Tokyo AI (TAI)

We’re bringing six Italian deep-tech startups to Tokyo for a Shark Tank–style pitch session designed for one purpose: real validation and real partnership opportunities with Japan’s corporate innovation ecosystem. We'll pair this startup selection with our top operators and ecosystem builders as judges! Register: https://luma.com/eqnz2vll Across AI, green transformation, cybersecurity, healthcare automation, and industrial traceability, our guest companies are entering Japan and actively seeking collaborators in sectors including oil & gas, manufacturing, food production, healthcare, cosmetics, and advanced materials. If you work in corporate innovation, R&D, sustainability, or new business creation, this is an opportunity to assess emerging technologies and explore concrete partnership paths with EU startups. 🎯 Who should attend? ➡️ Corporate innovation & new business creation units ➡️ R&D, engineering, and sustainability teams ➡️ CVCs, VCs, and tech evaluators ➡️ Founders exploring Japan market entry 🌱 Startups Rombo AI – Spectroscopy + AI platform replacing complex lab workflows → Seeking: oil & gas, food processing, and pharma partners Icarus – AI patient-management assistant serving 10,000+ patients → Seeking: healthcare providers & B2B SaaS distributors Certy – Human-centric cybersecurity with privacy-by-design architecture → Seeking: enterprises & cybersecurity solution partners Genuino – Digital Product Passports for EU compliance & traceability → Seeking: manufacturers in food, fashion, tires, metals Livegreen – Industrial CO₂ capture using microalgae photobioreactors → Seeking: oil & gas, agriculture, biomaterials & food industry partners Pezzoli Green – Vertical farming + functional botanicals for CPG and cosmetics → Seeking: functional ingredients, cosmetics & urban ag partners 🧠 Judges Lauren Nham ✈ – Product Innovator & Strategy Leader at Woven by Toyota Ilya Kulyatin – AI Ecosystem Builder at Tokyo AI (TAI) Alberto MG Saruggia – CEO & Head of Product, Lombard Standard Aude Moras (奥德) – VP of Products, tripla; President, La French Tech Tokyo Florian Geier – Early-Stage Investor, Antler; Former operator at FUJIFILM and Playco Ryusuke Komura – Ecosystem Architect, Venture Café Tokyo; Lecturer, Hosei University Global MBA; Coordinator, Cabinet Office “Startup City Project Network” Hosted at Tokyo Innovation Base with the ITA - Italian Trade Agency - Tokyo & Tokyo AI (TAI).

Join us for a series of talks offering a complete, expert-led playbook to enter the market and operate in Japan. Whether you’re a foreign startup exploring Japan, a corporate team evaluating global innovation partners, or a local founder navigating the ecosystem, this session offers something rarely assembled in one place: every major organization involved in Japan market entry, from incorporation to go-to-market execution. Register: https://luma.com/v3ao1dv5 This is a practical, high-density afternoon of insights from the people who actually run Tokyo’s startup support infrastructure: government, city offices, and strategic market-entry operators. If you want to understand how foreign companies successfully enter and scale in Japan, this is the session. 📘 Session 1: Starting a Business in Japan A full overview of incorporation, visas, legal procedures, and public support. Speakers from TOSBEC, JETRO, Tokyo Metropolitan Government (TMG), Shibuya City, and Shibuya Startup Support. 🎯 Session 2: Strategy & Execution for Deep-Tech Market Entry A practical framework for navigating Japan’s commercial landscape: positioning, partnerships, regulation, and sales motion. Presented by REIMEI. 📊 Session 3: Accounting & Compliance in Japan Essential financial and reporting requirements for any startup operating in Japan. Who should attend: - Foreign founders preparing to establish in Japan - Corporations wanting to understand how international partners can localize - Local startups looking to streamline operations and compliance - Anyone mapping Japan’s innovation and procurement pathways. Join also the earlier session on the same day: "Market Entry Shark Tank for Frontier Technology": https://lnkd.in/ganDSAZZ Hosted at Tokyo Innovation Base with the ITA - Italian Trade Agency - Tokyo.

