JichiTIME Meetup: Extended Edition

JichiTime Meet Up is a recurring venue where local governments and startups meet directly. This extended edition combines a local government innovation short pitch session with the usual meetup, and runs longer than normal, from 15:00 to 17:30. Local governments and partner institutions from across Japan gather in one room to present co-creation case studies, regional challenges, and the kinds of collaboration they are looking for. The program has three parts. The local government x startup co-creation pitch covers concrete examples of joint projects, and the startups featured also run booths in the networking area. The regional innovation pitch gives many local governments and partner bodies a short slot each to outline regional challenges and open recruitment themes. The session closes with booth exhibits and open networking aimed at new collaboration opportunities. Presenting bodies include Tochigi, Wakayama, Gunma, Aomori, and Miyagi prefectures, the cities of Sendai, Kumamoto, Nagoya, Utsunomiya, Hamamatsu, and Okayama, the Miyazaki Open City Promotion Council, and Joyo Bank. There is no attendance cap and entry and exit are free throughout, so it is open both to founders pursuing public sector projects and to public officials looking for startup partners. Entry to the venue requires TIB app registration and a QR code.