Open Innovation- New opportunities for collaboration
between Japanese and German companies

JETRO
S u s u m u K ATA O K A
May 2024

Contents

1. VIVA TECHNOLOGY

2. 5 Features of Japanese Ecosystem
3. Current State of Open Innovation by Japanese companies
4. Success Stories : Open Innovation by Japanese companies
5. Startup Ecosystems in Region
6. Increasing role of Japan for German companies

7. Open Innovation by Japanese companies in NRW
8. JETRO Open Innovation Plattform “J-Bridge”
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VIVA TECHNOLOGY✓ VIVA TECHNOLOGY: French largest techstartup event in Paris, supported bythe French government.
✓ Notable attendees include industry giants

like Google and LVMH Group, alongside
top start-ups and innovators.
✓ Japan shines as "Country of the Year"at VIVA TECHNOLOGY 2024.
✓ JETRO's Japan Pavilion showcases 60

Japanese companies, marking JETRO'slargest startup conference exhibit to date.

VIVATECHNOLOGY 2023
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２5 Features of Japanese Ecosystem①

Increasing emergence of skilled entrepreneurs and startups with a global outlook.

②Expansion of international accelerators and venture capital firms beyond Tokyo,reaching into Japan's regional markets.

③

A wealth of deep tech startups originating from universities.

④

Robust activity from Corporate Venture Capital (CVC) within Japan.

⑤

The Japanese government's bold target: to cultivate 100 unicorn companies by theyear 2027.

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３ Current State of Open Innovation by Japanese companies
United Kingdom
23 innovation officesThe UK consistently scores highly forease of business – and according to theOECD has the least barriers toentrepreneurship in the world.
Thanks to its strong finance and ITindustries and language accessibility, asignificant number of Japanesecompanies – such as NTT DATA UK andShimizu Corporation – have chosen theUK as the base for their European
innovation activities.

Benelux
9 innovation offices
Benelux sits in the geographical heartof Europe – and is in close proximity to
many of Europe’s major industrial hubs.
The region is considered a leader inbiotechnology and sustainability, thanksin part to being closely located to EU’s
headquarters, in Brussels.

Nordics
4 innovation offices
The Nordics represent one of Europe’s mostimportant tech and innovation hubs. In ourdirectory, several companies have decided to set
up innovation offices in Sweden and Estonia –including major firms such as Marubeni
Corporation and Sony network Communications
Europe.
Germany
16 innovation offices
Germany is the second most popular location forJapanese corporate innovation activity – withmany companies seeking to take advantage ofGermany’s vibrant manufacturing, industrial andautomotive ecosystems. Germany is also Europe’s
number one country for research – investing awhopping 105 billion Euros into R&D in 2018
alone.

Switzerland
3 innovation offices
Switzerland is one of the world’s most productive
health and pharmaceutical hubs – making it anatural home for the innovation hubs of Japanesecompanies such as Idemitsu Kosan Co., Ltd.,
Yokogawa Innovation Switzerland GmbH,& Nabtesco Technology Ventures AG.
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４

Success Stories : Open Innovation by Japanese companies
Preferred Networks✓ Japan's largest unicorn, founded in 2014. Promotes the business use of deep learning.
✓ Formed alliance with Toyota for object recognition technology necessary for autonomous

driving.
✓ Formed a partnership with Mitsui & Co. etc. to start pilot project of Level 4 autonomous

driving trucks from 2022.
✓ Alliance with ENEOS, an energy company, for automatic operation of petrochemicalplants.
✓ Partnering also with foreign companies such as NVIDIA, Microsoft, and Intel.

KAO Corporation✓ Alliance with Healthcare Systems, a startup from Nagoya University.
✓ Begin offering service to diagnose the risk of atopic dermatitis.

Japan Airlines✓ Partnered with a startup that makes craft beer from discarded foodstuffs.

✓ Launched a business to produce and sell craft beer made from rice left over in JAL lounges.

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５Startup Ecosystems in Region◼

German startups exhibit a decentralized growth pattern, flourishing across diverse hubs such as Berlin, Dusseldorf, Munich, andbeyond.

◼

The Japanese government is actively catalyzing the growth of startup ecosystems in its major urban centers.

Number of startups by region in Germany (%)

6.8%

Hamburg

20.8%

Dusseldorf Area
(NRW)

Startup Ecosytem accelerated by the Japanese Government

Berlin

18.7%

6.7%

Frankfurt Area
(Hesse)12.3%

Stuttgart
Karlsruhe Area
(Baden-Württemberg)

13.4%

Munich Area
(Bavaria)（Source: Compiled from “Startup Ecosystem Cities” September 2021
(Cabinet Office, Council for Science, Technology and Innovation)）（Source: : Compiled from German startup monitor 2023）
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Increasing role of Japan for German companies◼

Amidst geopolitical shifts and a push for greater diversification, a substantial segment of businesses is migrating from China toJapan, with 38% moving production and 23% transferring regional management operations.

◼

The pervasive megatrends of digitalization (44%) and environmental sustainability (39%) are significantly shaping German
companies’ investment strategies in Japan.

Set-up in Asia
Increasing relocation from China to Japan
Trends and developments that will influence investment in Japan(n=159)

Digitalization of industries and services

44%

Climate change, sustainability and stricter environmental regulation

39%

Relocation of production from China to Japan

38%

Relocation of regional management functions from China to Japan

23%

Near-shoring / On-shoring to increase resilience of supply chains

23%

Demographic dynamics / Aging society

18%

Asian integration (amongst others by way of RCEP)

17%（Source: Compiled from “Business Climate Survey: German Business in Japan 2024”, AHK Japan and KPMG in Germany）

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87Open Innovation by Japanese companies in NRW◼ Daikin Industries × Dortmund

Opened Innovation Hub.
◼ Fujifilm × Ratingen

Opened Innovation Hub.
◼ Toshiba × Düsseldorf

Opened its Regenerative Innovation Center to accelerate the realization of a carbon-neutral circular
economy through digitization.
◼ Hibot × Aachen

Hibot, a startup from Tokyo Institute of Technology with a technological advantage in snake-shaped robots,
opened its office.
◼ Lebo Robotics × Düsseldorf

Lebo Robotics, a startup that uses robots to maintain onshore wind turbine blades, opened its office.

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98◼

JETRO Open Innovation Plattform “J-Bridge”

Business platform to facilitate collaboration between Japanese companies and overseas startups/companies to create innovation

・Mobility
・Health Tech
・Life Science ・Agri Tech・Retail Tech ・Smart Cities
・FinTech・Robotics
・Information Security

Company Sourcing
Information Provision
Meet-up Arrangements

・Renewable Energy
・Energy conservation
・Storage Batteries
・Hydrogen・Smart infrastructure
・Green and environmental
conservation technologies

Acceleration Programs

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