Innovation summit in Tokyo highlights growing Taiwan-Japan startup links | Taiwan News | Sep. 11, 2025 13:47
The Japan-Taiwan Innovation Summit returned to Tokyo for its fourth year on Aug. 25, drawing more than 50 Taiwanese startups to the Imperial Hotel to pitch Japanese investors and corporate partners. The gathering spotlighted the deepening connections between the two innovation ecosystems and the accelerating pace of cross-border collaboration.
Hosting the summit at the storied Imperial Hotel—one of Japan’s most renowned traditional hotels, founded by Eiichi Shibusawa, often described as the “father of Japanese capitalism”—set a symbolic backdrop. The venue underscored a central theme of the event: marrying legacy institutions with the dynamism of modern entrepreneurship.
Data presented at the summit highlighted a structural shift in expansion strategies. For the first time in seven years, Japan has overtaken the United States as the top overseas market for Taiwanese startups, according to PwC Taiwan’s 2024 Taiwan Startup Ecosystem Survey. In the poll, 25.2% of responding startups identified Japan as their first destination abroad, edging out the U.S. at 24.7%. Proximity, shared business norms, and cultural affinity were cited as key reasons for the change, along with Japan’s growing appetite for open innovation.
The lineup of participants reflected strong support across government, finance, and industry. Taiwan’s delegation was led by National Development Council Minister Chin-Ching Liu (劉鏡清), joined by venture capital leaders from Darwin Ventures and CDIB Capital. On the Japanese side, Tokyo Governor Yuriko Koike delivered remarks, together with Tomohiro Takashima, director general at the Japan External Trade Organization, and senior executives from Mizuho Bank, the Mitsubishi group, and Sony Ventures. Their presence emphasized how startup collaboration is increasingly embedded in broader bilateral ties.
Mergers and acquisitions featured prominently as a pathway for market entry and scale. Taiwanese companies are using targeted deals to accelerate growth in Japan. Appier’s 2019 acquisition of Tokyo-based Emotion Intelligence (Emin), later integrated as “AiDeal,” was highlighted as a model for combining local expertise with global product momentum. Other firms, including Uspace and MoBagel, are pursuing similar strategies to deepen their foothold and fast-track customer access.
Momentum around the summit extended beyond Tokyo. In the days leading up to the event, Startup Island Taiwan coordinated outreach in other innovation hubs. In Osaka, it partnered with Hankyu Hanshin Holdings to host a showcase and forum. A second event at Kyoto University, organized with its venture arm Kyoto University Innovation Capital (iCAP), connected Taiwanese founders to the university’s research commercialization and spinout networks. These programs aimed to build practical pipelines for collaboration, tapping regional strengths and university-industry ecosystems.
Organizers and participants alike pointed to a shift from symbolic exchanges to more structural cooperation. With Japan now the top target for Taiwanese startups and Japanese companies actively strengthening their open innovation pipelines, the incentives to partner are aligned on both sides. The summit’s setting—rooted in Shibusawa’s legacy of bridging tradition and enterprise—captured the spirit of this evolving relationship: pragmatic, increasingly institutional, and aimed at translating shared interests into tangible growth.
