CEO Business Meeting
Event For Eco-Tech 2024
Organization for Small & Medium Enterprises
and Regional Innovation, JAPANSMRJ (SME SUPPORT JAPAN)© 2024 Organization for Small & Medium Enterprises and Regional Innovation, JAPAN2024 CEO Business Matching Events Annual Program Overview
Eco Tech

1. Target

Sectors

・New energy
・Energy saving machine and system
・New material
・Water and wastewater treatment
・Urban development

Medical Equipment

Innovative Industry
・Aerospace
・robot・FA
・IT / IoT
・industrial machine
・EV・Medical Equipment
・Healthcare・Nursing

2. Schedule

Mid September 2024

Mid January 2025

Mid January 2025

3. Application
Deadlines

End of May 2024

End of August 2024

End of Augus 2024

Target participants (Overseas Companies) :Large companies are also welcome to participate
1. Trading companies (General or Specialized)※Companies intending only to export to Japan are excluded

2. Companies seeking distributorship agreement/ agency contract or to procure
Japanese products/parts
3. Companies interested in product development incorporating Japanesetechnology and/or components
4. Companies interested in adding values to their products through joint
development and/or technological collaboration with Japanese companies
5. Companies seeking to establish joint ventures with Japanese companies（In home country and third-party countries）
6. Companies that have high technological capabilities and seek tocollaborate with Japanese companies.
＊Companies that only wish to export to Japan are not eligible.

Program Outline of CEO Business Meeting EventFor Eco-Tech
Program Outline
Project name : CEO Business Meeting Event for Eco-TechTarget Sectors:
・New energy
・Energy saving machine and system
・New material
・Water and wastewater treatment
・Urban development*Each recommended sector includes Venture/Start-Up enterprise※All participants in business meetings must be CEOs or other persons capable of making decisions at themeetings.

Organizer : Organization for Small & Medium Enterprises and Regional Innovation, JAPAN(SMRJ(SME SUPPORT JAPAN) - Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry as the competent Ministry )The following services are provided by the organizer:•••

Select and introduce Japanese companies that match overseas companies’ meeting purposes.
Arrange online business meetings between the matched companies mentioned above.
Overseas companies that have many meeting requests from Japanese companies will be invited to Japan for businessmeetings at the expense of SME SUPPORT JAPAN..

Free of charge: Introduction of Japanese companies, event participation an interpreter fees.

Schedule : Mid September, 2024(tentative)
Actual time-table schedule of business meetings will be finalized after coordination with participant companies.

Application Deadline: End of May, 2024

Steps to CEO Business Meeting Event for Eco TechAcceptOverseas
Applications<Applicants>
Please fill out the application form (Excel data) and submit it to the affiliated organization.
Please include photos and documents showing products and services along with theapplication form.
<Partner Organizations>
Please collect the application forms from the companies and submit them to us at by the end ofMay, 2024.
Additional questions might be asked about the content of the application forms, if necessary. As necessary, please
support us to contact the applicant companies.

Screening

RecruitJapanese
Companies

OnlineBusiness
Event

Based on the applications, companies will be screened by us and selected by Mid June.
Please note that not all applicants will be selected as a result of the screening process.
Overseas companies that have been confirmed to participate in the Event need to take anorientation session provided by our Advisors from SMRJ(SME SUPPORT JAPAN) as necessary.
We will begin accepting applications from Japanese companies in late June. Also, during thisperiod, overseas companies may select Japanese companies for meetings from the online
business matching platform “J-GoodTech” of SME SUPPORT JAPAN by informing us so that we
could officially request the Japanese companies for meetings. Please note that not all requested
meetings will be available.
By early August, we will send overseas companies that information of Japanese companies
willing to have business meetings. After confirmation from overseas companies, we will finalize
business-matching schedule, and business meeting event will be held in Mid September 2024.
The overseas companies to be invited to Japan will be selected and informed by Mid August
after Japanese companies’ recruitment closed.

Overview ofCEO Business Meetings

Overview of CEO Business Meetings
SME SUPPORT JAPAN(SMRJ) hosts business meetings (face-to-face or online) for
CEOs from abroad who are seeking opportunities to build partnerships with Japanesecompanies and handle the products and technologies of Japanese SMEs.
The meetings will create new values through the partnerships between JapaneseSMEs and overseas enterprises.

