Tohoku Cybersecurity Symposium 2026
Overview
A cybersecurity symposium launching in 2026 in Tohoku, built on industry-government-academia cooperation. Organized by the Tohoku Cybersecurity Symposium Executive Committee and IPA, co-hosted by METI. Over two days it pairs management-track talks for executives with engineering-track talks for practitioners, adding a night session and a co-located tabletop exercise.
Program
- Day 1 (Management Day): three keynotes (METI or IPA, Shinichi Fuchigami, Hiroshi Koide), a resilience talk, and two panels on SME case studies and security talent development
- Day 1 evening: night sessions on four themes (incident crisis management, physical AI, regional talent development, OT security)
- Day 2 (Engineering Day): three talks (supply chain risk, DX, AI security) and an OT security panel
- Co-located tabletop exercise for SME executives on the morning of Day 1 (separate registration)
Speakers
- Shinichi Fuchigami (Corporate Executive CISO, NEC, and Director, NEC Security; 2026 speaker)
- Hiroshi Koide (Professor, Kyushu University; 2026 speaker)
- Dai Sato (Assistant Professor, School of Medicine, Tohoku Medical and Pharmaceutical University; 2026 speaker)
- Hiroshi Sasaki (Head of OT Business Development, Fortinet Japan, and Visiting Professor, Nagoya Institute of Technology; 2026 speaker)
Foundation
- Founded
- 2026
- Founder
- Launched in 2026 by the Tohoku Cybersecurity Symposium Executive Committee together with IPA
METI positions Tohoku as a key base underpinning Japan's economic and energy security, and the symposium debuts in 2026 as a venue for deepening understanding of the new security risks that accompany DX and AI adoption. The executive committee is chaired by Hideaki Sone, professor emeritus at Tohoku University. METI and IPA announced the event on 17 July 2026.
Transition
- 2026 METI and IPA announced the event on July 17, with Hideaki Sone, professor emeritus at Tohoku University, as executive committee chair
- 2026 Audience registration opened on August 27
- 2026 First edition held November 25-26 at Sendai Kokusai Hotel, with a capacity of 300
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