[{"_1":2,"_240":-5,"_241":-5},"loaderData",{"_3":4,"_30":31},"root",{"_5":6,"_25":26,"_27":14,"_28":29},"settings",{"_7":8,"_9":8,"_10":8,"_11":8,"_12":8,"_13":14,"_15":16,"_17":18,"_19":20,"_21":22,"_23":24},"google_login_enabled",true,"linkedin_login_enabled","microsoft_login_enabled","apple_login_enabled","will_printer_be_used","checkin_logging_enabled",false,"primary_color","#f08a94","secondary_color","#a73664","logo","https://storage.googleapis.com/gatherus-app/branding_logos/Tokyo_InnoWeek_-_Horizontal_-_Positive2x.png?X-Goog-Algorithm=GOOG4-RSA-SHA256&X-Goog-Credential=gatherus-storage%40itsp-160413.iam.gserviceaccount.com%2F20261007%2Fauto%2Fstorage%2Fgoog4_request&X-Goog-Date=20261007T040041Z&X-Goog-Expires=86400&X-Goog-SignedHeaders=host&X-Goog-Signature=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","community_graphic","https://storage.googleapis.com/gatherus-app/branding_community/Tokyo_InnoWeek_27_community_community.jpg?X-Goog-Algorithm=GOOG4-RSA-SHA256&X-Goog-Credential=gatherus-storage%40itsp-160413.iam.gserviceaccount.com%2F20261007%2Fauto%2Fstorage%2Fgoog4_request&X-Goog-Date=20261007T040041Z&X-Goog-Expires=86400&X-Goog-SignedHeaders=host&X-Goog-Signature=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","tenant_name","InnoWeek","locale","en","hasAuthCookie","origin","https://innoweek.global","routes/sessions.$sessionId",{"_32":33,"_64":65,"_237":238,"_239":224},"session",{"_34":35,"_36":37,"_38":39,"_40":41,"_42":43,"_44":14,"_45":14,"_46":-5,"_47":48,"_49":50,"_51":-5,"_52":-5,"_53":54,"_55":8,"_56":57,"_58":59,"_60":59,"_61":62,"_63":14},"id",7,"title","Tokyo's Ecosystem Playbook","description","

Gain firsthand insight into the Tokyo Metropolitan Government's aggressive urban and deep-tech deployment models.

","start_date","2027-02-17T16:00:00+09:00","end_date","2027-02-17T17:00:00+09:00","is_registration_required","is_registered","space","event_id","5f20ad0b-024c-4ee1-8d07-16acee02e314","event_name","Ecosystem Builders Summit","image","image_thumbnail","speakers",[],"has_free_spots","timezone","Asia/Tokyo","stream_url","","booking_url","tags",[],"can_edit","event",{"_34":48,"_66":50,"_67":68,"_69":70,"_38":71,"_40":72,"_73":-5,"_42":70,"_74":75,"_191":192,"_222":-5,"_223":-5,"_51":224,"_52":225,"_226":227,"_45":14,"_228":14,"_53":229,"_56":57,"_235":8,"_61":236,"_63":14},"name","effective_checkin_start_date","2027-02-17T10:30:00+09:00","effective_checkin_end_date","2027-02-17T20:00:00+09:00","

Co-designed by Venture Café and CIC Catalyst for individuals actively architecting, operating, and funding the world’s innovation infrastructure.

\r\n

Taking place during Tokyo Innovation Week 2027 and building on the momentum of Venture Café Global Gatherings that united innovation leaders across 85+ countries, the 2027 summit creates an intimate environment for ecosystem builders to learn from global peers. This one-day summit offers an indispensable dual advantage: a strategic gateway into Pan-Asian networks and a live operational learning lab.

","2027-02-17T11:00:00+09:00","check_in_source","sessions",[76,86,120,139,145,162,169,188],{"_34":77,"_36":78,"_38":79,"_40":80,"_42":81,"_44":14,"_45":14,"_46":-5,"_47":48,"_49":50,"_51":82,"_52":83,"_53":84,"_55":8,"_56":57,"_58":59,"_60":59,"_61":85},4,"Going Global: How Ecosystems Scale Through Connection","

Great ideas can start anywhere, but scaling them requires connections that reach across borders. This roundtable brings together ecosystem builders, investors, and program leaders to explore how regional innovation hubs can plug into the global economy and grow stronger together.

