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NEDO Holds Pitch Event in Texas for Japanese Startups

March 13, 2019

On March 11, 2019, the NEDO Startup Pitch Luncheon was held at one of the SXSW 2019 exhibitions taking place in the U.S. city of Austin, Texas.

The pitch luncheon was held as one part of the “New Japan Islands” program at SXSW 2019 which began in Austin on March 8. The New Japan Islands program at SXSW was organized by the New Japan Islands Executive Committee composed of the Japanese Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry, Softbank Corp., and Yoshimoto Kogyo Co., Ltd., and other entities. With limits facing modern capitalism and economic expansion, the New Japan Islands concept refers to a future vision of a nostalgia-filled world based on Eastern ways of thinking.

In addition to being a place to introduce Japanese innovation and representative Japanese startups at one of the world's largest exhibitions, the pitch event was planned to introduce activities of governmental organizations in support of startups in the expectation that such an event would enhance public awareness of startups and lead to networking opportunities with SXSW participants interested in Japanese innovation.

At the pitch event, NEDO Executive Director Masayoshi Watanabe introduced NEDO activities and the Chief Representative of the NEDO Silicon Valley office introduced NEDO programs to support startups in the United States. Following these NEDO presentations, representatives of Japanese startups participating in the J-Startup exhibit at the Trade Show of SXSW 2019 (Unipos Inc., LOAD&ROAD Inc., Life is Tech, Inc., ArchiTek, and Cinnamon AI) made pitch presentations to the audience.

  • Photo of NEDO Executive Director Masayoshi Watanabe delivering remarks at event venue
    NEDO Executive Director Masayoshi Watanabe delivering remarks
  • Photo of event venue designed to reflect eastern ways of thinking
    Pitch event venue
  • Photo of pitch event venue with representatives of startups
    Startups making pitch presentations