Monozukuri Innovation Meet Up in Kyoto – A New Model for Manufacturing Open Innovation 2.0 to Accelerate Startup Societal Implementation

Monozukuri Ventures will host an event titled 'Monozukuri Innovation Meet Up in Kyoto – A New Model for Manufacturing Open Innovation 2.0 to Accelerate Startup Societal Implementation' on Friday, July 3, 2026.

Event Overview

This event aims to bring together manufacturing companies, startups, and support organizations to create new opportunities for open innovation and business development in the manufacturing sector. Based on the 'MI Salon (Monozukuri Innovation Salon)', a manufacturing industry community operated by Monozukuri Ventures, this gathering will unite stakeholders primarily from the Kansai and Chubu regions to explore new models of open innovation in manufacturing. By sharing startup visions and regional collaboration case studies, the event seeks to build relationships that lead to concrete co-creation and business development.

Who Should Attend

- Manufacturing companies seeking collaboration and co-creation opportunities with startups - Startups aiming to partner with manufacturing firms - Local governments and support organizations working on ecosystem development, startup collaboration, and new business creation at the regional level

Registration

Attendance requires prior registration. ※Even with an IVS2026 ticket, separate registration is required to attend this event.

▼Register here https://4s.link/ja/mimeetupkyoto

Program Schedule

*Content is subject to change without notice

Time

Program

Details

18:00–18:30

Opening

Sponsor Speech: "Practical Approaches to Business Portfolio Management for Growth Strategy"

Partner Speech: "Startup Collaboration and Community"

18:30–19:00

Startup Pitch

Theme: "Startup Vision – The Future We Want to Realize"

Speakers: Yota Sato, CEO, Neary Inc.

Kenma Fujiwara, CEO, LENZO Inc.

19:00–19:30

Aichi Session

Theme: "Aichi’s Challenge as a Manufacturing Hub"

19:30–20:00

Toyohashi Session

Theme: "Creating New Businesses with Toyohashi Companies – Regional Company and Startup Collaboration Emerging from the Toyohashi Co-Creation Lab –"

20:00–21:00

Networking

End at 21:00

Admission Fee

Free (drinks paid on-site at actual cost)

Organizer

Monozukuri Ventures

Sponsors

Japan Management Association Consulting (JMAC)

Cooperation

Aichi Prefecture Toyohashi City Loftwork Inc.

Important Notes

- Attendance generally requires an IVS2026 ticket (IVS PASS / IVS PASS STUDENT / CORE PASS / CORE PASS Startup). Purchase tickets here. - This event is an officially approved IVS side event. [Approval Number] 3739168357

About Monozukuri Ventures

Monozukuri Ventures is a company based in Kyoto, Japan, and New York, USA, operating a venture capital fund for hardware startups and providing technical consulting on hardware prototyping and manufacturing.

Founded in January 2020 through the merger of Darma Tech Labs, Inc. (Kyoto), which operates Makers Boot Camp, and FabFoundry, Inc. (New York City), the company combines hardware startup support resources from both firms. To date, it has invested in 59 hardware startups across Japan and the United States (28 in Japan, 31 in the U.S.) and supported over 250 prototyping and mass production projects, primarily for startups. (All figures as of November 2025)

Monozukuri Ventures

[CEO] Shigemasa Makino

[Address] 3F, Maizuru MArKEt, 34 Suzaku-Hozon-cho, Shimogyo-ku, Kyoto City, Kyoto Prefecture

[URL] https://monozukuri.vc/ja/

View recent media coverage here:

https://monozukuri.vc/ja/news/?group0=gr1_media