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[Provisional Translation]

Prime Minister Shinzo Abe held the sixth meeting of the Council on Investments for the Future at the Prime Minister’s Office.

At the meeting, debate took place on the deepening of local Abenomics (sports, and agricultural information and communications technology (ICT)), and the formulation of an ecosystem for innovation.

Based on the discussion, the Prime Minister said,

“In front of us today are a basketball and a uniform. Next to these items are delicious-looking vegetables and some bottles of juice.

The first subject we discussed today was ‘local Abenomics.’

First, regarding sports, we will transform stadiums and arenas into regional centers for exchanges among different generations, which host not only spectator sports, but also civil sporting competitions, concerts, and expositions. To do so, we will implement policies that call on private investment and knowhow, and that heighten the charm of these centers. We will support region-wide initiatives that involve municipalities and local companies. To that end, we will mobilize legislation, budgets, and tax systems to create 20 of these kinds of centers by 2025.

Another theme we discussed was agriculture. I have heard that although these may look like ordinary vegetables, in fact, data was used to improve their quality, thereby significantly increasing the proportion of vegetables that farmers were able to put on the market. A moment ago, I had some juice made from carrots grown on the same farm. It had the perfect amount of acidity, while also being sweet. It was an extremely easy-to-drink carrot juice. I think that even someone who does not like carrots could drink this juice.

In the future, we will no longer rely on only the experience and intuition of veteran farmers. We will use a variety of data, including data on growing conditions and climate, to grow delicious and safe produce, thereby making agriculture a more profitable industry. 

To that end, we will pool public and private sector data such as climate information and maps, and within this year we will establish a joint information platform that will be simple enough for anyone to use. We will thoroughly publish all the necessary data, and the IT Strategic Headquarters will lead efforts to work out the details regarding the configuration of the platform.

Today we also had a discussion on university-driven innovation. In FY2018 we will focus the investment of resources on about two centers, to enable world-class university research centers to work together with industry to produce innovation. 

We will make it possible for companies to choose which universities they wish to partner with. We will also organize and publish data that will allow people to compare and evaluate the initiatives that each university is undertaking for industry-academia collaborations.

We will also make it possible for each university to make use of large-volume information networks that will be able to accelerate the development of artificial intelligence (AI) and big-data processing. The companies working on campus on joint research projects with universities will also be able to use these networks. I want the relevant ministers to work together on this and act immediately to work out the details.”