Hokkaido F Village X (HFX), a global co-creation program designed to foster innovation among international startups, leading Japanese corporations, and local municipalities in Hokkaido. The program is based at the Hokkaido Ballpark F Village in Kitahiroshima City, Japan, and aims to leverage new technology to enhance the region's appeal and address local challenges.

Year 2 attracted hundreds of applications from 36 countries worldwide. The program accepted startups across five categories: Sports, Entertainment & Stadiums; Food & Agriculture; Mobility; Sustainability; and Wellbeing. These startups will now enter a business co-creation phase with HFX partners, including Yamato Holdings Co., Ltd., JTB Corp., Tokyu Land Corporation, The Hokkaido Bank, Ltd., NH Foods Ltd., and Hokkaido Gas Co., Ltd., as well as the municipal partner Kitahiroshima City. Operational support is provided by Fighters Sports & Entertainment Co., Ltd.

ThermoShade Selected as GrowNY 2026 Finalist!

Empire State Development Announces 2026 Finalists Selected for Eighth Round of $3 Million Grow-NY Global Food and Agriculture Business Competition

The Los Angeles Cleantech Incubator (LACI) has selected 10 companies–six of which (including ThermoShade) are highlighted below–to participate in the next cohort of the Pilots at BAT program. Backed by a $100 million investment from the New York City Economic Development Corporation (NYCEDC), BATWorks is New York City’s climate innovation and workforce hub at the Brooklyn Army Terminal (BAT) in Sunset Park, Brooklyn, and is projected to generate more than $2 billion in economic impact and support 150 startups over the next decade. Through programs like Pilots at BAT, which are implemented by LACI as the hub’s climate program operator, BATWorks connects innovators with prototyping and coworking space, commercialization support, and partnerships needed to bring new technologies to real world use. Pilots at BAT offers climate tech companies access to physical infrastructure at the Brooklyn Army Terminal to test, refine, de-risk, and demonstrate their technologies. 

Across the course, 3M is partnering with ThermoShade to showcase a shade solution designed to help people stay cooler and more comfortable outdoors. ThermoShade’s Oasis structures feature patented shade panels that combine 3M™ Cooling Film with phase change material to reduce solar heat gain and absorb radiated body heat from occupants. The result is covered spaces that can feel up to 20 degrees Fahrenheit (11 degrees Celsius) cooler than conventional shade structures. 

The Extreme Heat Tech Stack: The Solutions Leaders Urgently Need

Extreme heat has a ripple effect. It starts with a rise in temperature that might make us turn up the air-conditioning, but can damage natural and human-made infrastructure, trigger economic loss and threaten social cohesion. And many of our leaders are getting caught flatfooted. For example, according to Mercer only 4% of companies have assessed their workforce's vulnerability to extreme heat or other climate impacts. After a certain point, simply telling people to stay indoors and be careful will run its course. We need to proactively protect humans and infrastructure as well as the natural environment. New and emerging technologies will have a critical role here, but we’re facing a knowledge gap - what are the best-practice technologies that can help address extreme heat risk? Where is the consolidated mapping or clearing-house that employers, public officials, families and individuals can turn to?