Yokohama’s Y-SHIP Convention 2023 brings green innovation and international players to Japan

Held in November 2023, the first ever Y-SHIP Convention was a resounding success, with thousands of attendees traveling to Yokohama, Japan to participate.

YOKOHAMA, KANAGAWA, JAPAN, January 16, 2024 /EINPresswire.com/ -- From November 13-15, the first ever Y-SHIP Convention was held in Yokohama, Japan, bringing together innovators, businesses, academia, government, and thought leaders to one of the most international cities in Japan to discuss the future of sustainable urban solutions, innovation, and powering the future. The English-language convention was a resounding success, with thousands of attendees traveling to Yokohama to attend in-person, and many hundreds tuning in online as well to hear key speakers including the Mayor of Yokohama, the Governor of Bangkok, the Ambassador of Ukraine to Japan, the World Bank Global Director, the Director of OECD Tokyo Centre, multiple speakers from embassies in Tokyo, and many more!

The four major themes of Y-SHIP 2023 were “Green Transformation” (GX), the “Asia Smart City Conference,” Yokohama as an “Open Port City,” and “Y-SHIP Youth.” Green Transformation, or GX, is a Japan-led term that refers to adopting new approaches that focus on decarbonization and sustainability. “Open Port City” refers to Yokohama history of being a welcoming, international city to foreign businesses interested in expanding into the Japanese market, and at Y-SHIP 2023 this tradition continued through pitches, business matching, and exhibitions of global startups in Yokohama to jumpstart their foray into Japan, with sessions assisted by the Drivery, a German-based innovation hub with its Japanese location in Yokohama. Lastly, the “Y-SHIP Youth” sessions focused on showcasing talent in the next generation, providing students from Yokohama-based schools and universities opportunities to connect with an international audience, make presentations in English, and engage with global businesses.

During the opening remarks, Mayor of Yokohama Takeharu Yamanaka welcomed the attendees, and discussed Yokohama’s history of embracing open innovation—allowing inter-organizational exchange and ideas to flow freely to better facilitate the generation of new opportunities—and its efforts towards achieving zero carbon emissions by 2050, including in the port and rapidly-expanding Minato Mirai 21 district, through the introduction of next-generation energy. Mayor Yamanaka also introduced two other large, upcoming international events that Yokohama would be hosting: TICAD 9 in 2025, and GREEN x EXPO 2027, focusing on African collaboration and sustainable solutions respectively.

Raymond F. Greene, Chief of Mission at the U.S. Embassy in Tokyo, spoke next on Japan’s wave of innovation, especially in Yokohama, and emphasized the importance of collaboration between Japanese entrepreneurs and American investors. “Yokohama hosted Japan’s first foreign trading port, first daily newspaper, first railway station, and first power plant,” Green noted, saying, “This illustrious history serves as a reminder that Yokohama has embraced transformative technology in the past and is once again positioned to become a leader during the next phase of Japan’s innovation.”

Yutaka Matsuzawa, Vice-Minister for Global Environment at the Japanese Ministry of the Environment, emphasized the need for integrated solutions for climate change, biodiversity loss, and pollution. He also discussed regional decarbonization roadmaps developed with local governments, and ended by stating, “The City of Yokohama is leading transformation change toward decarbonization by implementing advanced decarbonization efforts in the decarbonization-leading area [Minato Mirai 21], and by providing international support through city to city collaboration programs, and finally by organizing this international event.”

One panel discussion of note that occurred during Y-SHIP 2023 was the “Establishing Startup Ecosystems Via Industry-Academia-Government Collaboration” session, focusing on startup ecosystems and featuring a panel of entrepreneurs and startup supporters from major countries that Yokohama has connections to, such as Austria and Canada. Yokohama-based companies touched on what it’s like to be a foreign entrepreneur in Japan and the ways of Yokohama city can support foreign startups, while startup supporters discussed programs that promote entrepreneurship education and provide opportunities for students to work or build startups, noting the importance and success of their own initiatives with Japan.

During that panel, Yumiko Namiki, Global Programs Specialist at the DMZ, a tech incubator in Toronto, Canada, discussed programs that promote entrepreneurship education and provide opportunities for students to work or build startups, noting the importance and success of their own initiatives with Japan that support Japanese companies expanding into the Canadian market. She also mentioned her fondness and connection to Yokohama, having attended a Yokohama-based university.

Another panelist, Arnold Ackerer the Deputy Head of ADVANTAGE AUSTRIA Tokyo and Co-Founder of TechBIZKON, noted how many good opportunities he’s had to work with the City of Yokohama, remarking that as the second-largest city in Japan by population there are a wealth of companies and ideas in every tech sector, and that Yokohama hosts a lot of specialized tech fairs out of its international convention center. He also noted that sometimes valuable hubs like Yokohama and Austria get overlooked due to the sheer scale of nearby giants like Tokyo and Germany, and discussed strategies to make the city stand out even more on a global stage.

Y-SHIP Convention also featured major leaps for sustainability initiatives and cleantech. On the second day of the event, Mayor Yamanaka of Yokohama introduced the topic of sustainability and green transformation, bridging the gap between Y-SHIP and the Asia Smart City Conference, another event held annually by Yokohama. He also introduced more honorable speakers to the stage, who spoke on topics like: India and Japan’s collaboration on clean energy initiatives like green hydrogen and electric vehicles; and technological solutions for reducing CO2 emissions, including the use of different types of hydrogen as a fuel source. Additionally, a session later in the day saw the announcement of the “Yokohama Declaration: Asian Cities Together Towards Zero Carbon,” a landmark moment in Asian sustainability efforts.

Featuring a rich dialogue studded with real-world technical knowledge, invaluable insights, and next-generation ideas, Y-SHIP Convention 2023 had something for everyone. After a successful launch of Y-SHIP in 2023, keep your eyes on Yokohama as we head into 2024, and be a part of the next dialogue that will shape the future of innovation in Asia.

Recordings in English of all of Y-SHIP 2023’s sessions are now available!

Masahiro Nishikawa
City of Yokohama, Representative to the Americas
+1 646-905-3758
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