\r\n

Participants will dig into what it takes to establish cross-border landing pads, soft-landing programs, and cross-city pilots that help startups successfully enter and grow in new markets. The conversation will also tackle how to connect regional founders with global capital, and how emerging and established hubs can structure multi-city partnerships that benefit both sides. Finally, the group will examine how to design market-driven commercialization programs that turn research into scalable, high-impact ventures.

\r\n

Come ready to share your experiences, challenge assumptions, and leave with practical strategies and new partners for building a globally connected ecosystem.

","2027-02-17T01:00:00+09:00","2027-02-17T02:00:00+09:00","https://storage.googleapis.com/gatherus-app/session_images/session_KxrbS43.webp","https://storage.googleapis.com/gatherus-app/session_images/thumbnails/thumb_session_KxrbS43.webp",[],[],{"_34":87,"_36":88,"_38":89,"_40":90,"_42":91,"_44":14,"_45":14,"_46":-5,"_47":48,"_49":50,"_51":92,"_52":93,"_53":94,"_55":8,"_56":57,"_58":59,"_60":59,"_61":119},5,"From Tokyo to New York: Navigating Innovation Ecosystems with Hitachi","

Hitachi has more than a century of engineering behind it and deep in-house capabilities across rail, energy, digital, and industrial systems. So what does a company like that look for in an external innovation ecosystem?

\r\n

In this fireside chat, Charlie Takeuchi, President & CEO of Hitachi Americas, sits down with Chris Walla, Senior Directo at CIC to talk about how a global corporation engages with startups, cities, and research institutions, and how it decides where to commit. They'll discuss:

\r\n

what Hitachi looks for outside its own walls
how the company matches what it finds externally with what it already does well internally
how Hitachi chooses which cities to build deeper engagement in and invest in
why New York City has become a priority, the BATWorks project, and what Hitachi hopes to build there
what it takes to connect innovation between Japan and the United States

","2027-02-17T03:00:00+09:00","2027-02-17T04:00:00+09:00","https://storage.googleapis.com/gatherus-app/session_images/session_1Al8qwX.webp","https://storage.googleapis.com/gatherus-app/session_images/thumbnails/thumb_session_1Al8qwX.webp",[95,112],{"_34":96,"_97":98,"_99":100,"_101":102,"_103":104,"_105":106,"_107":108,"_109":59,"_110":111},2,"first_name","Chris","last_name","Walla","default_title","Senior Director of Strategy & Partnerships","linkedin_link","https://www.linkedin.com/in/chris-walla/","profile_photo","https://storage.googleapis.com/gatherus-app/profile_photos/innoweek/2026/10/01/075970a0d244454f9cdd76aaa7b79771.jpg","profile_photo_thumbnail","https://storage.googleapis.com/gatherus-app/profile_photos/innoweek/thumbnails/2026/10/01/eade15f996134baca9bac2e425fb2acb.jpg","default_bio","organization","CIC & BATWorks",{"_34":87,"_97":113,"_99":114,"_101":115,"_103":59,"_105":116,"_107":117,"_109":59,"_110":118},"Charlie","Takeuchi","President & CEO","https://storage.googleapis.com/gatherus-app/speaker_photos/18b7119597c84d9d99bb4c53f1c86e1e.webp","https://storage.googleapis.com/gatherus-app/speaker_photos/thumbnails/18b7119597c84d9d99bb4c53f1c86e1e_thumb.webp","Hitachi Americas",[],{"_34":121,"_36":122,"_38":123,"_40":124,"_42":125,"_44":14,"_45":14,"_46":-5,"_47":48,"_49":50,"_51":126,"_52":127,"_53":128,"_55":8,"_56":57,"_58":59,"_60":59,"_61":138},8,"Beyond the Generic Hub: The Rise of Specialized Innovation Districts","

Innovation districts have come a long way, and the next generation will be defined by specialization. This keynote opens with the evolution of hubs, tracing three generations of innovation districts, from isolated research parks and generic co-working spaces to today's specialized \"vertical\" ecosystems. From there, it makes the case for DNA-based competitiveness, offering a strategic roadmap and practical frameworks for analyzing regional DNA, so leaders can audit and double down on their region's native academic, industrial, and geographic strengths. Through case studies in vertical sovereignty, the session deconstructs first-hand examples of success to show what this looks like in practice. Attendees will also learn the Tri-Factor Framework, a blueprint for aligning the three essential pillars of success: specialized physical infrastructure, high-retention community architecture, and targeted economic capital through public-private funding pipelines. The keynote then explores how regional leaders can avoid generic positioning, resisting the urge to copy Silicon Valley and instead cultivating defensible, niche dominance in specific verticals. It closes with a look at policy and capital alignment, examining how municipal governments and private developers can align infrastructure subsidies, zoning, and specialized VC funds behind target verticals.

