Business opportunities: big in Japan

1 August 2018 Miriam Newman-Tancredi

Highly detailed planet Earth at night, lit by the rising sun, illuminated by light of cities. Earth is surrounded by a luminous network, representing the major air routes based on real data

The EU-Japan deal

The EU and Japan signed an Economic Partnership Agreement last month. The deal will create an open trade zone covering 600 million people and almost a third of the global economy, facilitating trade between EU countries and Japan and strengthening the relationship between them.

A summary of the EU-Japan deal can be found here as well as a factsheet with more detailed information about its contents.

Therefore, if you are not already, it is a good time to start thinking about exporting to Japan.

Whilst this new deal highlights the efforts to support trade between the EU and Japan, there are many more initiatives taking place with a focus on helping UK innovative and technology-driven businesses internationalise in Japan.

There are many innovation and technology opportunities for UK and Japanese companies to collaborate.

The UK Science & Innovation Network in Japan (SIN) supports research and technology partnerships and helps businesses build science and innovation links internationally, particularly around emerging technologies in sectors like energy, life sciences and aerospace.

Additionally, at the end of 2017, the UK and Japan agreed to negotiate a Lead Agency Agreement, described as “a trade deal for research collaboration”. Intended to be in place by late 2018, the agreement will combine the funding application processes of the two countries for joint research projects, making them as simple as UK-only or Japan-only applications.

“Go” to Japan! How EEN can help

The United Kingdom has an important trade partnership with Japan, which receives €6.5 billion worth of British exports. 8,408 British companies export to Japan, 89% of which are SMEs.

EEN, present in Japan with offices in Tokyo and Brussels, provides SMEs support to enter the Japanese market and form collaborations through partnering services, funding and innovation support, and market research.

There are many opportunities for you to get involved.

Events include training for executives through World Class Manufacturing training missions and Lean Visits in Europe. Almost 100 UK companies have attended these.

Regular company missions take place, such as the Environment & Water Technologies and Healthcare & Medical Technologies missions taking place in March 2019. You can find a list of upcoming events here.

Innovate UK and EEN also organise Global Business Accelerator Programmes. In February 2018, 15 companies operating in the Cell & Gene Therapy sector went on a 5 day visit of Japan to learn about market opportunities and meet prospective partners. You can read about the programme here.

EEN partnering services enable you to find partners abroad: currently we have around 50 opportunities to collaborate with Japanese companies, such as the following:

A Japanese university offering a new technology for polymer synthesis aiming at joint development of new applications,
A Japanese trading company looking for equipment for laboratories in the regenerative medicine field,
A Japanese start-up looking for partners for their naturally-derived anti-fungal drug for foot disease.

Contact us for details of upcoming events and advice on entering the Japanese market.