In November 2017, the German Chamber of Commerce and Industry in Japan (AHK Japan), Advantage Austria and Deloitte Tohmatsu Tax Co. organized the very first TechBIZKON. This event saw young, international startups compete against each other in short pitches with the ultimate aim of convincing investors of their business ideas. The winner of the event was a Japanese startup developing "smart clothing".

The TechBIZKON 2017 took place on November 30 at the New York University School of Professional Studies (NYUSPS) in Shinagawa, Tokyo. At the event, nine entrepreneurs from Japan, Germany and Austria presented their innovative products in front of 90 company representatives, venture capitalists and journalists.

"TechBIZKON allows us to bring together startups and potential supporters in a relaxed setting. Both parties are given sufficient time to get to know each other," explained Dr. Lucas Witoslawski, Chief Operating Officer at AHK Japan, at the beginning of the event. "Simultaneously, we want the Japanese, German and Austrian startup scenes to grow more familiar with one another."

Austrian trade commissioner Dr. Ingomar Lochschmidt pointed out that startups have steadily become more important in Central Europe. "No matter if Berlin or Vienna, startups have virtually exploded over the past few years in terms of relevance. The technical education in Germany and Austria is very strong. Local startups as well as Japanese startups wanting to establish themselves in Europe have many great opportunities to do so."

The Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs and Energy as well as the German Embassy of Tokyo were also present. Stefan Möbs, the Embassy’s representative, stressed that events like TechBIZKON could foster the understanding between investors and startups and thus aid in making the cooperation between the two parties more successful. Markus Heß, leader of the industry subdivision at the Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs and Energy, expressed the wish of the different startup cultures paying even more attention to each other in the future.

After this introduction, the nine startup businesses presented their concepts and products in eight-minute pitching sessions. Four of the five German and Austrian startups were not physically present and gave their presentation via live video broadcast instead. The strong international character of TechBIZKON became even more evident when considering the Japanese participants – two out of four startups based in Japan have non-Japanese CEOs.

The short pitches were followed by a networking session which facilitated active exchange among startups and investors. From the beginning of the first pitch until shortly before the conclusion of said networking session, the audience was moreover able to rate eight of the participating startups in terms of quality of presentation as well as future potential. The software used for the rating was developed by a participating startup from Austria, DealMatrix.

Based on the audience rating, Japanese startup Xenoma was chosen as the winner of TechBIZKON. Xenoma offers “e-skin”, a sensor-equipped clothing top that could be used in manufacturing as well as fitness, health and gaming. The prize is a booth at the world’s largest computer exposition, CeBIT. Xenoma will also receive free flights to the venue in Germany and back to Japan, thanks to the support of Lufthansa.

Overall, TechBIZKON was a great success and met with positive feedback from participating startups and audience members alike.

The event was supported by 01Booster, NYUSPS Tokyo, Lufthansa and CeBIT.

Participating startups included: Trusted Corporation (Japan), Xenoma (Japan), Skymatic (Germany), DealMatrix (Austria), Hachi Tama (Japan), Insider Navigation (Austria), Holocafe (Germany), LP-RESEARCH (Japan) und Sofasession (Austria).