","2027-02-17T08:00:00+09:00","2027-02-17T09:00:00+09:00","https://storage.googleapis.com/gatherus-app/session_images/session_vUAupxZ.webp","https://storage.googleapis.com/gatherus-app/session_images/thumbnails/thumb_session_vUAupxZ.webp",[129],{"_34":77,"_97":130,"_99":131,"_101":132,"_103":133,"_105":134,"_107":135,"_109":136,"_110":137},"Tim","Rowe","Founder & Executive Chairman / Founder & Chair","https://www.linkedin.com/in/timothyrowecic/","https://storage.googleapis.com/gatherus-app/speaker_photos/40ce7a55f89e464b8f4ee4da806d8e45.webp","https://storage.googleapis.com/gatherus-app/speaker_photos/thumbnails/40ce7a55f89e464b8f4ee4da806d8e45_thumb.webp","

Tim Rowe is the Founder and Executive Chairman of CIC, and Founder and Chair of Venture Café Global Institute. CIC is a global leader in building and operating innovation campuses globally, focused on supporting the growth of startups and entrepreneurs. Since 1999, CIC has grown from a single location in Cambridge, Massachusetts, to a global company that manages more than 1.5 million square feet of shared workspace, wet labs, and event space globally. Among the notable organizations that spent their early days at CIC are Android and HubSpot.

\r\n

In 2009, Tim founded Venture Café based at CIC's One Broadway campus in Cambridge, Massachusetts with the vision of connecting innovators to make things happen. The organization has since activated innovation ecosystems in 24 cities globally, with over 850,000 visitors joining events worldwide since its foundation.

\r\n

Tim is also the founding chair of LabCentral, MassRobotics.

","Cambridge Innovation Center / Venture Café Global Institute",[],{"_34":140,"_36":141,"_38":59,"_40":125,"_42":142,"_44":14,"_45":14,"_46":-5,"_47":48,"_49":50,"_51":-5,"_52":-5,"_53":143,"_55":8,"_56":57,"_58":59,"_60":59,"_61":144},1,"Picking a Winner – Specialization & Cluster Focus","2027-02-17T10:00:00+09:00",[],[],{"_34":96,"_36":146,"_38":147,"_40":72,"_42":148,"_44":14,"_45":14,"_46":-5,"_47":48,"_49":50,"_51":149,"_52":150,"_53":151,"_55":8,"_56":57,"_58":59,"_60":59,"_61":161},"Activating Powerful Innovation Communities","

What turns a series of events into a community that people return to, contribute to, and help grow?

\r\n

Startup Genome’s research links strong local relationships, particularly among founders, with higher startup sales, faster team growth, and greater ecosystem value. These findings make a compelling case for ecosystem builders to invest intentionally in community building as a foundation for economic growth.

\r\n

This interactive roundtable brings together ecosystem builders and investors to explore the economic value of community and the strategies that sustain it. We’ll discuss how to move beyond transactional networking to build lasting relationships, engage founders, corporates, and academic institutions, and maintain momentum across physical and digital spaces.

\r\n

Participants will exchange practical approaches to using data-driven insights to strengthen engagement, guide investment, and deliver measurable impact. We’ll also explore how to build scalable systems that support growing communities while preserving the human connections that make them valuable.

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Kristen Plymale is an international leader with a diverse background in music, events, and tech. Her early career work with rockstars led her to Austin over a decade ago, where she discovered a new mission in the tech industry. Kristen pursued a dual-degree MBA and Masters of Innovation and Entrepreneurship to immerse herself in the world's innovation ecosystems and paid her dues in Boston's Kendall Square - known as the most innovative square mile on the planet. Now, as Co Executive Director at Venture Café Global Institute, Kristen collaborates with stakeholders worldwide to grow innovation ecosystems that empower the next generation of tech rockstars to improve the world through innovation. She has successfully expanded the Venture Café network to new markets, countries and regions and continues to create continued growth and impact for Venture Café. Kristen has worked for various innovation institutions, including the Venture Café Global Institute, Austin Technology Incubator, and the IC2 Institute, among others. She’s a true global citizen who has worked with innovation ecosystems on 6 continents and 17 countries and counting. Kristen also serves on the Advisory Board of Venture Café Monterrey. Kristen holds an MBA with a focus on entrepreneurship from the University of Texas McCombs School of Business and a masters of innovation and entrepreneurship from Tecnológico de Monterrey’s EGADE Business School, as well as a Bachelor's degree from Washington State University. She is a lifelong learner, with a passion for travel, design, hiking and trying new things (especially food).

