Minister Palo introduces Estonian IT companies in Japan

TALLINN - Estonian Entrepreneurship and IT Minister Urve Palo on Monday attended a Japan-Estonia IoT Matching Event in Tokyo's IoT Acceleration Lab.

"We have a lot to learn from Japan and we have also a lot to give to them. The Japanese see Estonia as a highly-developed IT country and they especially value our experience with developing complex cyber solutions," Palo said.

She added that Japan will host the 2020 Olympic Games and the Japanese interest in Estonia's smart solutions is constantly growing. "We can help them with many issues and they are also interested in that," she said.

Ott Jalakas, founder of the Lingvist language learing application who accompanied Palo, said that high-level visits to Japan is the best way for Estonian entrepreneurs to reach agreements in Japan. "We got many new and good contacts today with whom to work with," Jalakas said.

Head of Cybexer Technologies, Lauri Almann, said commenting on the visit that such support from the state is invaluable. "Introducing one's company with a minister means that every offer has more weight," Almann said.

During the visit Palo also met with Parliamentary Vice-Minister of Economy, Trade and Industry, Toshinao Nakagawa, deputy director-general Yoshiaki Takeuchi, and Mitsubishi CEO Osamu Masuko.

The business delegation accompanying Palo included deputy secretary general of the Ministry of Economic Affairs and Communications Viljar Lubi, foreign representative of Enterprise Estonia in Japan, Kosaku Yamaguchi, coordinator of foreign relations at Enterprise Estonia Krista Mihkelsaar as well as representatives of the Estonian embassy in Japan, and IT companies Cybernetica AS, Transferwise, RealSystems, Star Cloud, Funderbeam, Lingvist/Rakuten, Codeborne OU, Cybexer Technologies, Smart Load Solutions and Playground.