At Slush Tokyo, Czech start-ups will present their products for motorcyclists, senior citizens, airline passengers and video fans at Slush Tokyo.

• the Slush Tokyo technology conference will be held on 28-29 March 2018
• four Czech start-ups – NaviRider, Oscar Senior, Skychatters and 60SCNDS – will exhibit at the event
• the Czech start-ups travelled to Japan with support from CzechInvest

At the upcoming Slush Tokyo technology conference, four Czech start-ups will present a smart assistant for motorcyclists, an app helping seniors connect with the online world, a product for bringing passengers together on long flights and an easy way to produce videos. The firms will be accompanied by representatives of CzechInvest, the Czech government’s investment and business development agency, which has long supported the development of Czech start-ups both at home and elsewhere in the world. With effect from this month, the European Commission has named CzechInvest the Startup Europe Ambassador for the Czech Republic.

The Slush Tokyo conference will take place at the Tokyo Big Sight exhibition centre on 28-29 March 2018. Four Czech start-ups will exhibit in the start-up zone. CzechInvest assisted with paying the costs of participation in the conference and related services with funding from its CzechDemo project for supporting start-ups, which is financed with aid from EU Structural Funds.

NaviRider will present its assistant for motorcyclists, which combines an IoT solution and a mobile application that navigates, warns riders of dangers and provides them with training. The start-up uses space technologies and is developing its operations with support from the ESA BIC Prague space incubator. The firm is collaborating with companies such as Bosch and T-Mobile.

Oscar Senior offers an easy, fun and safe way for senior citizens to enter the digital world, stay in touch with family and friends online and thus avoid social isolation. The firm was the only Czech representative selected to take part in the Startup Pitch Competition, where it will compete with eighty others for the title of best start-up of the Slush Tokyo conference.

The Skychatters application brings together passengers with the same interests and destinations on long flights. 60SCNDS is a revolutionary way to produce professional-quality custom videos faster and less expensively.

“When they hear the name ‘Czech Republic’, many Japanese often first think of the word ‘robot’, which is of Czech origin. Recently, however, the Czech Republic has been represented by the successes of Czech firms in the field of electron microscopy and cybersecurity. The Czech firm Avast recently opened a branch here,” says Jiří Fusek, CzechInvest’s representative in Japan.

For the four Czech start-ups attending Slush Tokyo, CzechInvest has organised an all-day programme aimed at helping them establish the right contacts with the local start-up and business community. At the Embassy of the Czech Republic in Tokyo on Tuesday, 27 March 2018, the start-ups will be familiarised with the particularities of the local market and Japanese business customers and meet with, for example, representatives of the Japan External Trade Organisation (JETRO) and Avast, who will provide them with information and recommendations with respect to entering the Japanese market. The Czech firms will also receive detailed information on the local start-up environment and visit the Plug’n‘Play Shibuya business incubator.