Small States and the Changing Global Order by Unknown

Author:Unknown
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9783030188030
Publisher: Springer International Publishing

12.3.2 Science and Technology Cooperation

The 2009 Science and Technology Cooperation Agreement consciously elevated science and innovation to prominence as a key pillar of the New Zealand-Japan bilateral relationship. Japan is still among the top-ranked OECD countries for scientific research. According to New Zealand officials, “Japan’s advanced scientific expertise, world-class infrastructure, commercialisation know-how, and market opportunities” are particularly attractive.50 The Japanese government wants to diversify Japan’s current industrial focus on automobiles and consumer electronics exports by promoting health and biotechnology sectors (amongst others), which are research strengths for New Zealand.

New Zealand also has significant agricultural, environmental and renewable energy expertise that potentially addresses Japan’s critical and long-standing food and energy insecurities. This presents opportunities for New Zealand that the government has already seized upon. In the agriculture sector, the challenge for the Japanese government is not only to help rural communities survive trade liberalisation, but to ensure that Japan’s food security is maintained. The rapid increase in the average age of Japanese farmers working inefficient small scale plots and shrinking labour pool will result in decreased agricultural output unless productivity of the sector is enhanced. New Zealand offers considerable experience on how to organise a high quality and industrialised agriculture sector based on advanced farming techniques and the uptake of scientific innovation. In 2014, New Zealand and Japan announced the ‘Partnership in Food and Agriculture’, as well as the Hokkaido Diary Cooperation Project, led by Fonterra and supported by the New Zealand Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade. Taking advantage of the alternating seasons between the two countries, Zespri has started contracting Japanese farmers to provide fruit to Japan’s own market, with a view to distribution outside Japan if the model works.

Energy supply is another area of significant national security concern for Japan, especially as Japan’s current energy plan points to decreasing reliance on nuclear energy in response to the 2011 Fukushima incident. Japan is currently using only 1/40th of its massive geothermal potential due to it not having constructed a single sizeable geothermal plant since 1996.51 New Zealand on the other hand has increased its installed capacity since 1989 almost six times, in the process acquiring valuable experience and developing high resource management standards to minimise environmental and community disruption.52 The Japanese government has recently made policy adjustments to its Feed-in Tariff system and relaxed restrictions in Japanese national parks that should support the development of Japan’s geothermal industry.53 GNS Science’s 2015 memorandum of understanding for strategic cooperation with Japan’s JOGMEC is recognition that there are consultation and construction opportunities for New Zealand companies and research institutions in Japanese geothermal infrastructure. A strategic New Zealand-Japan partnership on geothermal energy that combines New Zealand’s implementation expertise and human resource base with Japan’s technological and infrastructure strengths has global possibilities as well.54

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