For several years already, the EU-Japan Centre’s Technology Transfer Helpdesk has been contributing to the Innovation Leaders Summit, one of the largest Japanese matchmaking events for open innovation.

This year the Centre has extended its cooperation with start-up events and programmes in Japan. For the first time, the Centre nominated European start-ups for the Global Innovation Forum (GIF) Osaka, an international trade show and matchmaking event aiming at bringing together international start-ups and local businesses, as well as for KGAP+, a global start-up acceleration programme hosted by the Keihanna Science City in Kyoto.

To open the opportunity for European companies’ participation in these events, The Centre launched an open call for expression of interest and received many interesting applications.

After a nomination by the EU-Japan Centre, the French company Elwave was selected by the organisers of the Global Innovation Forum and participated in the online exhibition and B2B meetings. 

Three nominees of the EU-Japan Centre made it to the KGAP+ Europe Challenge and the company EpiGuard was selected for the final round. It will participate in mentoring and partnering activities of the programme until February 2023. As for ILS, 8 EU companies have been nominated and participated online and in person in the “Power Matching” from 29 November to 2 December, in 2022. A dedicated group of digital companies from the EU was promoted in an EU start-up booth at the event. With the rising popularity of open innovation practices in Japan, chances for European start-ups to land a joint project with Japan are likely to increase and the EU-Japan Centre will continue its efforts in this field.