Japan’s technology news in August 2023 spanned items and developments including: Japan’s moves into small satellite launch capability; moves by Japan’s Soramitsu to build on region-wide payments with Cambodia’s Bakong digital currency; Japan’s increasing engagement with the Pacific Islands, in areas including cybersecurity; and more.
Hit the Japanese tech news links below to read each article in full.
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McKinsey & Co: Quantum Technologies Monitor
- Japan’s Soramitsu looks to build out Asia-wide cross-border payments with establishment of exchange for stablecoins, building on involvement in Cambodia’s Bakong CBDC, the Lao ‘digital kip’ and QR code payments
- Japan: Miyako Capital, Kyoto University VC firm, creates $140M fund to back startups in deep-tech biology and artificial intelligence, with state-backed funds also participating
- Japan: Interstellar startup sets sights on orbital launch in 2025, focusing on small satellite market with vehicle designed to send near one metric ton to low-Earth orbit
Zero, a vehicle designed to send nearly one metric ton to low-Earth orbit, will help meet demand for small satellite launch capacity “not only in Japan, but in the world,” Keiji Atsuta, Interstellar business development general manager, told SpaceNews. “We think that this rocket will change the market.”
- Japan’s SoftBank is suing defunct IRL social app firm for fraud, in the past having backed it at $1.2BN valuation, following revelation that 95% of users may have been fake
- Japanese gov’t to build Indo-Pacific information network in bid to counter cyberattacks, providing equipment and training to Pacific island countries that lack countermeasures
- Japan Organization for Metals & Energy Security partners Namibia’s Epangelo mining firm to explore for rare earths, seeking supply chain for cobalt and other minerals
- Japan’s Mitsubishi Heavy Industries backed Advanced Ionics, US-based startup producing hydrogen with 30% less power consumption and at lower temperatures
- Japan’s Fermelanta takes pitch competition win, with use of bacteria to produce high-value secondary metabolites including morphine
pwc Digital Trust Insights 2023: The Southeast Asia Perspective
- Japan: Legislators look to revise laws around Nippon Telegraph and Telephone to allow the telco to pursue 6G tech without regulatory restrictions, thereby boosting global competitiveness
- Japan: An intro to Alt Inc, working on ‘digital clones’, online avatars aiming to take on some of our work and routine, daily tasks
- Japan: PowerX works on ‘battery tanker’, cargo ship storing electricity from solar, wind and renewable sources produced in rural areas in on-board batteries, for transportation to urban end-users
“Imabari Shipbuilding (Imabari City, Ehime Prefecture), one of the investing companies, is designing the vessel and aiming to complete it by 2025.”
“The ship would be capable of transporting approximately 240,000 kWh of electricity at a time. This is the equivalent of the daily power usage of 24,000 households.”
- Google for Startups Women Founders Fund to provide equity-free funding and support to women-led AI startups in India, Japan & Korea
- China: Japan’s Toyota and China partner PonyAI ink JV to mass produce robotaxis using PonyAI autonomous drive tech and ride-hail services
- Cambodia’s digital currency: “…for QR code-based digital payments between Cambodia, Malaysia, Thailand and Vietnam…. has 8.5M users and handled around $15BN in payments by the end of last year.”
CSIS: Securing Indo-Pacific Semiconductor Supply Chains
ASIA TECH DAILY
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