December 4th,2024 at DIJ Tokyo
On December 4th 2024, the Research Institute for Environmental Economics and Management (RIEEM) and the German Institute for Japanese Studies (DIJ) co-organized an event titled “Innovation for GX – dream or real?”. The seminar was divided into two parts, first tackling the topic of carbon recycling and then sustainable aviation fuels. The seminar was organized by Prof. Toshi H. Arimura (RIEEM) and Prof. Franz Waldenberger (DIJ), and featured speakers from Germany and Japan. The event gathered 15 guests on site, and many more online. The profile of participants was also very diverse: students from Waseda University, professors and researchers on economics and political science, industrial players, journalists and embassy officials. The diversity of the audience reflected the growing interest of the general public regarding GX topics, carbon recycling and sustainable aviation fuel.
The event was kicked off by opening remarks by Prof. Franz Waldenberger, who highlighted the growing importance of GX and the need for an acceleration of supply-side research, especially on carbon recycling. The first half of the event then tackled the topic of carbon recycling, with three speakers: Masaya Domyo and Shun Osaki from the Carbon Recycling Fund Institute and Dietmar Harhoff from Max Planck Institute for Innovation and Competition Munich and representative of SPRIN-D agency. When it comes to innovation towards carbon recycling technologies, both Germany and Japan face the same challenge: how to ensure the birth ground-breaking new technology on carbon recycling? Masaya Domyo and Shun Osaki first discussed the Japanese strategy, marked by a top-down approach: since 2020, the government has implemented the Green Innovation Fund, a vast R&D scheme to promote a strategic development of carbon recycling technology. In addition, the Carbon Recycling Fund Institute also offers additional research grants to startups and encourage networking with larger companies and future buyouts to ensure faster commercialization. In contrast, the German approach is not as centralized: Dietmar Harhoff introduced the works of SPRIN-D, an agency that relies on competitive challenges to fund to European startups and strictly selects radical innovators. The advantage of this approach lies in the pace at which funds are attributed, as startups receive the necessary funding within 2 months. The comparison in the German and Japanese approaches led to a lively discussion regarding the role of government, the political context and the social acceptance of carbon recycling technologies.
The event then tackled the topic of sustainable aviation fuel (SAF), featuring three speakers: Rolf Nagel from Munich Venture Partners (online), Ken Kumakura from Japan Airlines (JAL) and Christian Sattler from the German Aerospace Center (online). Rolf Nagel first described SPARK e-Fuels, a startup from Germany that could provide e-SAF at highly competitive costs and without any need for change in infrastructure. Ken Kumakura then provided a perspective from the demand-side: he explained the decarbonization objectives of JAL and highlighted the need for SAF for medium to long-haul flights. While JAL is currently procuring SAF from waste cooking oil, they wish to move towards e-SAF, produced by biomass, municipal waste, recycled carbon or hydrogen in the future, though the lack of stable supply and prohibitive costs are rendering this difficult. JAL is also struggling to raise awareness regarding SAF among its stakeholders and customers. Christian Sattler then followed by providing a European perspective on the supply-side of SAF. He shared his experience with the German Aerospace Center, in test flights using 100% SAF, as well as their support for local SAF producers. The talks were then followed by many questions between speakers regarding potential connections, the competitive usage of SAF by car users, the willingness to pay for SAF from JAL customers, and regulations on SAF. Prof. Toshi H. Arimura finally closed the event with some final remarks.
