A Cabinet Office building in Tokyo, Japan. — Japan News/ANN Photo

TOKYO — Japan's government this month established a new unit within the Cabinet Office to support startups with technologies that can be used in government programmes, including those related to disaster preparedness.

With applications in disaster response, defence and infrastructure development in mind, the government plans to encourage ministries and agencies to test the technologies and help emerging companies break into new markets.

The unit will serve as an intermediary between startups and government ministries in the 17 strategic fields identified by the government, including artificial intelligence and drones.

Called the SBIR (Small/Startup Business Innovation Research) promotion group, this specialised unit oversees the SBIR scheme, which supports research and development by startups, and has been established within the Cabinet Office’s secretariat for science, technology and innovation policy.

Its goal is to match the needs of government ministries and agencies with cutting-edge products and services developed by startups.

If the ministries and agencies determine that the technologies are useful and enter into multiyear contracts, startups will be better positioned to make large-scale capital investments.

The government hopes to go beyond supporting research and development by creating concrete pathways to commercialisation and profitability, accelerating the growth of emerging companies.

In disaster preparedness, for example, the government envisions technologies that could use AI-powered spatial analysis to visualise crowding at evacuation centers or proprietary water-treatment systems to provide water when supplies are disrupted.

The SBIR promotion group will first identify the needs of ministries and agencies, then introduce technologies from relevant startups and the Cabinet Office will consolidate funding for pilot projects into a single budget.

The Japan’s Growth Strategy, approved by the Cabinet last month, sets a goal of increasing the number of startups from 25,000 as of 2025 to 100,000 in the future.

The strategy identifies a fundamental strengthening of the SBIR scheme as one of its central pillars. — JAPAN NEWS/ANN