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24 Tech Startups from Asian Countries & Regions to Compete for the 11th AEA 2022 Innovation Award

The Asian Entrepreneurship Award Steering Committee announced today that it will hold the Asian Entrepreneurship Award 2022 event (AEA 2022) online from Wednesday, October 26th to Thursday, October 27th. Now in their eleventh year, the Asian Entrepreneurship Awards recognize and reward innovation among emerging entrepreneurs and tech startups across Asia.

AEA 2022 (Graphic: Business Wire)

The AEA 2022 will bring together 24 selected startups from across Asia providing solutions in the areas of Healthcare, Work & Life style, and Sustainability, all of which have become key issues globally. During the event, the startups will deliver business presentations showcasing their services and products, with the winners being selected on the basis of a wide range of criteria. These will include innovativeness, the social and economic impact of their products and services, their commercial viability, the potential for collaboration with Japanese companies, and the opportunity for business expansion in Japan. In addition, the Social Business Session will be held at the same time, where startups that follow the Seven Principles of Social Business proposed by Dr. Muhammad Yunus will competitively share business ideas for solving social problems.

In addition, Iwao Yoshino, CEO of Microwave Chemical Co., Ltd., which was newly listed on the Tokyo Stock Exchange Growth Market in June 2022, will give a special speech on the 27th.

For event details please visit https://aea2022online.peatix.com/

Expert-approved technology startups to receive 1.5 months of mentoring sessions to accelerate their entry to the Japanese market

Since its launch in 2012, AEA has provided a stage for promising entrepreneurs and startups from rapidly growing countries and regions in Asia on which they can showcase business ideas and technologies aimed at addressing social issues.

To date, a total of 247 tech startups from 16 countries and regions across greater Asia have participated in AEA events. All entrants were nominated by key notable institutions such as the Japan External Trade Organization (JETRO) and the University of Tokyo, as well as by incubators, accelerators, universities, and other institutions supporting start-up companies in their respective countries and regions.

Requiring participants to be willing to enter the Japanese market or collaborate with Japanese companies, AEA also provides close support by matching participating startups with Japanese companies. The AEA 2022 event will feature several initiatives to further accelerate collaboration between Japanese companies and participating startups.

One of such initiatives is to provide mentoring sessions by a team of mentors from venture capital firms and accelerators in Japan during the 1.5 months leading up to the event. This is expected to help entrants acquire a better understanding of the market and facilitate their collaboration with prospective Japanese partners.

Also, matchmaking and online interviews between participating startups and Japanese companies will be promoted in various ways, such as by encouraging participating companies, sponsors, nominators, and others to freely communicate with one another using the Slack communication platform, as AEA 2021 participants did.

In addition, the capital limit, one of the entry requirements, has been raised from 1 million US dollar