By Helen Tung in the framework of the Minerva Fellowship Programme.

What is NewSpace in Japan? What does EU- Japan NewSpace collaboration mean? How does EU – Japan NewSpace collaboration look like? Those were the kinds of questions that I was embarking on as I spent 6 months in Tokyo exploring and researching NewSpace in Japan. Over this period time I have spoken to countless of entrepreneurs, key stakeholders, mentors, advisors, academics and potential entrepreneurs and startups interested in
NewSpace. When I started to embark on the question, how was Prime Minister Abe going to double the space sector in the next 5-10 years? It seemed impossible at first. However, as I have defined and re-defined NewSpace, I started to think that the possibilities are endless and that the trillion-dollar business is truly, not up in space but on earth.