","Venture Café Global Institute",[],{"_34":163,"_36":164,"_38":165,"_40":72,"_42":166,"_44":14,"_45":14,"_46":-5,"_47":48,"_49":50,"_51":-5,"_52":-5,"_53":167,"_55":8,"_56":57,"_58":59,"_60":59,"_61":168},3,"Designing Collision: Creating Physical Spaces for Innovation","

Session Description:

\r\n

A landmark spatial study at MIT analyzing communication across 33 departments and 1,500 researchers revealed that physical layout and proximity directly dictate interaction. Innovation rarely happens in isolation; it thrives in environments purposefully engineered for connection, flexibility, and scale. Join leaders from CIC and strategic partners for a session exploring how physical infrastructure acts as a primary catalyst for ecosystem growth.

\r\n

This session dives deep into the spatial design strategies that turn physical assets into magnets for cross-disciplinary collaboration. Beyond layout, participants will unpack the operational side of place-making—managing costs without sacrificing vibrancy. Drawing on real-world case studies across flexible co-working environments, specialized wet lab facilities, and dynamic public activation zones, participants will collaborate on actionable frameworks to build self-sustaining innovation districts. Come prepared to share insights, pressure-test spatial challenges, and help shape the next generation of physical innovation hubs.

\r\n

This session will be led by CIC's experts, leveraging over 26 years of industry-leading experience alongside notable project partners.

\r\n

","2027-02-17T12:00:00+09:00",[],[],{"_34":170,"_36":171,"_38":172,"_40":173,"_42":174,"_44":14,"_45":14,"_46":-5,"_47":48,"_49":50,"_51":175,"_52":176,"_53":177,"_55":8,"_56":57,"_58":59,"_60":59,"_61":187},6,"The Innovation Ecosystem Blueprint: Foundational Keys to Success","

An interactive workshop designed to help participants identify the assets, resources, and relationships they already have — and uncover gaps, opportunities, and connections that can help them move forward.

Participants will begin to develop their own blueprint for success by mapping their existing ecosystem, identifying priority stakeholders or resources they need to connect with, and developing practical next steps for strengthening their network

\r\n

Image Credit: MIT News https://news.mit.edu/2017/hubweek-shines-spotlight-kendall-square-innovation-ecosystem-1002

","2027-02-17T14:00:00+09:00","2027-02-17T15:00:00+09:00","https://storage.googleapis.com/gatherus-app/session_images/session_Z6tm4uG.webp","https://storage.googleapis.com/gatherus-app/session_images/thumbnails/thumb_session_Z6tm4uG.webp",[178],{"_34":170,"_97":179,"_99":180,"_101":181,"_103":182,"_105":183,"_107":184,"_109":185,"_110":186},"Carrie","Allen","Managing Partner","https://www.linkedin.com/in/carrieearleallen","https://storage.googleapis.com/gatherus-app/speaker_photos/e456076b31de4147af67e86b9051798e.webp","https://storage.googleapis.com/gatherus-app/speaker_photos/thumbnails/e456076b31de4147af67e86b9051798e_thumb.webp","

Carrie Allen is the Co-founder and Managing Partner of CIC’s advisory practice. Carrie has extensive experience as an innovation builder, business strategist, and entrepreneurial founder driving change and building systems with global consulting experience. Carrie also served as the interim head of growth at CIC Health which led end-to-end logistics for COVID-19 testing and vaccination efforts across multiple states across the United States during the pandemic. She also co-founded AGENCY, the world’s first innovation hub focused on age-tech innovation and longevity with co-working space at CIC, international programming, and ecosystem connections. Prior to joining CIC, she ran Harvard Professor David Edwards’ innovation lab for 8 years and was Director of Le Laboratoire Cambridge and Executive Director of ArtScience Labs, where she gained experience working with startups in new technologies and environmental design, wellness, the future of foods, digital communication, museum exploration, and water. She co-founded, built, and ran the innovation educational program the ArtScience Prize in 2008, growing it from Boston to 23 sites internationally.

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