Japan hosts SusHi Tech 2026 innovation summit

The Tokyo Metropolitan Government just concluded its SusHi Tech Tokyo 2026 summit, marking the end of one of Asia’s largest global innovation conferences. Held at the Tokyo Big Sight from April 27 to 29, the event centered on the theme of “Sustainable Cities through High Technology,” drawing an estimated 60,000 participants to the city’s waterfront district.

The three-day summit served as a concentrated hub for the global startup ecosystem, facilitating approximately 10,000 business meetings among a diverse cohort of investors, corporations, and government officials. The scale of the 2026 iteration was the largest in the event’s history, featuring 770 exhibiting startups representing over 60 countries and regions.

The conference was organized around four critical domains intended to address the evolving pressures on urban environments: artificial intelligence (AI), robotics, resilience, and entertainment. Unlike previous years that focused on conceptual frameworks, the 2026 sessions emphasized the transition of AI into real-world implementation and the use of robotics to enhance human productivity and labor collaboration.

Resilience remained a high-priority track, with innovators showcasing technologies designed to mitigate climate change and improve disaster response. Meanwhile, the entertainment sector explored the intersection of digital culture and urban living through XR (Extended Reality) and immersive media.

A cornerstone of the event was the Open Innovation Platform, a dedicated physical space designed to accelerate co-creation between established multinational corporations and agile startups. To manage the high volume of attendees, organizers deployed AI-powered matchmaking systems and an official mobile application to coordinate networking schedules and investor-founder introductions in real-time.

Beyond the business-to-business tracks, the public day on April 29 allowed visitors to engage directly with future-oriented technologies. Immersion zones featured live demonstrations of autonomous drones, 3D printing in construction, and VR environments, offering a tangible look at the future of urban infrastructure.

The Tokyo Metropolitan Government utilized the summit to reinforce its long-term objective of transforming the Japanese capital into a city-wide innovation laboratory. Looking ahead to 2032, the event aims to evolve into a city-wide innovation platform, transforming Tokyo into a global hub where innovation extends beyond the venue and into the entire city.

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