Hokkaido Innovation Week

🚨 Program Update 🚨 Announcing "Open to Players: Uniting The Ecosystem in Sapporo" at COCONO Susukino! 🗓️ Mark your calendar: February 17, 2025 🎉 Step into the heart of Sapporo for a day of innovation, connection, and collaboration. “Open to Players” invites anyone from aspiring entrepreneurs to established businesses to come together and support the vibrant startup scene at Sapporo’s new landmark, COCONO SUSUKINO. 💡 Inspiring conversations on the future of tech, culture, and sustainability 🤝 Networking opportunities with Japanese and international investors 🎯 An iconic social space where founders and businesses can connect In front of the iconic Nikka sign (as seen below), COCONO SUSUKINO has emerged as a dynamic hub for innovation and creativity. This event is your chance to engage with founders, investors, and corporates to share ideas and contribute to the growth of Sapporo’s entrepreneurial ecosystem. 🌟 Discover our growing program and register today via InnovationWeek(dot)JP #HokkaidoInnovationWeek #Innovation #Startups #StartupEcosystem

🚀 Nordic startups, take a look at the growing momentum of Japanese investments in your region! As shown in this chart from the Nordic Asian Venture Alliance, the Japanese market is increasingly looking towards the New Nordics for investment opportunities. If you're keen to join this wave and tap into new foreign capital, Hokkaido Innovation Week is your gateway to Japan. From February 13-19, 2025, you’ll have the chance to: 🎯 Pitch your startup to Japanese investors 🌏 Explore partnerships for market entry into Japan 🤝 Meet key stakeholders in Japan's innovation ecosystem Hokkaido is the perfect starting point for #startups seeking to expand to Japan. Don't miss this chance to accelerate your growth! ❄ 🇯🇵 (link to tickets in comments) #InnovationWeek #NordicStartups #JapanExpansion #StartupInvesting #NewNordics

What a surprise in Munich 🥰 When we were visiting Munich Urban Colab, we met Franz from Spacio who joined Hokkaido Innovation Week in February ☃️🩵 He was joining one of the incubators to scale Spacio 🧑💻 The first time we saw him was in Hokkaido this February, and the last time we saw him was in Oslo in May, and now in Munich 🙌 After we welcomed so many founders to Hokkaido Innovation Week from all over the world, we can meet them wherever we go and they help us wherever we are. That's the beauty of startup community that we are in 🫶 Good luck in Munich, Franz Forsberg and Spacio! See you again in Hokkaido ☃️✨ #reunion #munich #hokkaido

What’s It Going to Take for Women to Step Up? During Oslo Innovation Week, I sat on two panels discussing which paths women entrepreneurs should take to fight gender biases and gain equal opportunities. The conversations were open, nuanced and powerful—held in spaces that felt safe for honest dialogue. These talks only strengthened my belief that women need these “safe spaces” to build confidence and find our voices. Not just to get ahead in a male-dominated playing field, but to CREATE A NEW NARRATIVE from a woman’s perspective in entrepreneurship. Here’s why: ▸ THIS IS NOT A ONE-WOMAN TASK: Safe spaces are where women come together to build confidence to speak up. ▸ ROLE MODELS MATTER: Seeing other women succeed fuels the belief that we can do it too. ▸ KNOWLEDGE IS POWER: Mentorship and knowledge sharing is key to understand how to build scaleable businesses ▸ DIVERSITY DRIVES INNOVATION: Women who dare claim their place around the table bring an essential perspective that drives innovation and fosters sustainable, value-led businesses. The skewed numbers tell us that gender equality is STILL a distant reality.  We NEED the discussions that come up in these forums, or safe spaces, to lay the groundwork for real progress. Thank you Oslo Innovation Week and Siw Andersen for a fantastic program. And thanks to Feminvest Jeanette Grendahl Sara Sorbet Björn Lapakko Christian von Hanno Atelie LUMO Labs Linn-Cecilie Linnemann Raja Skogland Koichi Goto Coral Swans International AS Anupama Tadanki Arun Nagpal Kristin Langnes Linnéa Engström Sagar Chandna Miho Tanaka Hokkaido Innovation Week Cathrine Delp - and everyone who came and participated in the conversation 🥰 See you at our next event!

