Almut Weigel’s Post

Building German-Japanese bridges in Tokyo and Osaka with de:hub Initiative this week! Last week, we had the privilege of leading a delegation of eight hub managers to Tokyo and Osaka to explore the local innovation ecosystems and identify opportunities for collaboration. After diving deep into the local startup ecosystem in the last 4 days I had several key learnings: ✔ There are many similarities between the Japanese and German economy for example in automotive and engineering. It makes total sense that the two countries are often called economic twins. ✔ Japans startup ecosystem is taking up speed with great initiatives like Tokyo Innovation Base, CIC Japan, @ARCH Toranomon Incubation Center or JETRO - Japan External Trade Organization J-Bridge. ✔ Japanese coporates like Fujitsuu are eager to innovate and open for collaboration, especially in Industry & DeepTech and ClimateTech & Energy. It was great meeting founders, corporates and VCs with an interest in the German market and learn more about the future plans for the Japanese ecosystem. Visiting the German Pavilion at Expo 2025 Osaka in Osaka was also a first time for me and just seeing a glimpse of all the pavillons and the thought put to it was a great experience. Thank you very much to everyone who hosted us and supported this mission! Bundesministerium für Wirtschaft und EnergieeBundesministerium für Digitales und Staatsmodernisierunggde:hub InitiativeeGermany Trade & InvesttBirgit H.kMiriam HäfeleeMarco-Alexander BreittKiana FrankkClaudia BehrendttStefan StengellJan ArnolddShary BückinggKatja RichterrFlorian StöhrrRené GieseePaul Westphall Dr. Philipp Johannes Nolte Anna Wiese Markus Facklam NolteeBenedikt ReifenrathhDr. Lucas WitoslawskiiChika Yamamotoo Berlin Partner für Wirtschaft und Technologie GmbH Jeannine Koch Alexandra Baron Copyright: Inshorefilms - sustainable filmproduction