Building business partnerships.
CEOs of Overseas
companies interested inpartnerships withJapanese companies
CEO ofOverseas
CompanyCEO ofOverseas
CompanyCEO ofOverseas
CompanyBusiness Meeting

Business Matching ofJapanese SMEs & OverseasCompanies⇒ Building Partnerships,
Creating Sales Channels⇒ Overseas Development,
Establishing a Joint Venture

Japanese SMEs seeking toexpand business overseas（Overseas Development/Expansion of SalesChannels）

SME

SME
SME

Results of the CEO Business Meetings (2023)
・440 Japanese Companies participated ・268 Overseas Companies participated・642 Number of Business Meetings
・86％ Negotiation Success Rate8Target participants (Who can join?)
Target participants (Overseas Companies) :Large companies are also welcome to participate
1. Trading companies (General or Specialized)※Companies intending only to export to Japan are excluded

2. Companies seeking distributorship agreement/ agency contract or to procure
Japanese products/parts
3. Companies interested in product development incorporating Japanesetechnology and/or components
4. Companies interested in adding values to their products through joint
development and/or technological collaboration with Japanese companies
5. Companies seeking to establish joint ventures with Japanese companies（In home country and third-party countries）
6. Companies that have high technological capabilities and seek tocollaborate with Japanese companies.
Companies that only wish to export to Japan are not eligible.

Benefits of CEO Business Meetings (What are the benefits?)① Simply registering your needs and SMRJ finds the right partners

By simply registering your detailed needs and desires, SMRJ will makethe most of our network of SMEs in Japan to take on the challenge offinding the right partner.
② Possible to directly negotiate with Decision Makers
Decision makers of both parties are in attendance, so businessnegotiations are expected to go quickly.
③ Japanese SMEs approved by SMRJ will participate
All participating Japanese SMEs are carefully selected by SMRJ, are well
prepared for the meeting by the experts of SMRJ.
Overseas companies can have smooth negotiations.
④ SMRJ Provides interpreting services
Overseas companies can participate in your mother language.
⑤ Hybrid format business meetings (face-to-face / online meetings)
If you are busy, you can choose online meetings.
SMRJ covers the expenses of travel to Japan and accommodation for CEOs
that have scheduled many business meetings.
⑥ Participation is free
Overseas companies and counterpart organization does not bear any costs

Case study: Successful Meetings
Case1：Establishment of Distributor Agreement(A) Overseas Co. (Importing) – (B) Japanese Co. (Medical device Mfg. )Company (A) imports and sells mainly medical products used in ICUs and operating rooms. Thecompany wanted a meeting with a Japanese manufacturer and distributor of surgical instruments,
ICU and rehabilitation-related products for the purpose of importing and distributing Japanesemade medical equipment.
Company (A) is in discussion with a Japanese company (B), a specialized manufacturer ofotolaryngology station units, for exclusive distributorships of Japanese medical products that canbe sold at a premium price in its country.

Case2：Co-development, technical collaboration(A) Overseas Co. (Brown sugar production) – (B) Japanese Co. (Metal Detector
Sales)
Company (A) is a brown sugar producer. The purpose of participating in the business meeting
was to resolve the lack of technology related to the detection of fine metal fragments. To solve
this problem, a business meeting was held with a Japanese company (B) that sells magnetic field
metal detectors.
Company (B)'s technology can detect even 1 mm. The overseas company (A) sent a sample oftheir sugar product, and the Japanese company presented a report and video of thedemonstration test, which led to collaboration.

History of CEO Business Meeting Event
1. CEO Network Enhancing Project (CEO Business Meeting Event)In the 2010 APEC SME Ministerial Meeting and Joint Ministerial Statement, the “Strengthening Support for
the International Development of SMEs” was announced, and the “APEC SME CEO Network Expansion
Campaign” was implemented as its measure with a focus on "promotion of international cooperation andnetworking” among SMEs.
Then, “APEC SME CEO Network Enhancing Project“ launched in 2012. This program invites decision-makers
from abroad to Japan for company visits, business meetings, and other programs to promote businessmatching with Japanese SMEs for mutual benefits. In recent years, we received cooperation from government
authorities in ASEAN, India, Europe, and others to implement business matching efforts as a project to create
new value in collaborating with Japanese companies.
Since the start of this project in FY2012, approximately 2,000 companies from all 10 ASEAN countries, theU.S., EU, India, Taiwan, and other countries have participated, conducting approximately 18,000 businessmeetings.

2. The past years: CEO Network Enhancing ProjectIn FY 2019, we held business meetings in aircraft/robotics, electrical and electronic / mechanicalequipment, and AI / IoT sectors.
In FY2020, due to the COVID-19 pandemic, online business meetings were held for medical devices,
food technology, biotechnology, and aircraft /robotics sectors.
In FY2021, four online business meeting events were held: medical equipment, food technology,
aerospace/robotics, and environment related industries.
Furthermore, from 2021,we began charging fees to Japanese companies for their participation, which
led to having more participants with clear objectives in business meetings than in the past, greatly
improving the quality of the meetings and ultimately the events.

Contact Information

Contact Information:
Persons in charge:
Uchida (Mr.) (Director),
Inoue (Mr.) (Deputy Director),
Minowa (Mr.) (Deputy Director),
Kitaoka (Mr.) (Section Chief),
Nishikawa(Mr.)
Matching Support DivisionMarketing Support Department
Organization for Small & Medium Enterprises and Regional Innovation, JAPANSMRJ(SME SUPPORT JAPAN)
TEL：81-3-5470-2375 Email： ceo-network@smrj.go.jp