Last week, the OpenHome team had the incredible opportunity to join IVS2025, Japan’s largest and most forward-thinking startup conference, held in Kyoto at the iconic Miyako Messe and ROHM Theatre.
With the theme “Reshape Japan with Global Minds,” IVS2025 brought together over 12,000 attendees—including startups, investors, and global tech leaders—to imagine what’s next for Japan’s innovation ecosystem. And OpenHome was right in the middle of it.
🇯🇵 A Truly Global Stage for AI Innovation
Our booth at IVS gave us a platform to share what makes OpenHome different: a fully open, developer-first voice AI platform that empowers anyone to build their own smart assistant or voice-driven application from scratch.
We showcased the OpenHome DevKit, a hardware bundle that lets developers create, test, and deploy their own AI agents with real-time audio, custom personalities, and voice-triggered actions. From indie developers to hardware startups, visitors were excited to see a platform built for builders—not just consumers.
🗣️ Localized AI Personalities in Japanese and English
One of the biggest highlights? Our bilingual Japanese-English AI personality demo, built entirely within the OpenHome platform. Attendees were able to experience how easy it is to create multilingual voice agents with custom traits, behaviors, and voices—flexing OpenHome’s localization capabilities in real time.
It wasn’t just a demo; it was a statement: OpenHome is ready to support Japan’s next generation of smart devices, assistants, and voice-native applications.
🔗 Why This Matters
IVS2025 is more than just a conference—it’s a catalyst for Japan’s next tech era, fueled by a surge in government support, VC funding, and cross-border innovation. With over 300 official side events and representation from more than 60 countries, the energy was palpable.
As Japan redefines its place in the global startup scene, OpenHome is proud to be part of the movement. We believe the future of voice AI should be open, localized, and developer-driven—and IVS was the perfect place to prove it.
📦 What’s Next
If you missed us at IVS, don’t worry—you can still join the movement. We’re giving away free OpenHome DevKits to developers building the next generation of voice applications.
🔗 Apply for your free DevKit
🔗 Download the 2025 Benchmark Report
🔊 Join Us in Building the Future of Voice AI
Design your own AI smart speaker, build with powerful new Voice AI tools, and explore thousands of apps—or create your own from scratch.
Whether you're a developer, maker, or founder, now’s the time to start building what’s next.