Event report: ChangeNOW & Visit to Paris, France

ChangeNOW took place in front of the Eiffel Tower (Photo: Shibuya City)

ChangeNOW

Around 10,000 people attended the three-day event, where startups, companies, and NPOs from around the world showcased their solutions to global issues. What distinguishes ChangeNOW from similar events are the separate areas for different industries, such as biodiversity, climate change, circular economy, fashion, mobility, changing habits, and more! The event took place on a Saturday — it’s rare to see startup event happening on the weekend — and admission for children was priced at only five euros. ChangeNOW attracted many families and young people to experience the cutting-edge initiatives on display.

SOLIT booth at ChangeNOW (Photo: Shibuya City)

SOLIT at ChangeNOW

SOLIT, an inclusive fashion brand based in Shibuya City, was the only Japanese exhibitor at ChangeNOW this year. SOLIT develops fashion aimed at realizing an all-inclusive society where both human diversity and biodiversity are embraced. In 2022, just two years after its founding, the company took home the Grand Prize at iF DESIGN AWARD 2022 — one of the world’s top three design awards — and was selected to participate in Vancouver Fashion Week in April 2024. The company champions diversity by allowing people to choose their own design, size, and length of the garment for each part of their body according to their own preference; regardless of their size, mobility, or body type.

A message from Natsumi Wada, SOLIT

“We are honored to be invited to Europe’s largest sustainability summit as a startup representing Japan. Indeed, while interacting with the European companies and visitors, they naturally accepted our concept of an all-inclusive society and understood the importance of it. We hope that our company can use this opportunity to start an all-inclusive movement around the world.”

Paris Ecosystem Tour by Choose Paris Region

The day before ChangeNOW, we also joined a tour of the Paris ecosystem organized by Choose Paris Region, which works to attract companies and startups to the greater Paris region. The tour included a visit to the athlete’s village for next year’s Olympics, which is being built with a sustainable approach. After the tour, we had a meeting with Choose Paris Region together with Naoki Inoue and Yuka Kato in charge of innovation and industry collaboration at JETRO Paris. We shared our Shibuya Startup Visa program and startup ecosystem in Japan and Tokyo Shibuya.  

Open space at Station F (Photo: Shibuya City)

The Paris startup ecosystem

We visited Matrice, an incubation center for early-stage startups, and Station F, one of the world’s largest startup campuses based in Paris. We also had meetings with Kiwon Lee from HEC Paris, running incubation programs for both local and international startups, and Impulse Partners, which is involved in open innovation in the construction industry. We shared each others’ initiatives and discussed future collaboration. We also had meetings with five local startups based in Station F that are interested in expanding into Japan.

SSS will continue to strengthen ties with partners around the world to support more international startups entering Japan. If you are interested in collaborating with SSS or our Shibuya Startup Visa program, don’t hesitate to contact us, and follow us on social media to keep up-to-date on upcoming events!

More information on Shibuya Startup Visa program: https://shibuya-startup-support.jp/sws/

Shibuya Startup Support’s social media account:

LinkedIn：https://www.linkedin.com/company/shibuya-startup-support/

Facebook：https://www.facebook.com/shibuya.startup.support

Twitter：https://twitter.com/ShibuyaStartup

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