Japan’s bioeconomy strategy

The bioeconomy strategy aims to establish the world’s most advanced bioeconomy by 2030. Japan’s government initiated this strategy in 2019, focusing on bio-related markets in health, medicine, biomanufacturing, and primary production to ensure economic growth and tackle climate change and societal challenges.

The strategy is framed within a global context of climate change, population growth, and geopolitical conflicts, which have intensified issues such as carbon neutrality, circular economy, food and energy security, and healthcare advancements.

Japan’s Grand Design and Action Plan for a New Form of Capitalism emphasises science, technology, and innovation as a means to convert societal challenges into drivers of economic growth. The country faces critical issues such as an ageing population, high dependency on imports, and a declining agricultural workforce, necessitating a more resilient bioeconomic structure.

The key areas of bioeconomy contribution include:

1. Reducing fossil fuel dependence through biomanufacturing.
2. Enhancing food security via productivity improvements and reduced environmental impact.
3. Advancing healthcare with biopharmaceuticals and regenerative medicine.
4. Expanding digital health and new market creation through AI-driven healthcare solutions.

To leverage Japan’s unique strengths (biomass resources, genetic resources, fermentation technologies, and drug discovery capabilities), public-private partnerships must drive bioeconomy expansion. The strategy emphasises technology development, market transformation, and ecosystem improvements.

Review of progress and major challenges

Since 2019, Japan has focused on:

• Creating biocommunities to attract talent and investments.
• Expanding biomanufacturing and forming collaborations between start-ups and large enterprises.
• Enhancing R&D and commercialisation efforts through digital transformation and big data utilisation.

Key challenges:

1. Market predictability – Attracting investments requires clear market growth projections and strategic support for bio-based industries.
2. Pharmaceutical industry lag – Japan has fallen behind in biopharmaceuticals and needs to accelerate start-up support and contract manufacturing (CDMOs).
3. Human resource shortages – There is a pressing need for biotech specialists, engineers, and innovation ecosystem enablers.
4. Innovation ecosystems – Data linkage, industry collaborations, and improved regulation frameworks are needed to stimulate bioeconomy growth.

Basic idea

The strategy envisions a sustainable bioeconomy supporting:

• A circular society, integrating industries for resource efficiency.
• Sustainable primary production, ensuring food security.
• Bioprocess-driven manufacturing, replacing traditional methods.
• Integrated healthcare, merging medical and digital health solutions.

To expand bioeconomy markets, the strategy targets five priority markets, aiming for a 100 trillion yen market by 2030.

Five priority markets:

1. Biomanufacturing and bio-derived products – Biochemicals, biomaterials, bioplastics, biofuels, enzymes, organic waste treatment, and biofoundries.
2. Sustainable primary production systems – Smart agriculture, genome-edited crops, sustainable fertilizers, and eco-friendly food production.
3. Large-scale buildings utilising wood and smart forestry – Mid-rise wooden buildings and eco-friendly timber solutions.
4. Biopharmaceuticals, regenerative medicine, and cell/gene therapies – Advanced biologics, regenerative medicine, iPS cells, CAR-T therapies, and genetic treatments.
5. Lifestyle improvement healthcare and digital health – Health-tech solutions, wearable devices, fitness, and AI-driven healthcare services.

Strategy focus:

• Accelerating technology development through global competitiveness analysis and strategic intellectual property management.
• Enhancing market environments via economic incentives, regulatory improvements, and consumer acceptance programs.
• Building business ecosystems with human resource development, infrastructure investment, start-up support, and international standardisation.

Measures to expand bioeconomy markets

1. Biomanufacturing and bio-derived products

(Target market size: 53.3 trillion yen by 2030)

Market trends:

• Climate change, resource constraints, and biodiversity loss are driving global investment in bio-based solutions.
• The U.S., EU, and China are investing trillions in biomanufacturing to secure leadership in bio-derived products.
• Japan’s strengths include genetic diversity, fermentation expertise, and advanced materials processing.

Future directions:

• Technology development – Japan will prioritiSe microorganism and cell design platforms and focus on synthetic biology and AI-powered bioinformatics.
• Market growth – Initial focus will be on high-value products, expanding later into mass-market bioproducts.
• Cost competitiveness – Support will be provided to scale up biomanufacturing and commercialise bio-derived products.

2. Sustainable primary production systems

(Target market size: 14.9 trillion yen by 2030)

Key trends:

• Increasing food demand vs. decreasing arable land and aging farmers.
• Climate change is threatening food stability through extreme weather and crop failures.
• Japan’s reliance on imported food poses security risks.

Future directions:

• Smart agriculture expansion – Promoting AI-driven precision farming and automation.
• Biotech-enabled food security – Expanding genome-edited crops and sustainable fertilizers.
• New markets – Supporting FoodTech innovations such as alternative proteins and cell-based meat.

3. Large-scale buildings utilising wood and smart forestry

(Target market size: Not specified)

Key trends:

• Demand for eco-friendly construction materials is growing globally.
• Japan has high-quality timber and forestry resources but underutilises them.
• The EU is leading regulations that promote biodegradable and sustainable materials.

Future directions:

• Increasing wooden building adoption through incentives and smart forestry technologies.
• Carbon-neutral construction policies to integrate bioeconomy principles.

4. Biopharmaceuticals, regenerative medicine, and cell/gene therapies

(Target market size: Not specified)

Key trends:

• The global transition from low-molecule drugs to biopharmaceuticals is advancing rapidly.
• Japan lags behind in biomanufacturing and CDMO development.
• Global gene therapy and regenerative medicine markets are expanding rapidly.

Future directions:

• Building R&D ecosystems to support start-ups and biomanufacturing scalability.
• Strengthening domestic drug production to reduce import dependency.
• Integrating AI and biotech for next-gen personalised medicine.

5. Lifestyle improvement healthcare and digital health

(Target market size: Not specified)

Key trends:

• Wearable health-tech and AI diagnostics are revolutionising preventive healthcare.
• Japan’s aging society is driving demand for robotic caregiving and digital therapeutics.
• Data-driven medicine and personalised healthcare solutions are expanding.

Future directions:

• Encouraging digital health adoption through data standardisation.
• Supporting AI-based disease prevention and remote health monitoring.
• Expanding digital healthcare business models.

Implementation and policy support

To ensure effective strategy execution, Japan will:

1. Enhance research – Expand biocommunities, strengthen biotech data infrastructure, and develop next-gen research ecosystems.
2. Strengthen economic security – Ensure supply chain resilience in bio-based industries.
3. Improve policy frameworks – Accelerate biomanufacturing incentives, intellectual property protection, and international collaborations.