This October, the Canadian Food Innovation Network (CFIN) will lead three of its member companies to Tokyo for SKS Japan 2025—the country’s largest foodtech conference and one of Asia’s most influential gatherings of its kind.
Japan is something of a paradox for food innovators: a market that eagerly embraces new ingredients and technologies, yet uncompromising in its expectations for safety, quality, and compliance. It’s a tough nut to crack, but the opportunities are nearly unmatched. Food waste remains a national priority, labour shortages are testing the limits of hospitality and retail, and seafood—a dietary and cultural staple—is facing pressure from depleted stocks and shifting consumer values.
These are just some of the immediate and rapidly intensifying market pressures that demand practical solutions. And they are precisely the problems that Canadian innovators like those joining us at SKS Japan are equipped to take on. However, developing foodtech solutions is only part of the challenge. Getting those solutions to international markets like Japan is another challenge entirely, and foodtech entrepreneurs often face export challenges unlike those in other sectors.
The Export Challenge for Canadian Foodtech
Canadian export programs for agri-food are robust, as are supports for technology firms, but foodtech products and services tend to exist in a “messy middle” between these two categories. They don’t qualify as traditional agri-food exports, nor do they fit neatly into tech export frameworks. As a result, this fast-growing class of innovators is often left without the tailored support they need to successfully cross borders.
One of the aims of CFIN’s SKS Japan mission is to show what a different model could look like: export support designed specifically for foodtech, rooted in the realities of scaling innovations into tightly regulated, highly competitive markets. That includes financing strategies for expansion, proving operational readiness for large orders, and creating trusted entry points through trade missions, accelerators, and ecosystem partnerships.
A New Model for Showcasing Canadian Food Innovation
CFIN’s approach to SKS Japan goes well beyond setting up an exhibit booth. We’re building a program around the event that combines visibility on trade show floors with curated ecosystem engagements: site visits to the Gastronomy Innovation Campus and Tokyo Living Lab, meetings with accelerators like Sunryse and Shibuya QWS, and briefings at the Canadian Embassy. The aim is to give our member companies not only exposure to potential partners and investors at the conference itself, but also the cultural and regulatory context they need to enter the Japanese market with confidence.
The three companies joining us in Japan demonstrate the breadth of Canadian food innovation:
Food Cycle Science is tackling food waste with its suite of sleek, hyper-efficient Foodcycler units that quickly transform household and commercial food scraps into a nutrient-rich soil amendment—a practical solution in a country where waste disposal is costly and regulations are tightening.
NS/TX Industries (formerly New School Foods) is taking on one of the most ambitious tests imaginable: introducing plant-based salmon fillets into a market where seafood is both cultural identity and culinary art. Their readiness to test the waters of the discerning Japanese market is a testament to the exceptional quality of their product, which has earned the stamp of approval from Michelin-starred chefs in North America.
Dispension Industries is rethinking alcohol concessions in stadiums and arenas with SmartServ™, an automated kiosk that cuts lines, lowers staffing costs, and ensures compliance in high-volume environments. It’s a natural fit for a country renowned for its unique vending machine culture and receptivity to automation.
Looking Ahead
By surrounding the companies with introductions, narrative support, and on-the-ground learning, we’re creating a model tuned to the unique needs of foodtech that could be replicated in other priority markets. More than a one-off trade mission, this initiative is will help us develop a blueprint for how Canada can better support our foodtech innovators globally.
In the coming weeks leading up to SKS Japan, we’ll be publishing in-depth Q&As with each of the companies joining us to explore what their companies do, why Japan matters to them, and why participating in this mission with CFIN could shape the next stage of their growth.
If you’d like to learn more about what makes Japan a high-potential export opportunity for Canada, be sure to download CFIN’s Going Global: A Market Guide for Canadian Food Innovators for insights on where the biggest international opportunities lie, and how we’re helping Canadian companies take their technologies to the world.