number of professors from law schools and economics schools from home and abroad attended this conference and many significant lectures were presented, for instance, lectures by Dr. Ronald J Gilson, Professor in Columbia Law School, and Dr. Edmund S. Phelps, 2007 Nobel Prize winner in economics. This Conference was sponsored by The Center for Law and Economic Studies, The Center for Contract and Economic Organization and The Amsterdam Center for Law and Economics. Business Law and Innovation Conference October 31 – November 1, 2008 Columbia Law School, Jerome Greene Hall, Room 107 Conference Program: Friday, October 31 9:00-10:30 Contracts I: Innovation in Contract Design 10:45-12:15 Contracts II: Contracting Mechanisms Supporting Innovation 12:15-14:00 Keynote Address by Edmund S. Phelps 14:00-15:30 Innovation Finance in Japan 15:45-17:15 Finance I: Theories of Innovation and Finance 17:30-18:15 Finance II: Financing and Supporting Novelty Through Contract Saturday, November 1 9:00-10:30 Finance III: Public Mechanisms Supporting Innovation 10:45-12:15 Finance IV: Innovation and Governance Structure 13:30-15:00 Finance V: Private Financing and Innovation