On June 19th 2024, JETRO invited startups accelerator MedTech, based in  Australia, to Japan and held individual meeting sessions for four startups in the Hiroshima Prefecture.

After the pitches from each company, MedTech gave startups feedback about overseas expansion. MedTech has been supporting more than 200 startups in the healthcare field around the world. In Japan, they have been doing programs such as, "Origin" and "Global Navigator".

Meetings between MedTech and startups,(photo by JETRO).

Foreign accelerators who are familiar with overseas markets usually have offices in urban areas such as; Tokyo and Osaka, as a result startups in local areas have less opportunities to get information and less chances to have meetings with those accelerators in person. Local startups who attended that day said that, "I didn’t have the chance to learn about the Australian market until today. It was good to know that the speed of clinical trials in Australia is very fast and the cost is relatively cheap compared to other countries." Furthermore, the other startups said, "I was able to get direct feedback and gained a lot of perspectives that I should think about more."

Exchanging information with the local government, (Photo by JETRO).

 MedTech told us that, "We have been doing programs in Japan for the past two years, but haven’t approached the local ecosystem yet and it was a great opportunity for us to meet with local entrepreneurs."

As one of the supporters who promotes startup ecosystems in Hiroshima, it will be more important to disseminate information about what kind of startups are located in the region and creating ecosystems. At the same time, we need to clarify and present the advantages of collaborating with the region through appropriate media.

JETRO Hiroshima has been doing support programs called, "Hiroshima Global Connection" for startups in Hiroshima Prefecture and surrounding area. We will continue to cooperate with foreign accelerators, including MedTech, and continue providing overseas expansion support for startups in this region.

*Reference from the article below

豪アクセラレーターのメドテック・アクチュエーター来日、広島のスタートアップと面談(日本、オーストラリア) | ビジネス短信 ―ジェトロの海外ニュース - ジェトロ (jetro.go.jp)