Following a full day of EU-Japan innovation and market entry workshops*, to close the day’s programming, we’re bringing together leading voices in innovation ecosystem design, tech diplomacy, and international entrepreneurship for an evening focused on one question: How can Europe and Japan build stronger, more effective pathways for deep-tech and entrepreneurial collaboration? Register: https://luma.com/xck45vln We'll have top foreign experts on the Japanese innovation ecosystems sharing their work in Japan: ➡️ Talk 1: The EU-Japan Center for Industrial Cooperation (Luca Escoffier (ルカ・エスコフィエ) — EU-Japan Centre for Industrial Cooperation) An overview of institutional frameworks supporting industrial cooperation and knowledge exchange between European and Japanese enterprises. ➡️ Talk 2: Building Hybrid Innovation Ecosystems (Olga Kokshagina — University of Sydney and Mines Paris - PSL) Exploring the architecture of hybrid innovation ecosystems that successfully integrate diverse cultural, regulatory, and business approaches. This talk explores how to design ecosystem interventions that create mutual value across borders. ➡️ Talk 3: Tech Diplomacy and Deep-Tech Partnerships (Claudio Feijoo — Universidad Politécnica de Madrid) Examining the role of tech diplomacy in fostering deep-tech partnerships between Europe and Japan. This presentation addresses how policy frameworks, research collaborations, and strategic partnerships can accelerate technology transfer and market access for frontier-tech ventures navigating between these ecosystems. ➡️ Panel Discussion: Practical Pathways for EU-Japan Innovation Exchange (Víctor Mulas, Axel Karpenstein, Olga Kokshagina, and Claudio Feijoo) A discussion addressing the practical challenges and opportunities facing entrepreneurs and organizations building between European and Japanese innovation ecosystems. *Join also the earlier sessions on the same day: 1. "Market Entry Shark Tank for Frontier Technology": https://lnkd.in/ganDSAZZ 2. "Japan Market Entry Strategies": https://lnkd.in/g9-q_nUh Hosted at Tokyo Innovation Base with the ITA - Italian Trade Agency - Tokyo.

🇯🇵 Advanced Japan Market Entry, Technology Adoption & B2B Sales: Practical Strategies for Startups and Corporate DX Teams Register: https://luma.com/26wb0jn6 Scaling in Japan requires more than foundational market entry knowledge. It demands a deep understanding of how technology is adopted, how enterprise decisions are made, and how B2B sales cycles actually function in Japan. This advanced set of talks brings together a top-tier lineup of operators, investors, and ecosystem leaders with firsthand experience driving innovation inside Japanese enterprises and scaling global startups across the region. It will be packed with knowledge you get from years of experience! Designed not only for startups and scale-ups, but also for corporate DX, R&D, and innovation teams seeking to better understand how to evaluate, adopt, and collaborate with global technology companies. If you work at the intersection of technology and enterprise value creation in Japan, this is one of the most insightful sessions you’ll find. 📘 Session 1 — Market Entry: Challenges & Opportunities (13:30–15:00) Strategic perspectives on how companies, Japanese and foreign, successfully enter and grow in Japan. Keynotes by: • Rebecca Takada (Outfoxr) — Award-winning marketing executive & Forbes contributor • Shinji Yamanaka (Global Angle) — Global expansion strategist & former Amazon Japan leader 🤖 Session 2 — Technology Adoption in Japan (15:15–16:45) How Japanese enterprises evaluate new technologies, shift operations, and scale innovation. Keynotes by: • Matt McDevitt マット マクデビット (McKinsey / QuantumBlack) — AI & analytics leader with both startup and enterprise track record • Sho Ikeda (Ex–Global Brain) — Investor guiding corporate innovation and new business development 💼 Session 3 — B2B Sales in Japan (16:45–18:15) A direct look at enterprise sales mechanics: decision-making, consensus building, trust, and long-cycle pipeline design. Keynotes by: • Yuiichiro Sasaki (RevComm) — Leading SaaS expansion across Asia • Marcel Rasinger (Venture Café Tokyo) — Specialist in EU–Japan startup acceleration and corporate partnerships Hosted at Tokyo Innovation Base with the ITA - Italian Trade Agency - Tokyo.

Our TAI Batch #01 startup SDio is one of the only two selected among the global top 40 AI startups for the AWS AI Accelerator. We'll hear much more about them very soon!

