IT Conferences & Tech Events in Kyoto

TL;DR — Kyoto's two flagship tech events are IVS2026 (July 1–3, Japan's largest startup conference, 13,000+ attendees) and BitSummit PUNCH (May 22–24, Japan's largest indie game festival, free public entry).^[4]^[1] For visitors outside those windows, the Kyoto Tech Meetup runs English-friendly morning sessions every week.^[12]

Flagship Events

Jul 1–3, 2026

IVS2026

Kyoto Miyakomesse · Hotel Okura Kyoto · ROHM Theatre Kyoto

Startup / Venture

Japan's largest startup conference, now in its 32nd edition. 13,000+ registered participants from ~70 countries.^[5] Theme: "Japan is Back."^[6]

IVS CORE — invite-only, ~1,000 C-suite decision-makers at Hotel Okura, Jul 1–2.^[8]
LAUNCHPAD — pitch contest finals Jul 3 at ROHM Theatre; winner eligible for ¥10M Startup Kyoto International Award.^[7]
Startup Market — ~300 startups exhibiting at Miyakomesse.

Tickets: ¥4,980 (student) – ¥39,800 (general).^[4]

May 22–24, 2026

BitSummit PUNCH

Miyako Messe (Kyoto International Exhibition Hall)

Indie Gaming Free (public days)

Japan's largest indie game festival, held in Kyoto every year since 2013.^[1] Attracted 58,000+ visitors in 2025.^[3] Theme: "High Impact."^[2]

May 22 — Business Day (developers, publishers, media, sponsors).
May 23–24 — Public days; free admission.

Attendees: gaming enthusiasts, indie devs, Sony/Nintendo/Valve representatives, VGM composers.

Academic & IEEE Conferences

Apr 14–17, 2026

IEEE ICASI 2026

Kyoto International Conference Center (ICC Kyoto)

IEEE

12th International Conference on Applied System Innovation. Recurring annual event with prior editions at ICC Kyoto, proceedings indexed in IEEE Xplore.^[10]^[11] Covers electronics, materials science, mechanical and electrical engineering applied systems.

May 8–10, 2026

ICCRE 2026

Miyako Messe, Kyoto

IEEE · Robotics & Automation Society

11th International Conference on Control and Robotics Engineering. Co-sponsored by IEEE and IEEE Robotics and Automation Society; papers indexed in IEEE Xplore, Scopus, and Ei Compendex.^[9] Focuses on robot design, industrial automation, and control systems.

Community & Recurring Events

Kyoto Tech Meetup

187 members, 4.9-star rating on Meetup.com. English- and Japanese-friendly; visitors to Kyoto are welcome.^[13] Topics in 2026 have included AI workflows, indie app development, tools like OpenClaw, and career paths in Japan.^[17]

Format	When	Venue	Cost
Morning Tech & Coffee	Thu 8:30am · Sat 9:30am (weekly)	Starbucks Kyoto Nishikikoji	Free (buy a drink)
Community Hack Day	Monthly (next: check Meetup.com)	FabCafe Kyoto	Free (2-drink min)

Join: Meetup.com · Discord: discord.gg/mXFWEHDKeu · Organiser: Ash Ryan Arnwine^[12]

Innovation Infrastructure

Kyoto Research Park (KRP), Japan's first privately operated urban research park (est. 1989), hosts 510 companies and runs ~266 events per year.^[15] Its HVC KYOTO startup acceleration programme has backed 194 startups and facilitated ¥76.5 billion in funding as of March 2025, earning the METI Minister's Award at the Japan Open Innovation Prize.^[16] KRP does not publish a public event calendar, but its network is a common route into Kyoto's startup community.

Outside Kyoto (Kansai context): The 4th World Congress of AI Industry (WCAI-2026) runs Jun 16–18 in Osaka — a 30-min shinkansen ride — covering AI research and industry matchmaking.^[18]