About 50 years ago, I decided to pursue a career in the space industry. Compared to when Apollo 11 landed
on the moon in July 1969, half a century ago, the environment surrounding space development has changed
drastically. Now we no longer see companies aim for the moon while competing with one another, but
instead while working together internationally and through co-creation.
There are various forms
of co-creation. We can see it come between governments and private sectors, universities and private
sectors, and so on. I believe that this philosophy of "co-creation" is key to developing the space
industry. Even now, there are some networks between space startups and universities in Japan, but
compared to Europe and the United States, much weaker ties have been built between large companies and
startups, between industry, governments, and academia, and with entities outside Japan. I think that
this is a major issue for Japan's space industry.
The market size of the global space industry is
expected to continue growing at an annual rate of 5% and reach 200 trillion yen by 2050. Half of that
comes from the acquisition of new added value by surrounding industries through the use of space. I
believe that non-space companies whose main business is not space development will be able to advance
the Japanese space industry to the next phase by making more use of space in the future.
In
addition, especially in Japan, people stress the importance of "co-location," which means sharing the
same space with various people on a regular basis. Instead of being in a closed environment, I think
that putting yourself in an open place where you can meet and interact with people from various
industries will lead to creating new ideas and making great progress with your own projects. This can be
especially seen in the space industry. As non-space companies enter the space industry, I think we need
"places" where we can co-locate with people from a much wider variety of industries.
"Connecting
non-space companies and the space industry to open a world of new possibilities."
One of the
reasons we established cross U is to push this trend even further. Cross U will provide "places" and
"opportunities" in which you can join hands, unite, and work hard together with people from other
fields. I believe that if we can work together with everyone who will join cross U and bring the whole
nation together so we can tackle things as one, we can create a future in which Japan can demonstrate a
significant presence in the space business market, which will continue growing going forward.