Published: November 4, 2025 |

Successful applicants will be invited to a pitch event to be hosted on April 16, 2026, at the event venue in Brisbane, Australia.

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Hitachi Construction Machinery has launched the LANDCROS Innovation Studios Mining Challenge, a project which solicits ideas from startup companies around the world. This year’s challenge will target the field of mining, and the application deadline is January 20, 2026.

Under the LANDCROS Innovation Studios Mining Challenge, Hitachi will solicit ideas from startup companies across the following three mining-related challenge themes:
• Smarter Machines
• Smarter Mine Sites
• Low Impact and Sustainable Mining (reducing the environmental impact
  across mining operations and achieving sustainable resource mining)

Hitachi will select approximately three companies per theme up to a total of ten companies from among the applicant companies. Successful applicants will be invited to a pitch event to be hosted on April 16, 2026, at the event venue in Brisbane, Australia (Oceania region), which is the world’s largest mining market. One company will ultimately be selected as the winner for each theme, and Hitachi Construction Machinery plans to collaborate with the selected companies.

This project will be jointly implemented together with Founders Factory Ltd., a leading global tech accelerator and venture studio with extensive knowledge and experience in scaling innovation across mining and industry.

LANDCROS Innovation Studios is a forum for collaborative innovation to accelerate ties with startup companies and the creation of new businesses that Hitachi Construction Machinery is expanding globally. Its goal is to function not only as a physical location but as an ecosystem where Hitachi Construction Machinery’s Group companies, customers, startup companies, and challengers from various industries intersect and jointly create future forms of value.

The current LANDCROS Innovation Studios Challenge is one representative initiative as an open innovation project in which Hitachi Construction Machinery collaborates with external startup companies for the purpose of developing next-generation solutions. Last year’s Hitachi Construction Machinery Challenge 2024 solicited ideas regarding the development of connected construction machinery and received applications from 127 companies around the world. Hitachi Construction Machinery is currently collaborating with the three winning companies.

Hitachi Construction Machinery’s mining business focuses on open-pit mining, and its strength lies in the ability to offer products and solutions that solve customer challenges across diverse touch points from pit to plant in the mining site, which is achieved not only through the mining process where mining machinery is used but also by welcoming companies responsible for mine operation management and data analysis, mill liners and other wear-resistant parts used in mineral processing, and remanufacturing and maintenance services through M&A. Through this current project, Hitachi Construction Machinery will further strengthen ties with startup companies and co-create innovative solutions in the mining field.

Hitachi Construction Machinery, headquartered in Tokyo, Japan, is a construction machinery manufacturer that globally deploys development, manufacturing, sales, and service businesses for its hydraulic excavators, wheel loaders, compaction equipment, and mining machinery. In addition to its new machinery business, Hitachi Construction Machinery is expanding its value chain businesses of parts and services, remanufacturing (parts and machines), rentals, and used equipment as it continues to grow together with customers as a solutions provider that offers innovative solutions to customers.

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