"The World and Japan" Database (Project Leader: TANAKA Akihiko)
Database of Japanese Politics and International Relations
National Graduate Institute for Policy Studies (GRIPS); Institute for Advanced Studies on Asia (IASA), The University of Tokyo

[Title] India-Japan Cooperation on Digital Partnership

[Place]
[Date] October 29, 2018
[Source] Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Japan
[Notes]
[Full text]

To leap ahead together in the era of technology and to tap into the synergies and complementarities between Japan’s “Society 5.0” and India’s flagship programmes like “Digital India”, “Smart City” and “Start-up India” for promoting “Ease of Living”, the two nations will cooperate in areas of next generation technologies such as Artificial Intelligence (AI), and Internet of Things (IoT), etc. In this regard, Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry (METI), Japan and Ministry of Electronics & Information Technology (MeitY), India have held 6 rounds of Joint Working Group (JWG) meetings till 2018 and Ministry of Communications (MOC), India and Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications (MIC), Japan signed a Joint Minutes on cooperation in ICT sector under the fifth meeting of India-Japan JWG in 2018.

In this context, the two Prime Ministers have welcomed a holistic “India-Japan Digital Partnership” (I-JDP), which was signed as a Memorandum of Cooperation between MeitY India and METI, Japan, to further the existing areas of cooperation as well as to explore opportunities of new initiatives in ICT (Information and Communications Technologies) , with a special emphasis on “Digital Technologies” and also, expand the scope of India-Japan “Start-up Hub”.

Start-up Hub between India and Japan: In pursuance of realizing the commitment of the two Prime Ministers as reflected in the Joint Statement of the India-Japan Annual Summit 2017 to establish an India-Japan Startup-hub, both sides signed the Joint Statement on Japan-India Startup Initiative during the visit of METI Minister Seko to India in May this year that included the establishment of a Startup Hub in Bengaluru stationed at JETRO as an interface between respective startups and firms for more collaboration such as by identifying selected Indian start- ups for Japanese market and for potential Japanese investors. Also, online platform of Japan- India Startup Hub established by Invest India will serve the same.

Talent Facilitation: The exchange of talents between India and Japan is essential to synergize the competitiveness and experience of industries in both countries. To realize this, I-JDP will consider initiating and also expanding already existing mechanisms for facilitating training opportunities and Internship programs, organizing Job Fairs (Japan career fair), introducing the Start-Up Program for highly skilled Indian professionals (namely Japanese “Green Card” and Highly Skilled Professional VISA), expanding JEC Courses to IT and electronics firms.

Cooperation in R&D: To promote linkages between NITI Aayog, spearheading the National Programme for AI Research in India, and METI, focusing on promoting emerging technologies under “Society 5.0”, India and Japan signed an overarching Statement of Intent between NITI Aayog and METI on Artificial Intelligence with provision of exploring possibilities for specific institutional cooperation such as between Artificial Intelligence Research Centre of National Institute of Advanced Industrial Science and Technology in Japan and IIT Hyderabad in India.

Projects in ICT areas having Security dimension: Realizing the need for an advanced and a secure technology, under this partnership, India and Japan will consider cooperating in the areas of security of digital infrastructure of future networks, framework for Telecom Security etc. Both leaders welcomed the initiation for laying the submarine optical fiber cables for connecting Chennai and the Andaman islands by Bharat Sanchar Nigam Limited (BSNL) of India and NEC of Japan, and both side will further cooperate in the development of submarine cable projects in view of their strategic importance.

Electronics Ecosystem: India and Japan would establish a partnership mechanism between both sides on Electronics Manufacturing including collaboration between Indian and Japanese companies in Electronics System Design, related Software technologies and electronics manufacturing for long tail market.

Digital Corporate Partnership: India and Japan will aim at promoting corporate and business linkages in the field of IT between India and Japan through initiatives such as matching events, dispatching business missions and BSNL, a Public Sector Undertaking (PSU) under the Ministry of Communications India and NTT-AT of Japan signed the MoU on cooperation in Telecommunication. National Association of Software and Services Companies (NASSCOM) from the Indian side and Prefecture Government of Hiroshima have established the first “IT Corridor” in Japan to “co-create for global markets leveraging Japanese ecosystem strengths on the hardware side and Indian ecosystem on the software side”.