Plug and Play Announces a Partnership Agreement with Tokyo Metropolitan Government to Strengthen a Global Startup Ecosystem
SUNNYVALE, Calif., December 13, 2023 -- Plug and Play, the world's largest innovation platform, has announced a partnership agreement with the Tokyo Metropolitan Government (Governor: Yuriko Koike), aiming to strengthen a global startup ecosystem.
In November 2022, the Tokyo Metropolitan Government formulated a new strategy, Global Innovation with Startups to usher in a new era with startups and address Tokyo's growth. The strategy aims to push startups into the global market by strengthening cooperation with accelerators, venture capitalists, large corporations, and various players both domestically and internationally. The Tokyo Metropolitan Government targets to produce ten times the number of unicorn startups born in Tokyo in the next five years.
Since 2022, Plug and Play Japan has been working with the Tokyo Metropolitan Government to support startups. In September 2022, a collaboration agreement was signed to promote the implementation of smart services in Tokyo, in line with Plug and Play Japan’s Smart Cities program to promote smart cities by implementing startup technology and solutions. Plug and Play Japan focuses on innovation in "transportation," "crime prevention and disaster mitigation," and "tourism (revitalization of the local community)".
In addition, as a partner in the TOKYO SUTEAM initiative, a multifaceted startup support deployment project aimed at improving Tokyo's startup ecosystem and promoting the creation and growth of startups, Plug and Play Japan plans to implement an accelerator program primarily targeting biotech research seeds and startups.
This time, together with the Tokyo Metropolitan Government, Plug and Play aims to further strengthen the collaboration between Tokyo in supporting startups to thrive in the global market. Leveraging Plug and Play's global network, we will contribute to fostering Born Global companies from Tokyo.
Details of the partnership agreement include:
- Foster an entrepreneurial community in the Tokyo Metropolitan Innovation Base
- Cluster domestic and overseas startups in Tokyo
- Provide cross-border support to domestic and overseas startups
- Develop, nurture, and support the growth of entrepreneurs and startup companies
- Promote international recognition of Tokyo's startup ecosystem
- Build and develop the startup ecosystem
The collaboration was agreed upon before the "Kickoff Event" held on Monday, November 27, 2023, at the "Tokyo Innovation Base", an innovation hub established by the Tokyo Metropolitan Government to bring together startups and their supporters from Japan and abroad and to encourage interaction, to spark innovation from Tokyo.
"As the largest innovation platform, we are looking forward to working with the Tokyo Government to increase the startup and innovation capacity by 10X. Through our partnership, we will create a bridge between the Tokyo startup ecosystem and our hubs in every corner of the world from Silicon Valley, Paris, Munich, Singapore, Barcelona, and beyond," said Saeed Amidi, Founder and CEO of Plug and Play.
About Plug and Play
Plug and Play is the leading innovation platform, connecting start-ups, corporations, venture capital firms, universities, and government agencies. Headquartered in Silicon Valley, we're present in 50+ locations across 5 continents. We offer corporate innovation programs and help our corporate partners in every stage of their innovation journey, from education to execution. We also organize start-up acceleration programs and have built an in-house VC to drive innovation across multiple industries where we've invested in hundreds of successful companies including Dropbox, Guardant Health, Honey, Lending Club, N26, PayPal, and Rappi. For more information, visit www.plugandplaytechcenter.com.
AboutPlug and Play Japan
Plug and Play Japan is the world's leading accelerator/venture capital. We are a global innovation platform headquartered in Silicon Valley, 45+ leading companies of each sector participate in our programs as official corporate partners. Our major expertise is "supporting corporate partners creating innovation," "cross-industrial accelerator programs," and "startup investment," making the best use of our extensive global network. Plug and Play Japan supports the co-creation and collaboration between Japanese/international startups with innovative technology/ideas and industry-leading corporations, enabling them to generate innovation.
Plug and Play Japan：http://japan.plugandplaytechcenter.com/
Press Contact:
Plug and Play Japan KK
Ichikawa Haruka