February 15, 2021 (JST)

Mitsui Fudosan Co., Ltd.
National Research and Development Agency
Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA)

Tokyo, Japan, February 15, 2021 - Mitsui Fudosan Co., Ltd., a leading global real estate company headquartered in Tokyo, will begin collaboration and cooperation with the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (President: Hiroshi Yamakawa; “JAXA”) to promote creation of aerospace business from the Nihonbashi area.
 With this co-creation activity, Mitsui Fudosan and JAXA will strive to broaden the scope of the aerospace industry for companies aiming to create aerospace business in the Nihonbashi area by providing opportunities that will lead to further business development. This activity will help promote business development in the JAXA Space Innovation through Partnership and Co-creation Program (“J-SPARC”) with a focus on places managed under the X-NIHONBASHI project to advance business revitalization in aerospace-related fields through neighborhood creation as promoted by Mitsui Fudosan. From fiscal 2018 to the end of 2020, Mitsui Fudosan and JAXA conducted activities to promote business development on a trial basis by utilizing the aerospace industry hub X-NIHONBASHI, which continues to be recognized as a place where players from the aerospace industry gather. Mitsui Fudosan and JAXA intend to broaden the scope of the aerospace industry by not only providing places, but also concentrating more effort on co-creation and providing opportunities with this co-creation activity.
 In this co-creation activity, Mitsui Fudosan and JAXA will advance various initiatives for companies based on three themes: (1) providing opportunities for business matching, (2) providing opportunities for acceleration and demonstration, and (3) venture support co-creation.

(1) Providing opportunities for business matching
Mitsui Fudosan and JAXA will co-create a global business matching program and provide opportunities in an aim to promote collaboration between Japanese and overseas companies as well as entry and collaboration in the aerospace field from companies in outside fields.
 Mitsui Fudosan will handle planning of the business program and contribute its managerial know-how, while JAXA will utilize its knowledge in aerospace-related fields and global network. As a result, both parties will carry out events and programs that allow continual business matching between diverse players.

(2) Providing opportunities for acceleration and demonstration
Mitsui Fudosan and JAXA will support initiatives toward social implementation from companies with business concepts that utilize aerospace, and help accelerate the growth of new aerospace business as well as provide opportunities for demonstration with the goal of creating new aerospace markets.
 By utilizing bases such as the aerospace industry hub X-NIHONBASHI and X-NIHONBASHI TOWER, Mitsui Fudosan will provide places where companies can carry out urban-type ground demonstrations for their businesses and mentoring. Meanwhile, JAXA will serve as an intermediary for community activities such as clothing, food, and housing related to aerospace in collaboration with companies that conduct activities separately, and provide support in collaboration with those activities.

(3) Venture support co-creation
Mitsui Fudosan and JAXA will link their respective initiatives and co-create measures for comprehensive venture support in order to build an ecosystem for aerospace business that can support venture companies. Both parties will evaluate and implement new ways of supporting ventures that utilize their respective strengths. For Mitsui Fudosan, this means measures that utilize the know-how it has cultivated through its venture co-creation project 31VENTURES, while for JAXA, this means various measures centered around its technological support for private companies.

Through this co-creation activity, Mitsui Fudosan and JAXA will actively promote the creation of new aerospace business and aim to broaden aerospace business from the Nihonbashi area.

■X-NIHONBASHI
X-NIHONBASHI is a series of projects that will drive innovation not only in space but on Earth by promoting co-creation activities among the diverse players who gather in the area from the industrial, academic, and government sectors, and contribute to the expansion of business in aerospace-related fields by providing places and creating opportunities in the Nihonbashi area as promoted by Mitsui Fudosan. Mitsui Fudosan is pushing ahead with initiatives in the aerospace field, a strategic category in the third stage of the Nihonbashi Revitalization Plan. Meanwhile, it opened X-NIHONBASHI TOWER at Nihonbashi Mitsui Tower in December 2020 to serve as a new place to promote aerospace business and as a base for co-creation and providing information, thereby officially launching the X-NIHONBASHI project. Mitsui Fudosan will position the co-creation activity as a part of X-NIHONBASHI, and promote it as a business that symbolizes creating opportunities.

■JAXA Space Innovation through Partnership and Co-creation Program (“J-SPARC”)
J-SPARC is a program which begins from talks between private companies aiming for aerospace business and JAXA. Having established a mutual commitment toward business development, the two parties will jointly examine business concepts and conduct exit-oriented technological development and demonstrations, creating new businesses. JAXA launched this program in May 2018, and is now advancing approximately 20 projects including activities that will help promote business development, such as activities for new market creation and providing a forum for cross-field collaboration.
J-SPARC official website: https://aerospacebiz.jaxa.jp/en/