LEEP SUMMIT 2026
“LEEP SUMMIT,” one of Japan's largest festivals celebrating environmental and energy innovation, will be held again this year on December 9!
LEEP SUMMIT is the E&E Community’s largest annual event, and this year marks its sixth edition.
This year’s LEEP SUMMIT will bring together domestic and international startups, venture capital firms, and experts under the main theme, “Rethinking the Balance Between Climate Change Mitigation and Economic Growth.” This event will bring together a wide range of stakeholders—including companies, startups, entrepreneurs, researchers, universities and research institutions, government agencies, local governments, and investors—all interested in this field, so we encourage you to attend.
■The Vision Behind “LEEP”
LEEP stands for “Linking Energy & the Environment Innovators for our Planet.” The name LEEP was also inspired by the word “LEAP” (meaning “to take a great leap forward”). We created this name with the hope of establishing a space where innovators in the environmental and energy sectors can connect and spark a chemical reaction—all to propel the future of our planet forward in a major leap.
【Event Overview】
Date: Wednesday, December 9, 2026, 4:00 PM – 9:00 PM *Registration closes at 8:30 PM
Venue: CIC Tokyo (15th Floor, Toranomon Hills Business Tower, 1-17-1 Toranomon, Minato-ku, Tokyo) & Online
Admission: Free
*We will contact participants separately regarding building access and the Zoom link.
【Timetable】（Speakers to be updated as they are confirmed）
◆ Pitch #1: “Lab to Impact” — Researchers’ Pitch Special Edition
Time: 4:00–5:00 p.m.
Outline：Winners of the “Lab to Impact” researcher pitch event—held four times in the past by the E&E Community—will take the stage once again to present on their progress in research and development and commercialization since winning, as well as their new initiatives and future outlook.
Taku Demura / Professor, Nara Institute of Science and Technology / Director and CSO, LEP Inc.
Yuki Shigeta / Commercialization Producer, Thermal Energy Conversion Engineering (Shoji Mori) Laboratory, Kyushu University
Tetsuo Nohara / Specially Appointed Professor, Research Institute of Science and Technology, Tokai University
◆ Pitch #2: Climate Tech STARTUP PITCH
Time: 5:00–5:55 p.m.
Outline: Under the theme “Embracing Change and Shaping the Future: Climate Tech—Overcoming New Challenges in the Era of Climate Change and AI Through Technology and Innovation,” this event will feature pitches by Climate Tech startups that support sustainable economic growth. The presentations will address “mitigation and adaptation” to climate change while also broadening the scope to include responses to issues such as rising electricity demand driven by AI and digital transformation (DX), as well as resource constraints.
Taiki Sato / CEO, TopoLogic Inc.
Kohei Takimoto / CEO, Looparts Inc.
Masaharu Sato / CEO, ORLIB Inc.
◆ Session 1: Opening Remarks
Time: 6:00–6:15 p.m.
Outline：We’ll introduce the purpose of the Leep Summit, the E&E community’s achievements in 2026, and an overview of “Tokyo Climate Week,” scheduled for 2027!
Speaker：
・Yoshinori Ueda / Senior Managing Director and CIO, Japan Green Investment Corp. for Carbon Neutrality
・Midori Mizote / CIC Catalyst Assistant Director ・ E&E community organizer
◆ Session 2: Keynote Panel Discussion: “Is ‘Balancing Work and Life’ Still Possible? — Where We Stand in 2026”
Time: 6:15-6:50 p.m.
Outline：After examining major shifts in the underlying conditions—such as the Trump administration’s review of the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA), policy reversals in Europe, and the sharp rise in electricity demand driven by the spread of AI—we will reexamine the very nature of “compatibility.”
Speaker：
・Keisuke Sadamori／The Canon Institute for Global Studies
・Yoshinori Ueda / Senior Managing Director and CIO, Japan Green Investment Corp. for Carbon Neutrality
・Sumiko Takeuchi / U3Innovations LLC Co-Representative
◆ Session 3: “Will Investment Capital Return to Climate Tech? — Winning Strategies from the Perspective of Overseas VCs”
Time: 6:55-7:30 p.m.
Outline：Amid reports that investment in climate tech has cooled off, we’ll examine—from an investor’s perspective—which companies have survived and where the capital has shifted.
Speaker：
・Dr.Rebecca Wilson(head of innovation ecosystem)／Rhapsody Venture Partners
Moderator：
・Masaru Nagura 氏 / CIC Catalyst advisor・E&E community organizer
◆ Session 4: “What Has Changed in the Last Five Years? — Market Turning Points as Told by Successful Startup Founders”
Time: 7:35-8:10 p.m.
Outline：Against the backdrop of the transition from the FIT (Feed-in Tariff) to the FIP (market-linked support system), soaring electricity prices, and progress in the GX policy, a panel of startups that have experienced rapid growth over the past five years will engage in a discussion.
Speaker：
・Yusuke Toyoda / DIGITAL GRID Corporation CEO
Moderator：
Kazuhiro Iguchi / E&E community project member & Green Talent Hub, Inc. President and CEO
◆Closing
Time: 8:10-8:15 p.m.
【About the Environmental and Energy Innovation Community】
The Environmental and Energy Innovation Community is an innovation-creation community specializing in the environmental and energy sectors, operated by CIC Tokyo and U3Innovations LLC. This community aims to foster innovation by connecting all types of stakeholders—including startups, large corporations, investors, researchers and research institutions, government agencies, and nonprofit organizations—who are interested in innovation in the environmental and energy sectors, building relationships among them, and supporting their growth.
We are currently recruiting community members and sponsoring companies. If you would like to learn more about this community’s programs, please contact the Environment and Energy Innovation Community Secretariat (env-startups@cic.com).
✅Click here to apply to join the community：https://forms.gle/v97kx8FB9aM1QGMM7
【Organizer】
■Please refer to the following reports for highlights from past LEEP SUMMIT events.
・Environmental and Energy Innovation Summit: LEEP SUMMIT 2023 Event Report
・Environmental and Energy Innovation Summit: LEEP SUMMIT 2024 Event Report
・Environmental and Energy Innovation Summit: LEEP SUMMIT2025 Event Report
【Organizer】
CIC Tokyo
CIC Tokyo, occupying a total of 6,000 square meters on the 15th and 16th floors of the Toranomon Hills Business Tower, is a comfortable shared office space and a hub for innovation connected to the world. It currently hosts more than 300 tenant companies and hosts over 400 events annually, including those organized by Venture Café and private events. While supporting the global growth of startups, we aim to create an innovation community where innovators, investors, and companies from around the world gather in high concentration. Our goal is to foster an environment—not merely “office space”—where promising startups can receive the support they need when they need it, and where innovation flourishes continuously.
U3Innovations LLC
U3 Innovations is a group of practitioners dedicated to promoting innovation and creating new industries with the goal of realizing a sustainable new social system (Utility 3.0). Founded in 2018 by Sumiko Takeuchi and Takeshi Ito—co-authors of the 2017 book The Energy Industry in 2050: A Game-Changer Toward Utility 3.0, which first introduced the concept of Utility 3.0 as a new social system that goes beyond energy supply to realize a sustainable future that embraces diverse values—the group was established to advance this vision.