A structured program connecting high-potential Australian startups with leading Japanese manufacturing SMEs

Venture Café Tokyo is a community where a diverse range of innovators—entrepreneurs, investors, and others—come together to generate innovation for society, guided by its mission, “Connecting Innovators to Make Things Happen.”
As the first Asian hub of Venture Café, a sister organization of CIC founded in Boston in 2010, Venture Café Tokyo launched its activities in Japan in March 2018. Under the leadership of Associate Professor Yasuhiro Yamakawa of Babson College (Boston, USA) and President & Representative Director Ryusuke Komura, Venture Café Tokyo operates one of Japan’s largest innovation promotion and networking programs across multiple locations, including Tokyo, Tsukuba, Nagoya, Gifu, Ritsumeikan University Osaka Ibaraki Campus, and Fukuoka.

https://venturecafetokyo.org/

Lambda Inc. was founded in 2024 with the aim of contributing to the development of Japan’s and the global innovation ecosystem.
Its CEO, Risa Fujise, earned a PhD in Science through coral reef research at the University of Technology Sydney in Australia. With a strong commitment to bridging academia, industry, and society to help create a sustainable future, she has been deeply involved in building innovation ecosystems through organizations such as EnergyLab (one of Australia’s largest climate tech–focused accelerators), Creww, Venture Café Tokyo, CIC Japan, and Woven by Toyota.
She also founded the E&E Community, one of Japan’s largest communities in the environment and energy sector. Leveraging her experience, insights, and extensive network, Lambda works with a wide range of stakeholders to accelerate innovation not only in Japan but around the world.

Innovation Dojo Japan is a global innovation organization founded in Australia and headquartered in Japan. To date, it has supported more than 800 startups in Japan.
Its founder, Flannery, launched a startup program at UNSW Sydney—widely regarded as Australia’s leading entrepreneurial university—and also led the entry of the renowned European venture studio Rainmaking (known for Startupbootcamp) into the Japanese market.

https://innovationdojo.com.au/

Arclev Inc. originated from a voluntary group established by young researchers affiliated with Columbia University in the United States. Today, it operates the Arclev Academia Strategist Network, a network of top-tier active young researchers from Japan and around the world, and supports corporate R&D and new business creation.
Arclev’s solution—where highly motivated academic researchers contribute to corporate R&D teams on a part-time basis—serves not only as a means to discover new technology sources but also as an effective platform for talent development within companies. As an insider to academia, Arclev aims to become the best possible liaison between industry and universities, striving to help Japan lead the world through cutting-edge research and development.

https://www.arclev.co.jp/