Filipino startups and tech innovators are poised to gain broader access to international markets following a newly signed cross-border partnership between regional accelerator TechShake and the Brunei Innovation Lab.

The agreement, signed as a memorandum of understanding, establishes a collaborative framework to strengthen the startup ecosystems of both the Philippines and Brunei. The Department of Science and Technology-Technology Application and Promotion Institute (DoST-TAPI) serves as TechShake’s strategic partner and witnessed the signing ceremony.

Under the agreement, TechShake and the Brunei Innovation Lab will cooperate on joint promotional campaigns, market and investment insight sharing, and project-based initiatives.

These projects include curated innovation tours, market-entry programs, and bilateral knowledge-sharing platforms.

Kotaro Adachi, chief executive officer and co-founder of TechShake, said the partnership creates a two-way infrastructure for cross-border innovation.

Adachi cited that the agreement gives Bruneian founders structured access to the Philippine market while opening a new corridor for Philippine startups into Brunei and the East ASEAN Growth Area.

The collaboration comes as the Philippine startup ecosystem continues to grow, with data from research platform Tracxn showing more than 14,759 startups active across the country as of May. Pierre Sonia S. Dela Corte, a supervising science research specialist at DoST-TAPI who represented the agency at the ceremony, said the milestone will help position the Philippines as an active contributor to digital innovation within the Association of Southeast Asian Nations. Dela Corte added that the collaboration will serve as a foundation for future regional capacity-building and acceleration initiatives.