On Wednesday, the U.S. Council on Competitiveness, a non-partisan advocacy group led by U.S. business, academic, and labor leaders along with leaders of the U.S. national laboratories, together with the Japan Innovation Network (JIN) announced a new initiative to spur private sector innovation between the two countries. The newly formed U.S.-Japan Commission on Innovation and Competitiveness will develop bilateral science and technology business partnerships based on principles of competitiveness, resilience, invention, innovation, sustainability, inclusivity and shared democratic values.
The new initiative builds on the success of the U.S.-Japan Competitiveness and Resilience Partnership (CoRe) , an initiative launched last year to promote industry-led Open RAN (5G) development, digital connectivity, supply chain resilience, cybersecurity and critical infrastructure protection, and other focus areas in support of shared prosperity and a rules-based economic order in the Indo-Pacific region and worldwide.
The new Commission will promote the objectives of the CoRe Partnership and to advance joint research and development and collaborative innovation initiatives, as well as new business models, across the two nations’ advanced science and technology ecosystems. CoRe is providing the framework for U.S. and Japanese collaboration, uniting the world’s two largest democratic economies as they work toward generating greater prosperity in their own nations and around the world. U.S. President Joe Biden and Japan’s Prime Minister Fumio Kishida both confirmed their commitment to the CoRe partnership during a recent summit in Tokyo.
Deborah Wince-Smith, President & CEO of the Council, and Hiro Nishiguchi, Chief Executive Officer of the JIN, submitted letters to President Biden and Prime Minister Kishida commending the Administrations’ commitment to the CoRe Partnership based upon multiple discussions among the Cabinet Office of Japan, the Council and JIN, and expressing their intention “to engaging with [the] Administrations to fulfill this ambitious agenda that is so important to our nations’ global competitiveness, and economic and national prosperity and security.”
“The Council on Competitiveness, having long defined and shaped a private sector innovation agenda in the United States – from the local, to the regional, to the national levels – is honored to join with the Japan Innovation Network in launching this distinctive, joint commission. Our Council members, spanning a broad cross section of our economy, are poised to contribute our experience and capabilities, and we will exercise leadership in the private sector to advance the CoRe agenda,” the Council’s Wince-Smith said.
“Japan Innovation Network was established in 2013 based on a research project of the Japanese Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry (METI) to transform Japan into an Innovation Nation. As such, JIN has been proactively promoting and bringing forth the concept of the Innovation Management System and achieving Sustainable Development Goals through innovation-based activities among Japanese organizations. We are honored to join with the Council on Competitiveness to design and operate this Commission to advance the private-sector driven innovation agendas in both nations through the implementation of systematic, cross-border, innovation management systems,” JIN CEO Nishiguchi said.
