Leveraging JAXA's assets to solve corporate challenges

Interest in space is intensifying. Amid this trend, planners and teams within the advertising communication world are actively exploring and promoting various ways to match companies with space. Here, we asked three Dentsu Inc. communicators working on the front lines about practical examples and the potential for collaboration between companies and space. In this second installment, Mr. Shunichi Shibue, Head of Dentsu Inc. BCC, discusses how JAXA's assets can be leveraged to solve corporate challenges.

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Breaking down technologies and assets reveals familiar, essential elements

The Future Creation Office at Dentsu Inc., where I work, is a team that engages in ongoing dialogue with companies, proposing diverse ideas to shape their futures. We solve corporate challenges and generate new approaches across all fields, not just advertising.

One such initiative is the "Future Co-Creation Conference," which aims to leverage JAXA's space technologies and research findings to solve corporate challenges. While space technology is often perceived as "too distant and irrelevant to our company," the fundamental idea behind this conference is that "space can be utilized to solve terrestrial challenges and drive corporate growth."

JAXA possesses extensive space technologies and assets. Breaking these down reveals many practical, essential components even for companies unrelated to space. Take a spacesuit, said to cost around 10 billion yen per suit. Dissecting it reveals numerous technologies: communication systems, food supply solutions, radiation protection techniques, and more.

Similarly, breaking down the operational processes used for satellites and space facilities reveals technologies applicable to many companies: long-term operation, fault detection, control systems, and remote communication. Furthermore, technologies developed for living in the extreme environment of space—such as noise control, preventive medicine, ergonomic design, and food preservation—can also be applied on Earth. By taking stock of each technology individually, we find many that seem to have potential demand on the ground.

Matching Technology Assets in a "Many-to-Many" Way

At the Future Co-Creation Conference, we propose these JAXA technologies as assets to companies. Furthermore, we match the technological assets held by companies with those held by JAXA in a "many-to-many" approach. To achieve this, we first break down JAXA's technologies into detailed components and map them. We then compare these mapped technologies with those mapped from companies. Finally, we consider where and how to combine them.

Space is a unique environment, so JAXA's research is inherently specialized. Studies on microgravity and cosmic radiation are prime examples. Precisely because it's such a unique environment, it can spark entirely different ideas and products compared to those developed on Earth. By connecting these specialized technologies with corporate assets, we might achieve unprecedented innovation.

The approach involves JAXA, the company, and Dentsu Inc. engaging in a three-way dialogue, with mutual confidentiality assured, to solve societal challenges and find ways to improve the company's future. The idea is that JAXA's space technologies serve as the means to achieve this.

Since its official launch this past March, the Future Co-Creation Conference has seen increasing interest from companies across diverse fields seemingly unrelated to space. We aim to leverage the Future Co-Creation Conference to solve challenges for a wide range of companies going forward.

 

JAXA and Dentsu Inc. have teamed up to create a new business creation process. This process involves forming a triangle by individually incorporating various diverse companies to generate innovation. The three parties engage in thorough discussions about the ideal future they collectively aim for, as well as the technologies and know-how each possesses. From Dentsu Inc., the Future Creation Office of the Business Creation Center (headed by ECD Akihito Kunimi) is participating as the core, with operations led primarily by Shunichi Shibue and others.