EU Business Hub @ World Health Expo 2026

The EU Business Hub programme will select and support up to 50 European SMEs and start-ups in the healthcare and medical equipment sector to attend the World Health Expo 2026, in Japan at INTEX Osaka. The 2025 Japan Health (WHX's predecessor) exhibition hosted 425 exhibiting companies and almost 10,000 visitors, making it one of Japan’s leading healthcare and medical technology events.

The EU Business Hub will provide the EU Pavilion at the exhibition, a valuable platform for companies to showcase their products and services, demonstrations, networking, and customer acquisition. This business mission will take place from 30 June to 4 July, 2026, and provides an excellent opportunity for networking and connecting with potential Japanese business partners and industry leaders. Many Japanese corporations send representatives and have exhibition booths at the World Health Expo. At the EU Pavilion, a dedicated team of business coaching staff and professional interpreters will be available to promote European companies’ products and technologies, assuring maximum exposure to exhibition visitors. A networking event during the mission will increase the opportunities to connect with potential business partners and clients.

This business mission presents a unique opportunity for European SMEs and startups to establish valuable contacts, exhibit their solutions at the EU pavilion, build long-lasting relationships with Japanese enterprises and explore new business avenues together. 

Target audience

European SMEs involved in the medical and healthcare equipment sector, including technologies such as:

• Medical equipment
• AI applications in healthcare
• Imaging and diagnostics
• ICT for healthcare
• Disposables and consumer goods
• Regenerative medicine and tissue engineering
• Digital health
• Nanotechnology in healthcare
• Assistive technologies
• Telemedicine and remote health monitoring

Japanese Business Operators, notably buyers, distributors and R&D partners in public and private sectors, and Japanese investors.

Overview of the business mission

The business mission to Osaka will last five days in total, including three days of exhibiting, business matchmaking and networking at WHX, as well as sector insights and a study tour.

The business mission agenda is as follows: 

• Day 1: Arrival in Osaka and welcome gathering.
• Day 2: Briefing and lecture session with sectoral experts, matching event or site visit.
• Day 3-5: Exhibition, networking and business match-making sessions at the World Health Expo. 

Services/benefits the EU participants will be receiving

• Business matchmaking resulting in pre-arranged in-person meetings with carefully selected Japanese companies.
• Market intelligence including sectoral briefings providing valuable insights about the Japanese market and potential opportunities
• Cultural and linguistic support such as briefings on doing business in Japan, and support for interpretation and translation
• Financial support up to €1000 to benefit from a menu of additional customised services co-funded by the project (e.g. translation, printing, legal advice)
• Hotel accommodation (Grand Prince Hotel Osaka Bay) for four nights - in total, up to €1,000 for accommodation is covered by the programme
• Coverage of the exhibition fee at the World Health Expo

Key market insights

Participating in the EU Business Hub @ World Health Expo 2026 represents a unique opportunity for European SMEs:

• The Japanese medical device market is the third largest globally with a total revenue of EUR 35 billion in 2024, with a projected Compound Annual Growth Rate (CAGR) of 6% within the next decade.¹
• Japanese medical device manufacturers are slowly expanding their share of overseas sales, and the Japanese government is increasingly investing in the digitalisation of the medical device manufacturing process. Both trends present opportunities for overseas medical device manufacturers, specially those involved in manufacturing AI-powered medical devices and Software as Medical Device (SaMD), to collaborate with Japanese firms.²
• Most major Japanese medical device manufacturers have had business alliances with overseas companies, particularly from Europe, for joint research and the sale of overseas medical devices in Japan.³
• Medical devices in Japan are regulated under the "Act on Securing Quality, Efficacy and Safety of Products Including Pharmaceuticals and Medical Devices" (PMD Act), primarily by 2 organisations: the Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare (MHLW) and the Pharmaceuticals and Medical devices Agency (PMDA).⁴
• Japan's high dependency on import of medical devices, up to 90% for certain medical devices categories, can be a significant supply chain vulnerability.⁵
• The Japanese government is attempting to resolve the above challenges by offering subsidies for startups and SMEs planning to enter the market, as well as streamlining the process of creating a medical device-related startup and providing consultation services related to SaMD regulations.⁶
• Overseas medical device startups expanding into Japan, tend to be from other Asian countries such as the Republic of Korea and Taiwan, but startups from Europe and the US tend to access the Japanese market by forming partnerships with major Japanese manufacturers, as well as medical device distributors, to act as channels to sell their products in Japan.⁷

Discover the business mission and apply by 24 March 2026!

Find out more: Missions Catalogue

Please see the Cancellation Policy section for more information.

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¹ Japan's medical device / MedTech market

² Japan's medical device / MedTech market

³ Japan's medical device / MedTech market

⁴ Japan's medical device / MedTech market

⁵ Japan's medical device / MedTech market

⁶ Japan's medical device / MedTech market

⁷ Current Status and Future of Japan's Medical Device Industry