Enterprise IT New’s presence at a major Japanese exhibition offered a clear signal that Japan’s innovation agenda is no longer aspirational – it is urgent and increasingly execution-focused. As one colleague observed in her report, this was “not a conference built around abstract promises,” but one grounded firmly in “real customer needs, real operational pressures, and real use cases.”
SusHi Tech Tokyo 2026 looks set to push that pragmatism even further. At a recent media briefing, Tokyo Metropolitan Government (TMG) Startup Strategy Promotion Division Director for Global Promotion Kiyoko Hashiba outlined an event of growing scale and intent – more than 770 startups, 10,000 business meetings, and a sharpened emphasis on AI, deep tech, and resilience.
Tokyo is not just convening innovation – it is attempting to operationalise it.
From startup city to scale-up engine
At the midpoint of its Global Innovation Strategy 2.0, launched in 2022, TMG appears to be recalibrating its priorities. While startup creation remains important, the spotlight is shifting toward scale-ups – companies capable of delivering sustained growth.
This is a notable evolution as many ecosystems succeed at early-stage innovation but falter when it comes to scaling globally competitive companies.
“We will continue to support startups, but place more focus on scale-ups that can lead economic growth in Tokyo and globally,” Kiyoko said.
Backing this ambition are two flagship platforms: SusHi Tech Tokyo and the Tokyo Innovation Base.
Japan’s strong domestic market has long been both an asset and a constraint. It provides stability, but can also reduce the urgency to expand internationally.
“Startups in Tokyo and Japan tend to remain domestic, largely because of the size of the local market,” Kiyoko noted. “But to grow, they need to connect globally.”
SusHi Tech is a deliberate effort to internationalise Japan’s startup ecosystem while simultaneously lowering barriers for foreign entrants. Whether it can meaningfully shift long-standing market behaviours remains an open question.
Beyond visibility to measurable outcomes
Perhaps the most significant shift is how success is being defined. SusHi Tech is no longer framed as a showcase, but as a platform for measurable business outcomes.
The data from previous editions supports this repositioning:
- 45-percent of participants reported new collaboration or fundraising opportunities.
- Participating startups collectively increased their valuation by up to USD 75 billion within 18 months.
These metrics suggest an ecosystem beginning to convert connectivity into capital and partnerships into tangible growth.
This focus will be on display in the Open Innovation Area, where enterprises and startups are not just co-presenting, but co-developing – offering a more credible narrative around open innovation than the concept’s often superficial use elsewhere.
“Large corporations are making Tokyo increasingly attractive to overseas startups,” Kiyoko said, pointing to the role of incumbents as active collaborators rather than passive sponsors.
A city as a platform
SusHi Tech is also being positioned as a global convening layer. Through initiatives such as the Global City Network for Sustainability (G-NETS), 55 city leaders will gather in Tokyo to address shared urban challenges.
In this framing, the event becomes more than a conference – it is a live marketplace of deployable solutions. Cities are not just exchanging ideas; they are evaluating technologies, with startups pitching to governments at scale.
At the same time, 48 government organisations will bring their own ecosystem players into the fold, reinforcing Tokyo’s ambition to act as both a national aggregator and an international gateway.
Betting on deep tech
Looking ahead, TMG’s increased emphasis on deep tech signals a longer-term play. By actively involving universities and research-driven startups, Tokyo is attempting to strengthen the upstream end of its innovation pipeline.
This is a necessary move. The challenge will be bridging the gap between research and market adoption, an area where many ecosystems struggle.
Still, the direction is clear. Tokyo is not content to remain a large, well-connected market. It is positioning itself as a globally relevant innovation hub – one that is increasingly focused on outcomes, scale, and real-world deployment.
(This coverage was produced as part of our media partnership with SusHi Tech Tokyo 2026)