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Date: Tuesday, October 6, 2026
Time: 5:00-8:00 PM
Doors Open: 4:30 PM
Venue: Dorsey & Whitney LLP
Address: 430 Cowper Street, Suite 250, Palo Alto, CA 94301
Format: Registration by Approval
Expected Attendance: Approximately 80-100 participants
Language: English
Host: Office of the City of Yokohama Representative to the Americas
Partners: CleanLeap, ShibuLA Ventures, Greennex Global
Program: Yokohama Climate Tech Gateway Program - West Coast Edition
About the Event
Climate technologies often face a significant gap between successful pilots & commercial deployment. Moving beyond the pilot stage requires more than venture capital alone, including corporate partnerships, demonstration opportunities, public funding, offtake, & project finance.
Held during SF Tech Week 2026, Beyond the Pilot: Building U.S.-Japan Climate Tech Projects will bring together Japanese & U.S. companies, climate tech innovators, investors, & public-sector organizations to explore how these resources can be combined to create concrete U.S.-Japan climate tech projects.
Through corporate reverse pitches, a cross-sector panel, & networking, the event will focus on moving climate technologies from pilot to project.
Japanese Corporate Reverse Pitch (5:10-6:00 PM)
Japanese companies will present their business challenges, innovation priorities, & areas in which they are seeking technologies, startups, & strategic partners.
Rather than asking startups to pitch what they already have, the reverse pitch format begins with concrete corporate needs & creates opportunities for innovators to identify potential areas for collaboration.
The session aims to initiate discussions around:
Pilot & demonstration opportunities
Corporate partnerships
Customer validation, offtake, & commercialization
Connecting U.S. climate technologies with Japanese companies
Developing concrete U.S.-Japan climate tech projects
Participating Companies: TBA
Panel Discussion "Beyond Venture Capital: Building U.S.-Japan Climate Tech Projects" (6:00-6:50 PM)
Venture capital plays an important role in developing emerging climate technologies, but bringing those technologies into real-world infrastructure, industrial systems, & commercial deployment often requires a much broader set of resources.
This discussion will explore what is needed to move climate technologies from pilot projects to commercially viable & scalable projects.
Discussion themes include:
How public funding, corporate resources, & private capital can be combined to de-risk early-stage projects
How VC-backed pilots can transition to catalytic capital, project equity, & ultimately project finance
What is needed for Japanese corporations & U.S. startups to move beyond PoCs toward offtake & commercial deployment
Speakers:
Sean Miki, Program Manager, Energy Policy & Technology, New Energy & Industrial Technology Development Organization (NEDO)
TBA
Who Should Attend
The event is designed for:
Climate tech startups & innovators
Japanese & U.S. corporations
Venture capital, CVC, & strategic investors
Public-sector & innovation support organizations
Professionals working on U.S.-Japan climate tech collaboration
About the Yokohama Climate Tech Gateway Program
The Yokohama Climate Tech Gateway Program connects climate technology ecosystems in Japan & the United States & creates opportunities for startups, corporations, investors, & other partners to develop cross-border collaboration.
Through events, corporate reverse pitches, business matching, & ecosystem partnerships, the program seeks to connect innovative technologies with real business needs & support the development of new climate tech projects & partnerships involving Yokohama.
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