Shibuya Startup Support (SSS) participated in startup conferences in Europe in June and July 2023, including Big Meet, AsiaBerlin, Greentech Festival, Bits & Pretzels Healthtech, PIRATE Summit, and Tech Open Air. SSS staff Mari Matsuzaki and Sayaka Nakashima attended the conferences to promote Shibuya City’s international startup ecosystem.
Big Meet (Photo: Shibuya City)
Big Meet, a conference focused on food tech, took place in Stockholm from June 1st to 2nd. The event featured speaker sessions by entrepreneurs, chefs, investors, and activists related to the food industry and pitch sessions by startups. The venue was filled with test kitchens and 16 chefs from around the world who were cooking live using 25 cutting-edge food tech products.
Japan Meets Berlin (Photo: Shibuya City)
The AsiaBerlin Summit, a conference organized by the Berlin state government to connect the startup ecosystems in Berlin and Asia, was held from June 12th to 15th. On the day before the conference, we participated in the “Japan Meets Berlin” networking event, where SSS took the stage for a 2-minute ecosystem pitch to introduce our programs. SSS Ambassadors Chika Yamamoto, Tom McInerney, and Yosuke Sasaki gathered in Berlin to discuss how to promote SSS in the future and support visa holders.
Launched in September 2023, Expansion Lab is the Berlin State Government’s program to help Berlin startups expand into Asia. The program started in Japan and South Korea, and also included a collaboration with SSS to organize a seminar on the Shibuya Startup Visa program and entrepreneurship journey in Japan, as well as a joint networking event “Berlin Comes to Japan”.
Greentech Festival (Photo: Shibuya City)
The Greentech Festival was held in Berlin, Germany from June 14th to 16th. The conference focused on greentech, including the fields of architecture and mobility related to sustainable societies, recycling, and renewable energies. It was attended by key stakeholders in the field of climate change such as startups, entrepreneurs, governments, and large corporations.
Bits & Pretzels Healthtech (Photo: Shibuya City)
The Bits & Pretzels Healthtech Conference took place from June 20th to 21st in Munich, Germany. The event was held in Munich, the capital of the state of Bavaria, known as a thriving area for health tech. Since the conference focused on health tech in Europe, which faces similar declining birthratse and aging populations to Japan, there were many startups interested in business partnerships with Japanese companies and expansion into the Japanese market.
PIRATE Summit (Photo: Shibuya City)
PIRATE Summit was held in Cologne, Germany June 27-28. Early-stage startups, investors, companies, and ecosystem builders gathered at the conference, which drew more entrepreneurial attendees than other conferences. At this year’s PIRATE Summit, SSS members went around to each booth to introduce SSS and were able to connect with health tech, agri tech, Web3, and creative tech startups interested in expanding into Japan.
Tech Open Air(Photo: Shibuya City)
Tech Open Air, Berlin’s largest innovation-themed startup event, took place July 5-6 in Berlin, Germany. The conference featured speaker sessions and panel discussions on the themes of business success, Web3, AI & deep tech, health tech, climate tech, and synthetic biology (a field that aims to use engineering approaches to create artificial biological parts that do not exist in the original organism).
We connected with many participants at the various startup conferences, introducing them to SSS’s activities and the startup ecosystem in Japan. SSS will continue to strengthen ties with overseas partners 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’s Startup Visa program: https://shibuya-startup-support.jp/sws/
Shibuya Startup Support’s social media accounts:
LinkedIn：https://www.linkedin.com/company/shibuya-startup-support/
Facebook：https://www.facebook.com/shibuya.startup.support
Twitter：https://twitter.com/ShibuyaStartup
Shibuya Bridge B-5,
1-29-3 Higashi, Shibuya City, Tokyo
JAPAN 150-0011
Shibuya Startup Support
