CEO Diary from Hokkaido: Why a Baseball Stadium is the Ultimate Test Bed for FoodTech

Editor's Note: IXON Founder and CEO Felix Cheung recently returned from Japan after participating in the Kickoff Week for the Hokkaido F Village X accelerator. Here, he shares his firsthand experience on why this unique ecosystem is the perfect launchpad for our technology.

I finally got back to Hong Kong after an incredible two weeks in Japan, and I have to admit, my mind is still buzzing. During the first week, I was in Hokkaido, and I was there for the Kickoff Week of the Hokkaido F Village X (HFX) accelerator. Being chosen as the only Asian startup—and one of just eight out of a massive 245 applicants from 36 countries—was a huge honor for IXON. But honestly, it wasn't until I was actually walking the grounds and meeting the people involved that I truly grasped how special this platform is.

If you haven't heard of HFX, it is operated by Scrum Ventures and Scrum Studio, and it completely breaks the mold of a typical startup incubator. You are not just pitching to mentors; you are sitting across the table from decision-makers at corporate giants like Yamato Holdings, JTB, Tokyu Land, The Hokkaido Bank, NH Foods, and Hokkaido Gas.

And then there is the location itself. The program is based at the Hokkaido Ballpark F Village in Kitahiroshima City. Baseball is essentially Japan's national sport, and this massive 32-hectare site is built around the ES CON FIELD HOKKAIDO. But calling it a "stadium" really doesn't do it justice. It is a brand new, state-of-the-art entertainment complex and a living, breathing mini-city that draws well over four million visitors annually. For a startup, that is an absolute dream. Instead of testing our tech in a sterile lab, we get to stress-test it against massive crowds, unpredictable weather shifts, and real-world logistics.

But it wasn't all just business meetings and pitches! Kitahiroshima City hosted an amazing welcome barbecue party for us, where we even played Suikawari—that classic Japanese game where you put on a blindfold, spin around, and try to smash a watermelon with a stick. The local food scene was a whole adventure of its own. I finally got to try melon soda, sweet corn ice cream, and the famously delicious, hot katsudon at Seicomart, a beloved convenience store chain that you can only find in Hokkaido. To top it all off, on our last evening, we were given tickets to watch the heroes of Hokkaido, the Nippon-Ham Fighters, face off against the Chiba Lotte Marines right inside ES CON FIELD. It was my first live baseball match, and experiencing the roaring energy of the fans firsthand made me truly realize the massive, dynamic scale of this "mini-city."

To help us navigate it all, HFX paired each startup with two to four "buddies." These were local Japanese university students from schools in the vicinity, like Hokkaido University. They were super friendly, incredibly young—mostly freshmen—and so eager to learn about frontier tech and entrepreneurship. Having their infectious energy around made the entire week feel incredibly vibrant.

What truly awakened me to the commercial potential here, though, is how heavily Kitahiroshima City is involved. They are practically betting their entire future on F Village and the power of innovation. Because the local government is so deeply invested, they strip away the usual bureaucratic red tape, allowing Proof of Concept (PoC) projects to happen with incredible speed. Just look at Pontosense, an AI-powered wireless sensing startup from last year's cohort that develops smart radar tech for human presence and vital sign monitoring. The city gave them incredible hands-on support for their PoC, which led to a 100% customer satisfaction rate and gave Pontosense the exact springboard they needed to expand their business across Japan. Seeing that track record makes me incredibly excited for our own pilot.

For a foodtech company like IXON, testing in Hokkaido makes perfect sense. This region is the agricultural heartland of Japan, producing some of the nation's absolute best premium goods. When you think of Hokkaido, you think of world-famous Yubari melons, rich dairy, uni (sea urchin), scallops, salmon, sweet corn, and asparagus. But getting these incredibly fresh, highly perishable foods out of Hokkaido and into global markets requires expensive, energy-guzzling cold-chain logistics.

That is exactly where our Advanced Sous-vide Aseptic Packaging (ASAP) technology comes in. By running our PoC in the dynamic environment of F Village, we can prove how we preserve that incredible Hokkaido freshness at room temperature. We are still a few months away from Demo Day in February 2027, but I cannot wait to dive in. Over the coming months, we will be working closely with Scrum Ventures, Kitahiroshima City, and our corporate partners to run a meaningful, measurable PoC. I truly believe we are on the verge of showing how ASAP can empower Hokkaido’s farmers, transform Japan's exports, and bring sustainable, cold-chain-free food to the rest of the world.

