Scottish Startups Should Consider Yokohama – Sponsored
Why Yokohama, Japan is a great place for Scottish entrepreneurs to innovate
There are a number of international opportunities for new and established businesses in Scotland in the city of Yokohama in Japan. We reveal five reasons why this innovative and creative city brings exciting opportunities for Scots businessmen and businesswomen looking to launch a new business there
Scotland and Yokohama will “grow together” as collaborators
Yokohama, Japan and Scotland are deeply connected (read more). To encourage the two places to continue growing together, the Scottish Government and Yokohama signed a joint declaration in July 2018. This collaboration encompasses a number of important areas including culture and tourism, marine and subsea industries, and sports and education.
Yokohama is the innovative and creative Japanese city
The city of Yokohama is the capital city of Kanagawa Prefecture and lies south of Tokyo. Yokohama plays an important role in the politics, economy and culture of Japan. In Minato Mirai 21, the central business district of Yokohama, corporate Research & Development bases are rapidly assembling and attracting innovative engineers from across the world. Yokohama has attracted worldwide attention – its venues have already staged international events including the Seventh Tokyo International Conference on African Development (TICAD7) and the Rugby World Cup 2019, and next year it is to host the Tokyo 2020 Olympics.
Engineers are initiating large tech events in Yokohama
The largest tech event to date, The Yokohama Gadget Festival, was held here in October 2019. More than 100 booths were on show, displaying the latest in artificial intelligence, drones, robots, virtual reality and more. Over 6,000 people in total participated and companies of all sizes, startups, educational institutions, civic groups and individuals came together under the slogan “Let’s make Yokohama exciting with innovations!”
Exchanging innovative human resource to create new businesses
In October, the city established an initiative called YOXO BOX (Yokohama Cross Over and Sandbox). This advertises the city as “Innovation City Yokohama” and promotes it as a hub for innovative human resource exchange. YOXO BOX was developed for specialist mentoring and discussion of growth support programs between startups. It also holds business events which aim to create a safe space for collaboration and innovation. There will be new businesses created inside and outside Japan, along with startup supporters, local companies and managers.
Yokohama is ideal for a business hub in Japan and Asia
Historically an international city which is proud of its cultural diversity, Yokohama welcomes many multinational companies and overseas bases or branches. Thanks to its focus on developing corporate locations, Yokohama is very advantageous for multinational companies as it prepares an environment, community, and provides the human resources suitable for launching new ideas. Yokohama is situated about thirty minutes from the centre of Tokyo and twenty-five minutes from Tokyo International Airport (Haneda Airport), the largest airport in Japan. This makes Yokohama easily accessible to UK businesses, Scottish “Silicon Glen” startups, as well as entrepreneurs from countries all over the world.
If you are a Scottish company or Silicon Glen startup considering an expanse in Japan or Asia, your first choice should be Yokohama
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