There’s no denying that Flanders’ startup ecosystem is doing great in terms of both growth and internationalization. According to a recent report, the region’s ecosystem even ranks among Europe’s strongest-growing startup hubs over the past five years. Meanwhile, on the other side of the world, Japan’s start-ups are also becoming ever more successful and increasingly looking to make connections with other innovative companies both at home and abroad.

But while the two economies are highly complementary when it comes to innovation and internationalization opportunities, there was still room to bring the two business environments closer together and open even more international doors for startups from both ecosystems.

Highlighting the opportunities offered by the increasingly strong ties between Flanders and Japan, two companies – one from each ecosystem – joined the delegation during the MoU signing. Just a few days earlier, Japanese tech multinational Fujitsu Limited and Flanders-based blockchain scale-up Settlemint announced that they have entered a global strategic agreement to accelerate the digital transformation of the Fujitsu Enterprise Blockchain and Track & Trust Solutions.