The document spells out how the ministry plans to upgrade Japan’s international competitiveness by carrying out an industrial policy that aims to achieve and secure economic growth and solve issues facing our society at the same time. This article outlines the priority policy areas METI will focus on and their aims.

The first focus under this theme is measures to address the COVID-19 pandemic.

The world situation has changed dramatically, and the time is ripe for changing our industrial policy to one that can ensure economic growth and solve the issues facing Japanese society. Environmental issues and digitalization are common themes that countries throughout the world are facing. The question for Japan is whether it can win the competition. METI must proceed with this policy with intense focus.

First and foremost, it aims to squarely address the immediate situation and steadily carry out measures to ensure businesses that have fallen into difficulty, including restaurants and tourism companies, can stay afloat. The ministry also aims to actively work on a business restructuring support program to help companies that are trying to start a new business or shift their business format in response to the pandemic. In addition, a business continuation support program and a business optimization program are in the works to prevent subcontractors from being victimized.

The second focus is on developing a growth strategy for the post-pandemic economy.

This aims to shift, once the pandemic is over, the country’s industrial structure into one that can generate new added value over the medium- to long-term using a mission-oriented approach and maintain growth. Specifically, the strategy targets the environment, economic security, distribution, health and digitalization as the key areas.

In the environmental domain, for example, METI aims to work out a budget, taxation system and regulations for a “green growth strategy” that will help make Japan carbon neutral and promote Japan’s strategic energy plan. The ministry will also work on developing certain aspects of carbon pricing — an economic system in which carbon is priced and the behaviors of those who emit it are transformed — that contribute to economic growth.

It is not possible to make the world carbon neutral without taking developing economies on board along with advanced nations. For that, the key is to reduce the costs of environmental technologies that can contribute to achieving carbon neutrality and help developing economies introduce them. As Japan has advanced technologies for power generation using hydrogen and ammonia, it is expected to play an important role in disseminating them to the rest of the world. Initiatives to introduce environmental technologies will include an industrial policy, an environmental policy and a growth strategy. Achieving carbon neutrality is not an easy challenge to overcome, but METI aims to lead the way by promoting a virtuous cycle combining the economy and the environment.

Now, how does the ministry plan to address the issue of ensuring Japan’s economic security?

Work with auto parts maker

In April 2020, ventilators were increasingly hard to come by at clinics and hospitals as the coronavirus pandemic was spreading across the globe. One company that responded to urgent calls to deliver ventilators was Metran Co., a manufacturer based in Kawaguchi, Saitama Prefecture.

The company uses a unique technology called high-frequency oscillation (HFO) that can be used for assisting newborn or premature infants, taking their delicate respiratory organs into consideration. Its products are used in about 90% of neonatal intensive care units in Japan’s hospitals. A 2018 report by UNICEF found babies born in Japan have the best chance at survival in the world. The world’s lowest newborn mortality rate is no doubt supported by Metran’s ventilator. But elsewhere, there are no small number of cases in which newborns or premature infants are exposed to the risk of losing their lives. Metran, which already had a production facility in Vietnam, has in recent years embarked on an all-out endeavor to develop overseas markets.

To respond to METI’s call to boost production of medical equipment following the outbreak of the novel coronavirus, in April 2020, the company launched a project to manufacture ventilators for COVID-19 patients using a production facility and human resources of Marelli Corp., a major auto component maker known formerly as Calsonic Kansei Corp. Marelli supported Metran on procurement of components and product assembly, which were affected by interruptions in supply chains. The project proceeded at an unusually fast pace. Production lines were quickly set up at Marelli’s Kodama plant in Saitama Prefecture, and mass production started by the end of June. Ventilators manufactured at these lines were supplied to not only Japanese locations, but also to other countries, including Vietnam, Bolivia, the Kyrgyz Republic and Indonesia.

Critical medical technology

“We mainly manufacture ventilators, but we also handle oxygen concentrators,” Metran President Dan Nitta said. “We have never before seen such a strong demand for our products, and it is very satisfying to be contributing to society in this way.” Nitta faced the pandemic soon after he took the helm of the company in December 2019. Facing surging orders and the global spread of the infection, he scrambled to boost production. Currently, he is working on a second joint project with Marelli, to market a new type of face mask that blocks virus intrusion using an air curtain. The product, which supplies air cleaned using a high-performance filter, is targeted at workers in areas with a high risk of infection.