On July 1st 2022, as the first program of this year’s “X-NIHONBASHI Global Hub ’22”, a business matching event was held at X-NIHONBASHI TOWER in Nihonbashi. It was held with cooperation with CNES and Business France, with the purpose of promoting partnerships between Japanese and French companies in space-related industries

23 participants from 17 space-related companies came to Japan from France for this event with the purpose of promoting business and industrial partnerships between the two countries.
About 50 people from 23 companies, mainly space-related start-ups, as well as companies from non-space fields, participated in the event from the Japanese side.

On July 1st 2022, as the first program of this year’s “X-NIHONBASHI Global Hub ’22”, a business matching event was held at X-NIHONBASHI TOWER in Nihonbashi. It was held with cooperation with CNES and Business France, with the purpose of promoting partnerships between Japanese and French companies in space-related industries.

23 participants from 17 space-related companies came to Japan from France for this event with the purpose of promoting business and industrial partnerships between the two countries.
About 50 people from 23 companies, mainly space-related start-ups, as well as companies from non-space fields, participated in the event from the Japanese side.

The event was composed of three parts. The first part of the event which is the business conference, started off with an introductory speech by the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA), the Centre National d’Études Spatiales (CNES), and the French Trade and Investment Agency (Business France), X-NIHONBASHI / Mitsui Fudosan, followed by an introduction of the activities of each organization.

Next, during the input session, an analyst from Nomura Research Institute, Ltd. gave a presentation on “Trends in the Space Business and Prospective Collaboration between Japan and France,” covering global trends in the space business, the latest topics of interest, as well as the potential for collaboration between Japan and France in various space business industries.

Next, for the panel session, four space-related companies that have already entered their respective markets were invited to discuss their experiences regarding the entry of overseas markets in the Japanese-French space business area, the secrets of success in their respective markets, the challenges and difficulties, as well as how they solved these issues.

Moving on to the second part of the event, the business pitch & meeting session featured business pitches by French companies visiting Japan as well as Japanese companies.

The location was moved to a studio in the X-NIHONBASHI TOWER, and although each company had only 3 minutes to present, the pitches were enthusiastic and was broadcasted in real time at the conference space.
These pitches were recorded and broadcasted as an archived video later on.

When recruiting the participants to this event, a questionnaire was sent in advance to both the Japanese and French companies in advance to find out which companies wished to hold an individual meeting, and those companies whose requests were matched were offered private meeting rooms at the X-NIHONBASHI TOWER to hold business meetings to explore specific business opportunities.

As a result of these individual meetings, some companies were able to conduct concrete business negotiations, and there are also companies with further meeting plans for the future.

Even companies whose meeting requests did not match in advance were able to hold meetings in the free space actively.

For the third part of the event, a reception and networking session was held to conclude the whole event.

At the beginning of the reception session, Ms. Dateki, Director of JAXA’s Business Development and Industrial Relations Department, gave a greeting speech. Refreshments and snacks from famous Nihonbashi restaurants were served as a treat from X-NIHONBASHI, which were enjoyed by many of the participating Japanese and French companies.

During this session, networking took place mainly between companies that could not be matched for individual meetings in advance or that were unable to hold meetings due to time restrictions.

Due to the capacity of the venue, Japanese companies that were matched for the individual meetings in advance with the French companies were given priority to attend the event. However, we received a great deal of interest and far more registrations than we could accommodate from many people.

Approximately 100 people attended the event on-site, which included about 50 people from 23 Japanese companies, the organizers, and related parties, while taking care to prevent the infection of COVID at the venue.

In addition, the first part of the event, which was the business conference, was also streamed live on X-NIHONBASHI’s YouTube channel, and was viewed online by a total of approximately 150 people in both English and Japanese.

◆Event Program

  • The 1st part：Business Conference 1:00pm-3:00pm(JST)
  • (1) Introduction
    -Remarks ・JAXA
    　Mr. Yasuo Ishii | Vice President
    ・CNES
    　Mr. Julien Mariez | Regional Counsellor for Space Affairs, CNES representative in Japan
    ・Business France
    　Mr. Pascal GONDRAND
    　　　 | Director, Japan and North-East Asia
    　　　 | Counsellor for Trade and Investment, Embassy of France in
    Japan
    ・X-NIHONBASHI
    Mr. Katsuhisa Nanao | General manager, Nihonbashi Urban Planning and Development Dept, Mitsui Fudosan

    (2) Input Session
    Trends in the Space Business and Prospective Collaboration between Japan and France
    ・Mr. Shogo Yakame | Consultant, Nomura Research Institute

    (3) Panel Discussion
    ＜Moderator＞ ・Mr. Shigeki Kuzuoka
    　　　| President, Satellite Business Network
    　　　| Head, SAS EUROCONSULT Japan Office

    ＜Panelist＞
    1) Mr. Yoshiharu Sakai | President and CEO, SAKASE ADTECH CO., LTD.
    2) Mr. Keitaro Asaba | International Business Development, Tenchijin.,Inc
    3) Mr. Eric PINSON | Director, Space Business Unit, SYRLINKS
    4) Mr. Louis-Francois GUERRE | Vice President, Sales Asia Pacific, SYNTONY GNSS
  • The 2nd part：Business Pitch & Meeting 3:00pm-6:00pm (JST) ・Pitch (Short Presentation)@X-NIHONBASHI TOWER Studio
    ・Meeting with other participants (Japanese companies – French companies)
  • The 3rd part：Reception & Networking 6:00pm-7:00pm (JST)