IVS 2026
Overview
One of Japan's largest startup conferences. Entrepreneurs, investors, and corporations gather in Kyoto for the pitch contest LAUNCHPAD, sessions, and networking. The 2026 edition ran July 1-3 at Miyakomesse with around 13,000 attendees and 340 exhibitors, as LAUNCHPAD marked its 20th anniversary.
Foundation
- Founded
- 2007
- Founder
- Started as NILS in 2004, reorganized as IVS in 2007
Born as an invitation-only conference bringing together leaders of Japan's internet industry
Transition
- 2007 First IVS held in Miyazaki after the rename from NILS
- 2015 Organizing structure renewed
- 2020 First online edition during the COVID-19 pandemic
- 2023 Moved to Kyoto, dropped the invitation-only format, and drew about 10,000 attendees
- 2025 A record 13,000 attendees, with overseas participants exceeding 20%
- 2026 Held July 1-3 in Kyoto with about 13,000 attendees and 340 exhibitors; LAUNCHPAD marked its 20th anniversary
Voices
Studied past LAUNCHPAD finals and refined the pitch over and over, finishing as runner-up (from Yuki Shimizu's report, in Japanese)
A student who approached about 300 attendees at an exhibitor booth, with nearly 70 leads moving to the next step (from Chiharu's report, in Japanese)
Handing out umbrellas on a rainy day built trust with a VC and even led to investment talks (from Ryosuke Funahashi's report, in Japanese)
The taliki team prepared sales playbooks and role-play, spread out across the venue, and reported card-exchange results hourly for three days, while rediscovering the social sector's value of moving as a pack (from Gaku of taliki's report, in Japanese)
A first-time attendee frankly admits the business-driven crowd felt intimidating, yet found the festival-like venue enabled remarkably efficient business matching (from attendee soma's report, in Japanese)
In the News
IVS 2025
One of Japan's largest startup conferences. Under the theme "Reshape Japan with Global Minds," the 2025 edition drew a record 13,000 attendees (20% from overseas, 21% women) from over 70 countries, with 508 side events and 3,900 matchings, double the prior year. Notion co-founder Ivan Zhao was among the speakers, and Advance Composite won LAUNCHPAD. It also debuted the matching system "4S."
IVS 2024
One of Japan's largest startup conferences. The 2024 edition moved to Kyoto Pulse Plaza and drew 12,000 attendees from 67 countries, with 198 sessions and 307 side events widening its international reach. Female participation hit a then-record 24%. The LAUNCHPAD pitch contest was won by RENATUS ROBOTICS with its automated warehouse system.
IVS 2023
One of Japan's largest startup conferences. The 2023 edition was a turning point, moving to Kyoto for the first time and dropping its invitation-only format for open registration. Around 10,000 people attended, with over 20% from overseas. The LAUNCHPAD pitch contest drew a record 400 applicants, with care-tech startup aba taking the win. IVS Crypto ran alongside, underscoring the Web3 presence.
AI Expo Summer 2026
The summer edition of the AI-focused exhibition hosted by AIsmiley, operator of Japan's AI portal media. Over 100 companies present 200+ AI solutions alongside 40+ conference sessions. Following the Spring 2026 edition at Tokyo International Forum, it moves to Sankaku Hiroba at the Shinjuku Sumitomo Building. Free to attend, it serves companies comparing generative AI and AI agent products.
Innovation Japan 2026 (University Trade Fair)
Japan's largest university-industry matching event, hosted by the Japan Science and Technology Agency (JST). Patented technology seeds from universities nationwide are exhibited for matching with corporate R&D and new business teams. The 2025 edition drew about 14,000 visitors to 291 exhibited seeds. Less a startup conference and more a trade fair that seeds technology transfer and joint research.
Open Developers Conference 2026
A developer-focused open source conference run by the OSPN community behind the Open Source Conference (OSC) series. Billed as an "open source culture festival," it packs seminars, hands-on sessions, and community booths on DevOps, dev tools, and cloud into a single free day. Modest in size at 100-plus attendees, its strength since 2018 has been direct access to the developers behind OSS projects.