The Incheon Creative Economy Innovation Center confirmed the global market potential of domestic startups through a local open innovation program in Japan.
The Incheon Creative Economy Innovation Center (hereinafter the Incheon Center) announced that it participated in the ‘Climbers Startup JAPAN EXPO 2026’ held in Chiba Prefecture, Japan from April 15 to 16 and operated the Japanese open innovation program ‘Big Wave Global’.
This program was conducted through the joint cooperation of the Incheon, Busan, Seoul, and Gyeonggi Creative Economy Innovation Centers, supporting the entry of 10 promising startups discovered by each institution into the Japanese market and expanding opportunities for local cooperation. The program consisted of a preliminary open innovation forum, operation of a joint exhibition booth, local B2B open innovation meetups, and a special booth tour for Korean startups.
At the preliminary forum, startup representatives with experience entering the Japanese market participated to share local collaboration cases and investment attraction experiences, and discussed strategies for entering the Japanese market and business commercialization directions through panel discussions and networking.
Big Wave Global Photo (Photo courtesy of Incheon Creative Economy Innovation Center)
Investment review, PoC, and technology adoption proposals follow.
At the event venue, a joint pavilion was operated in collaboration with the Japanese listed company Sansan, and business meetings with local companies were held. Representatives from Japanese companies visited the joint pavilion in person to engage with the participating startups.
Over the two days, participating startups held a total of more than 300 one-on-one business meetings. The Incheon Innovation Center explained that a significant number of the meetings were centered around large and medium-sized Japanese companies and open innovation stakeholders.
Through the program, achievements such as 1 contract, 3 proofs of concept (PoC), 4 memorandums of understanding (MOU), 1 non-disclosure agreement (NDA), 31 proposals for technology adoption with commercialization in mind, 10 investment reviews, and more than 80 follow-up meetings were also made.
Lee Jae-seon, CEO of the Incheon Center for Creative Economy Innovation, stated, “This program served as an opportunity to confirm the potential for Korean startups to enter the Japanese market based on cooperation among Creative Economy Innovation Centers nationwide,” adding, “We plan to expand follow-up support to ensure that participation does not stop at exhibition attendance but leads to actual business collaborations and commercialization.”
He added, “Even after the program concludes, we will support the continuous generation of results through seminars for companies seeking to enter the Japanese market, the identification of local partners, support for open innovation linkages, and assistance with participation in the following year’s ILS exhibition.”
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