Thank you 🙏 Bits & Pretzels 🥨 We met so many amazing people during liquid networking at Oktoberfest 🍻 Since Japanese people are generally shy, it was nice to have at least 1 litre glass of beer per person to start and accelerate business discussions 🗣️🍺 It was the good start to open STEP: Sapporo Transnational Expansion & Partnership, a center dedicated to support international companies working on green transformation initiatives entering Hokkaido market 🌿 STEP is led by Seiko Miura, Masaki Yonekawa and Hiroaki Sano 🍻✨ We could meet so many climate tech startups during Bits & Pretzels, and it was definitely the nice conference to get to know the new climate tech startups working on green transformation 🌐💚 See you all next time in Hokkaido, the hub for Green Transformation initiatives in Japan 🫶 #thanks #bits24 #Hokkaido #startup #STEP

Congratulations to Hokkaido-based #SpaceTech startup, Interstellar Technologies Inc. on the exciting news. 🚀 🎉

Last week during Oslo Innovation Week 🇳🇴 we announced that tickets for #Hokkaido #Innovation Week 2025 are now available! (link in comments) We are now at Bits & Pretzels 🇩🇪 continuing to spread the word about Japanese #startups and how Hokkaido can be a great entry point to the 3rd largest market in the world. 🇯🇵 🙏 A massive thank you to all our European supporters like Feminvest, AWAN (As We Are Now), Atelie, Norwegian Mycelium (NoMy), Iceland Innovation Week, Reverion, and so many more—we can't wait to see everyone in February for #HIW2025 ❄ Photo Credit: Gorm K. Gaare

Thanks for pitching during Pre 🥨 Hokkaido Innovation Week A big round of applause for all the pitchers pitching for your new business opportunities in Japan 🇯🇵 Stephan Herrmann from Reverion won the pitch and got a ticket to Hokkaido Innovation Week ✈️🎫 Reverion is tackling the climate challenge head on by reimagining the power plant for a 100% renewable future 🌿 Reverion was the semi finalist of Bits & Pretzels 2022, and this time it acquired a trip to Japan ⛷️✨ All the pitchers are truly amazing, and it was a hard decision to make. Reverion, BettaFish, Joulzen, Einsted.Bio, REPS-Tirol GmbH and decarbAI by ProptechCore, we are looking forward to seeing you in Hokkaido in February 2025 ☃️ ff Venture Capital, SBI Ventures Europe, Presidio Ventures and JETRO Startup, thank you for judging and helping us select one of the best startup! We can't wait to see you all in Hokkaido next time 🙌 #Bits24 #hokkaido #innovationweek

Come and join us at 2pm today at Saal 22b 🥨 We are hosting "Pre 🥨 Hokkaido Innovation Week" today at a venue "Saal 22b" in International Congress Center Munich, where Bits & Pretzels is happening 💥 decarbAI by ProptechCore BettaFish Reverion Joulzen Einsted.Bio REPS-Tirol GmbH are targeting Japanese market, and the winning one will get a ticket to Hokkaido Innovation Week ☃️🎫 Come and see their pitches 🎤✨ #bits24 #pitch #japan #hokkaido

Only one day left for Bits & Pretzels 🥨 Mina Tsuchida, the Chief Human Resources Officer at AWL, Inc. & the head of STARTUP HOKKAIDO is a table captain during Bits & Pretzels 🍻 Together with multinational members from 20 countries, AWL develops and offers AI camera solutions to solve issues and enhance value at retail stores. Through capital alliance with "SATUDORA", a drug store chain in Hokkaido, AWL has been conducting Proof-of-concept in the actual SATUDORA stores, and developing various AI features for store operations in a competitive price 🦉 AWL, Inc. is one of the leading scaleups from Sapporo, Hokkaido building a global team with top AI engineers from all over the world 🌐🤝 See you everyone at Bits & Pretzels starting tomorrow 🥨 and of course Oktoberfest 🍻 #AI #scaleup #startup #global #AI #edgecamera #bits24