TAI AHR #12 is happening soon! And this time, we’re diving into 𝐡𝐨𝐰 𝐢𝐧𝐭𝐞𝐥𝐥𝐢𝐠𝐞𝐧𝐭 𝐬𝐲𝐬𝐭𝐞𝐦𝐬 𝐚𝐫𝐞 𝐚𝐜𝐭𝐮𝐚𝐥𝐥𝐲 𝐛𝐮𝐢𝐥𝐭, 𝐟𝐫𝐨𝐦 𝐭𝐢𝐧𝐲 𝐞𝐝𝐠𝐞 𝐝𝐞𝐯𝐢𝐜𝐞𝐬 𝐭𝐨 𝐡𝐢𝐠𝐡-𝐬𝐩𝐞𝐞𝐝 𝐝𝐫𝐨𝐧𝐞 𝐟𝐥𝐞𝐞𝐭𝐬. The session will be bringing together speakers who have worked across embedded hardware, bio-compute architectures and safety-critical robotics: We'll hear Eldar Sido, the Staff AI Product Manager at Renesas Electronics on '𝘍𝘳𝘰𝘮 𝘊𝘭𝘰𝘶𝘥 𝘵𝘰 𝘌𝘥𝘨𝘦: 𝘗𝘳𝘢𝘤𝘵𝘪𝘤𝘢𝘭 𝘚𝘵𝘳𝘢𝘵𝘦𝘨𝘪𝘦𝘴 𝘧𝘰𝘳 𝘋𝘦𝘱𝘭𝘰𝘺𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘈𝘐 𝘰𝘯 𝘙𝘦𝘴𝘰𝘶𝘳𝘤𝘦-𝘊𝘰𝘯𝘴𝘵𝘳𝘢𝘪𝘯𝘦𝘥 𝘋𝘦𝘷𝘪𝘤𝘦𝘴'. He'll walk through what it really takes to run AI on microcontrollers and edge hardware: efficiency, privacy wins, latency and the hidden opportunity in billions of on-device data points that never reach the cloud. Next, we'll have Syrine Ben Driss, the founder of Operon Technologies to present her speech on '𝘏𝘰𝘸 𝘐𝘯-𝘔𝘦𝘮𝘰𝘳𝘺 𝘗𝘳𝘰𝘤𝘦𝘴𝘴𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘈𝘤𝘤𝘦𝘭𝘦𝘳𝘢𝘵𝘦𝘴 𝘉𝘪𝘰𝘪𝘯𝘧𝘰𝘳𝘮𝘢𝘵𝘪𝘤𝘴 𝘈𝘱𝘱𝘭𝘪𝘤𝘢𝘵𝘪𝘰𝘯𝘴'. She'll explore how rethinking storage + compute architectures can result in real-time biological insight. It's a direction that’s becoming central in next-gen bio-AI systems. Finally, Whitney Huang will speak on '𝘐𝘰𝘛 𝘪𝘯 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘚𝘬𝘺: 𝘋𝘦𝘴𝘪𝘨𝘯𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘓𝘪𝘨𝘩𝘵𝘸𝘦𝘪𝘨𝘩𝘵 𝘚𝘢𝘧𝘦𝘵𝘺-𝘊𝘳𝘪𝘵𝘪𝘤𝘢𝘭 𝘚𝘺𝘴𝘵𝘦𝘮𝘴 𝘢𝘵 𝘚𝘤𝘢𝘭𝘦'. She'll enlighten us on how thousands of drones, flying 100+ km/h, maintain safe coordination, communication, and autonomy on tiny chips. She'll break down the engineering tradeoffs, the failure modes and the role (and limits) of AI in high-stakes aerial systems. 📍 Tokyo November 19th (18:00–21:00) Register here: https://luma.com/9sctmrbp Huge thanks to the Tokyo AI (TAI) community for continuously pushing Tokyo’s AI/robotics ecosystem forward. A special shout-out to Ilya Kulyatin for his unwavering support of these sessions 🙌 I’ll be joining as co-organizer and MC for the evening. Hope to see many of you there and engaging in some exciting discussions! 🙋🏻♂️ #AI #robotics #embeddedAI #edgeAI #dronesystems #autonomoussystems #tokyoAI

The complexity and volume of biological data are growing faster than traditional computing architectures can handle. In this talk, Syrine Ben Driss examines how next-generation compute and storage solutions can bridge that gap, enabling real-time analysis of genomics, proteomics, and other bioinformatics datasets. 19 Nov, Kayabacho, Tokyo, 18:00 - 21:00 Topic: How In-Memory Processing Accelerates Bioinformatics Register: https://luma.com/9sctmrbp You’ll gain insight into the limitations of conventional von Neumann architectures and how in-memory processing reduces bottlenecks, improves scalability, and accelerates data-intensive workflows. Practical examples will show how these approaches can transform scientific research and healthcare, making high-speed, high-accuracy biological insights feasible at scale. Co-organized with Apurv Saha. Thanks to Antler Japan for hosting us!

Tomorrow, November 4th, 18:00 - 21:00, Hongo Register: https://luma.com/aj0dzw4u How do robots perceive, understand, and act in the real world? This meetup brings together a US-based (YC S24) startup and a leading voice in ROS to explore the frontiers of robotic perception and intelligent control. From advances in Simultaneous Localization and Mapping (SLAM) to the ongoing evolution of the Robot Operating System (ROS), we’ll examine how breakthroughs in computer vision, sensor fusion, and collaborative software development are shaping the next generation of autonomous systems. We’ll hear from Ritika Shrivastava, Co-founder & CTO of Ember Robotics (YC S24), on how robots learn to perceive their surroundings through SLAM and multi-sensor fusion, bridging the gap between pixels and understanding. We'll also have Tomoya Fujita, Software Engineer at Sony and Core Maintainer of ROS 2, who will take us through the state of the ROS ecosystem, sharing how open-source collaboration continues to accelerate innovation across robotics research and industry. Whether you’re building embodied AI, autonomous systems, or simply curious about where robotics is headed, this session offers both technical depth and community insight. --- Third speaker to be confirmed, but if you have something to present on these topics, let us know! --- Thanks to the venue support from DEEPCORE (Akinori Suenaga / Kyoko Kishimoto / Hiroshi Nemoto)! --- Co-organizer and MC: Apurv Saha

Join Mistral AI's first-ever event in Tokyo, co-organized with Hugging Face and the Tokyo AI (TAI). Right on time for their launch of Mistral AI Studio: https://lnkd.in/giGsqdsP Come connect with local developers, builders, and AI enthusiasts on the latest advancements in the Mistral ecosystem and discover how you can leverage their models and tools! Register: https://lnkd.in/gHgtMYAx Where: Shibuya, Tokyo When: 6th November, 19:00 - 22:00