Grote belangstelling voor online handelsmissie Digitalisering naar Japan

Gisteren gaf staatssecretaris Mona Keijzers het startsein voor een driedaagse handelsmissie naar Japan. Vanwege corona vond het deze keer digitaal plaats. De belangstelling was groot: bijna 600 deelnemers uit Nederland en Japan hadden zich ingeschreven. Daarmee was het voor Nederland de grootste online handelsmissie ooit naar een individueel land. De digitaliseringsmissie bestond uit drie onderdelen: SMART Agri, SMART Industry en SMART Services. Vooral voor het agrodeel bestond een enorme belangstelling. Meer dan 60% van de totale aanmeldingen hadden zich hiervoor ingeschreven. Er werd in het bijzonder ingezoomd op robotisering en automatisering in Digital Dairy, een data-gedreven aardappelketen en de glastuinbouw.  

For the Smart Agriculture track, 44 Dutch participants were registered on the B2Match platform, which enabled them to contact potential partners, and clients in Japan. From Japan there was a huge interest especially in the agrotrack: more than 60% of the total number of Japanese participants (around 300) signed up for it.  On 4 February, the second day of the mission, a Smart Agriculture webinar will be organized, and moderated by Mr. Marcel van Haren, Program Manager Agriculture, Water & Food at FME, the Dutch employers Federation in the Technology Industry.  

Mission Leader for the agri-track delegation, Mr. Guido Landheer, Deputy DG Agro, Ministry of Agriculture, Nature & Food Quality, will give a welcome speech at the session. The mission is supported by the Japanese ministry of Agriculture, and vice-Minister Makoto Osawa, will give a guest of honor speech. Japan has a new Strategy for a Sustainable Food Supply, in which digitalization, and Smart agriculture are important pillars.

Two keynote speeches on Smart Agriculture will be given by Dutch and Japanese experts, Dr. Ir. Corné Kempenaar of Wageningen University & Research and Prof. Dr. Noboru Noguchi of Hokkaido University. After the plenary session, the participants can choose from 3 sub-sessions: digital dairy, a datadriven potatosector, and Smart Horti. Representatives from the topsectors Horticulture and Agrifood, private companies from the Netherlands, and Japanese speakers from Kubota, NTT-agri, and Panasonic will have the floor, and will give their perspective on the near future.

On 5 Feburuary, the last day of the mission, Dutch companies have the opportunity to present themselves for the Japanese audience. In this session, practical examples and solutions for the Japanese growers and farmers will be presented. In addition, the mission offers the opportunity to continue talks between individual companies using the 1-on-1 meeting tool on the B2Match platform.