NEDO's Technology Strategy Center publishes its "Innovation Outlook"

The NEDO Technology and Innovation Strategy Center (TSC) has published version 1.0 of the "Innovation Outlook" report, which offers an overall view of domestic and international technology, market, and policy directions across various fields and proposes areas that Japan should tackle as a nation (frontier areas). The report proposes a total of 13 frontier areas across the sustainable energy, environment and chemicals, agri-food tech, digital, materials, and bioeconomy fields. To widely collect methods for solving issues in each area, a Request for Information (RFI) has been initiated. After analyzing the RFI results, 5-10 research and development themes will be established for each area, and support will be provided for everything from R&D to social implementation using frontier projects. An official commented, "We want to provide support of tens of millions to about 100 million yen per theme over 1-2 years to explore challenging R&D and the possibilities of commercialization."

In addition to technology-driven approaches, "Innovation Outlook" employs the MFT Logic Model, which considers the new functions and value that are needed to address diversifying and increasingly complex needs and social issues and develops solutions by combining existing and new functions and technologies. It has established 12 target social visions and systematically identified social issues and the values, functions, and specific means for solving them by field. Based on these, the report has determined 13 frontier areas based on five perspectives: future potential, innovation of technology and ideas, Japan's advantages, difficulty of private sector engagement, and important economic security technologies.

For example, "Long-term Energy Storage for Maximum Utilization of Variable Renewable Energy" envisions storage through thermal energy and mechanical energy. Thermal energy can, for example, be stored by installing heat transfer media in containers and insulating them. However, completely new ideas are required for mechanical energy, since Japan cannot utilize large numbers of dormant oil and gas wells like America.

"Fundamental Transformation of Chemical Carbon Sources from Fossil Resources" could involve chemical recycling that converts waste plastics back into chemical raw materials and using carbon dioxide as a chemical carbon source by directly converting it to methanol. However, there is a large gap between what is technically possible and what can actually be used industrially for both methods, and how to overcome this becomes the important point.

In the digital field, "Next-Generation Smart Digital Architecture" for achieving power-saving and high-speed information processing and "Productivity Revolution through AI×Robotics" for achieving automation, labor-saving, and digitalization have been established as frontier areas. While both serve as foundations for other areas, many companies worldwide are investing in these, requiring breakthrough ideas to surpass them.

All areas require ideas and supporting technologies. NEDO has already designated two Program Directors (PDs) for the "Extreme Materials" and "Utilization of Underground Unused Resources" areas as frontier project targets, selecting 11 projects and advancing consideration of commercialization possibilities and exit strategies.

In this RFI, NEDO seeks seeds from universities, research institutions, companies, and others to solve technical issues in each area (deadline: August 29). These will be analyzed and more than 50 important ideas will be extracted for each area. After organizing promising R&D themes and technology, market, and policy trends, NEDO will formulate innovation strategies for frontier area development. Early next year, open calls for leading research will be launched, and selected projects will receive not only R&D funding but also strategic accompanying support.

Based on domestic and international market, technology, and policy trends, NEDO will examine area directions and strategies, and undertake agile reviews of strategies as needed, including their acceleration, suspension, or direction changes for R&D.

Aiming for large rewards, unafraid of failure

Many past national projects were neither successful nor unsuccessful. Because they were implemented with unambitious goal-setting and systems, they fell behind global trends or lagged by one or two steps. This initiative collects many challenging ideas and tests them to see what can and cannot be done, whether there are possibilities, and whether innovation can be created through combinations. By repeating trial and error for problem-solving, this is an approach that may fail, but if it is successful, it could also lead to national projects that yield large rewards. The amount and diversity of information provided through the RFI, and the ability to identify promising opportunities, will determine success or failure.