On May 25, Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi hosted a roundtable discussion for deep tech startups at the Prime Minister’s Official Residence. Minoru Kiuchi, Minister for Startup Policies, attended and delivered remarks. The four invited companies were: Atomis, a materials technology firm leveraging innovations developed by Professor Susumu Kitagawa (Kyoto University), winner of the Nobel Prize in Chemistry; Sakana AI, which focuses on efficient collaboration among multiple AI models; Oceanic Constellations, developing control systems for swarms of unmanned surface vessels; and OptQC, engaged in optical quantum computing research.
At the meeting, Ren Ito from Sakana AI suggested that Japan should integrate cutting-edge overseas AI models with domestic technologies to safeguard national data sovereignty. Takaichi’s cabinet stated it would strengthen its ‘Five-Year Startup Nurturing Plan’ to accelerate the real-world application of advanced technologies, and incorporate outcomes from this roundtable into the upcoming ‘Japan Growth Strategy’ this summer. Kiuchi revealed that the policy promotion subcommittee he leads aims to drive the strategy through three key pillars—‘scaling up’, ‘deep tech support’, and ‘regional startup development’—with the ultimate goal of enabling Japanese startups to become major global players in the tech sector.’ }