Japan and Indonesia have held a competition aimed at fostering mutual innovation in the fields of finance and logistics.

The two countries' governments hosted the event on Friday in Jakarta to help mark 50 years of friendly ties between Tokyo and the Association of Southeast Asian Nations.

Twenty-three startups from Japan and Southeast Asia presented their business ideas to eight major companies.

An Indonesian firm proposed a new screening system to a Japanese credit card company. It uses artificial intelligence to analyze the bank accounts of small companies and make decisions within minutes.

Startups are driving growth in the ASEAN bloc, and the Japanese government is keen to provide support.

Ishikawa Hiroshi, an executive director the Japan External Trade Organization, is urging Japanese startups to gain momentum in the South Asian market before going global.