Main assignment is to support the Space.Japan project by disseminating innovative European Space Technologies in Japan, with the goal to help connect and support the creation of EU-Japan business partnerships in the space sector. More details.

Brief description of actions, roles and expected output

Search and list up relevant European SMEs, startups and other stakeholders with innovative technologies (or applications thereof) in the Earth Observation segment (ideally using Sentinel data or Copernicus platforms); invite a selected group of Europeans to make short webinar presentations to a Japanese business audience; coordinate with the Space.Japan team to prepare, execute and follow-up webinars on a regular basis;

Work with the Space.Japan team to provide support to virtual business mission of European space companies to Japan at ISIEX 2023 (preparation, execution and follow-up) with the goal to open doors to the Japanese space market;

Build and expand a contact list of business and stakeholders in the European and Japanese Space Ecosystems (Firms, Clusters, Universities, NPOs, government organizations, etc…);

Support the Space.Japan team to prepare and improve communication materials (webpages, social media and presentation slide decks) in English and Japanese;

Duration of the Internship

From April 2023 to the end of March 2024.

Grant

The successful candidate will receive a monthly grant of JPY 50,000.

Eligibility criteria

Only candidates meeting the following requirements will be considered:

- Residence in Japan;

- General availability to participate in physical meetings and events in Tokyo on a regular basis;

- Fluency in oral and written English and Japanese;

- Documented prior knowledge of the space sector in Japan and the EU.

How to apply

Applicants are requested to submit their applications in free form to the following address within March 20, 2023 be sending an email to spacejapan@eu-japan.or.jp with a copy of their CV, and with an express confirmation as to the presence of the eligibility criteria.

Shortlisted candidates will be interviewed online or in person the week of March 27, 2023.

About Space.Japan is a project created by the EU-Japan Centre for Industrial Cooperation with the aim of supporting EU-Japan business and technology cooperation in Space-related Industries both upstream and downstream, as well as in Space applications and utilizations industries, with a focus on certain sectors such as Earth Observation (EO), and space components. Given the high potential of future business and technological cooperation in the Space and GNSS sector, and the turning point represented by recent launch of COPERNICUS (EU’s Earth Observation Satellite constellation) and the recently completed operationalization of GALILEO (EU’s Global Satellite Navigation constellation), Space.Japan is committed to further expand activities related to facilitating cooperation with Japan on Space-related industries. Space.Japan runs in complement with the GNSS.Asia project whose objective is to develop and implement industrial cooperation between the Europe and Asia focusing on GNSS in the downstream sector (applications and receivers, see http://www.gnss.asia).

Current actions run by Space.Japan include:

1. An information helpdesk to answer inquiries, particularly on Space and other European Space Assets such as COPERNICUS and SpaceDataHighway for Japanese firms interested in using eEO services in the future.

2. A partnering search and dissemination platform for European Space SMEs and Start-ups;

3. The organization of sector specific workshops with the aims of 1) presenting the latest market-oriented developments of COPERNICUS from the EU in Japan and inviting Japanese companies to meet and network with Europeans at major EU events such as the European Space Solutions conference; 2) opening a discussion forum in order to engage Japanese Space stakeholders on cooperation opportunities with the EU; and 3) deploying the EU-Japan Centre’s training, partnership facilitation and information helpdesk services to industrial actors involved in Space, which can contribute to future industrial partnering with Japan.