編者按：IXON 創辦人兼行政總裁張文浩 (Felix) 日前前往日本，參與了 Hokkaido F Village X 加速器計劃的啟動週。在此，他親自撰文分享這趟旅程的所見所聞。

我終於結束了在日本不可思議的兩週旅程回到香港。說實話，我現在的心情依然非常激動。在第一週，我身處北海道，參與了 Hokkaido F Village X (HFX) 加速器計劃的啟動週。IXON 能夠從 36 個國家、245 家申請企業中脫穎而出，成為今期 8 家入選企業中唯一的亞洲代表，絕對是一項巨大的榮譽。但老實說，直到我親身走進園區、與參與其中的各方代表交流後，我才真正體會到這個平台有多麼獨特。

如果您還沒有聽過 HFX，這個計劃是由 Scrum Ventures 及其子公司 Scrum Studio 營運，它徹底打破了傳統初創孵化器的模式。在這裡，你不是在向導師做簡報，而是直接與雅瑪多控股 (Yamato Holdings)、JTB、東急不動產 (Tokyu Land)、北海道銀行、日本火腿 (NH Foods) 以及北海道燃氣等日本頂尖企業巨頭的決策者並肩而坐、探討合作。

這個計劃的所在地更是令人驚嘆。HFX 以北廣島市的 Hokkaido Ballpark F Village 為大本營。棒球可以說是日本的「國民運動」，而這個佔地達 32 公頃的龐大園區正是圍繞著 ES CON FIELD HOKKAIDO 棒球場而建。但如果只稱它為「棒球場」，那就太小看它了——它實際上是一個全新、世界級的娛樂綜合體，一個每年吸引超過 400 萬人次到訪、充滿活力的「微縮城市」！對於初創企業來說，這簡直是夢寐以求的測試場地。我們不需要在毫無生氣的實驗室裡進行測試，而是可以讓我們的技術在真實世界中，面對龐大的人潮、變幻莫測的天氣以及複雜的物流運作，進行最嚴格的壓力測試。

當然，這趟旅程並不只有嚴肅的商業會議！北廣島市政府特別為我們舉辦了一場超棒的迎新燒烤派對，我們甚至還玩了「打西瓜」（Suikawari）——就是那個蒙著眼睛、原地轉圈，然後憑直覺拿著木棍把西瓜砸碎的日本傳統遊戲。當地的美食同樣是一場大冒險，我終於嚐到了蜜瓜梳打、粟米雪糕，還有在只有北海道才有的連鎖便利店 Seicomart 裡，那款鼎鼎大名的熱騰騰招牌滑蛋豬扒飯。最令人難忘的是，在行程的最後一個晚上，大會特別安排了門票，讓我們親身走進 ES CON FIELD 觀賞「北海道英雄」日本火腿鬥士隊 (Nippon-Ham Fighters) 對陣千葉羅德海洋隊 (Chiba Lotte Marines) 的激烈賽事。這是我人生中第一場現場棒球賽，親身感受著全場球迷震耳欲聾的熱情，讓我真正體會到這座「微縮城市」的龐大規模與無窮潛力。

為了幫助我們更好地融入當地，HFX 還為每家初創企業配對了 2 到 4 位「Buddies」（夥伴）。這些 Buddies 都是來自北海道大學等鄰近院校的日本大學生。他們超級友善，大部分都是剛入學的年輕大一新生，而且對前沿科技和創業充滿了好奇心與熱情。有他們在身邊，讓整個啟動週充滿了不可思議的青春活力。

不過，真正讓我對這裡的商業潛力感到震撼的，是北廣島市政府的深度參與。他們幾乎將整個城市的未來都押注在 F Village 與創新科技之上。正因為當地政府的高度重視，他們打破了傳統的官僚繁文縟節，讓概念驗證 (PoC) 項目得以極速推進。以去年參與計劃的 Pontosense 為例，這是一家專注於研發 AI 無線感測與人體生命體徵監測技術的初創企業。市政府為他們的 PoC 提供了極其落地的支援，這不僅讓他們在測試期間獲得了 100% 的客戶滿意度，更為 Pontosense 在全日本擴展業務提供了完美的跳板。看到這樣的驕人往績，讓我對我們即將展開的試點項目感到無比興奮。

對於像 IXON 這樣的食品科技公司來說，在北海道進行測試是再完美不過的選擇。這裡是日本的農業心臟地帶，出產著全國最頂尖的農產品。一提到北海道，大家腦海中浮現的絕對是享譽全球的夕張哈密瓜、濃郁的北海道牛乳、海膽、帶子、三文魚、清甜的粟米以及蘆筍。然而，要將這些極其新鮮、極易腐壞的食材運出北海道並銷往全球市場，往往需要依賴昂貴且耗能的冷鏈物流。

這正是我們先進低溫真空無菌包裝 (ASAP) 技術的用武之地。透過在 F Village 這個充滿動力的環境中進行 PoC，我們能夠切實證明，我們的技術如何在常溫下完美鎖住北海道食材的極致新鮮。雖然距離 2027 年 2 月的 Demo Day 還有幾個月的時間，但我已經迫不及待想大展拳腳了。在接下來的幾個月裡，我們將與 Scrum Ventures、北廣島市政府以及各大企業合作夥伴緊密合作，開展具實質意義且可量化數據的 PoC 項目。我深信，我們即將向世界展示，ASAP 技術如何賦能北海道的農民、顛覆日本的出口模式，並為全球帶來免冷鏈的可持續食品未來。