Summary:
A Japanese trading company is looking for products and technologies in the sectors of power, water, and hazards management to be distributed to municipalities and local utility providers, for them to achieve sustainability goals. These could be technologies used in case of natural disasters and products used continuously for safety, reliability and environmental friendliness. The company wishes to engage in a commercial agency or distribution services agreement with relevant partners.
Description:
This Japanese trading company with over five decades of history is looking for a variety of products capable of contributing to business continuity, resilience, and sustainable development goals of municipalities and local utility providers.
As Japan's energy market has reached the final stages of liberalization in recent years, the market landscape has changed drastically. Dozens of independent power providers, operated by municipalities, are being established. As a result, energy production in Japan is becoming increasingly decentralised. Along with this, new needs for business continuity and resilience have emerged. At the same time, consciousness for global problems is increasing in the country, and topics such as environmental friendliness and the United Nations’ sustainable development goals have gained traction.
The trading company has a number of local utility providers among its customers and is looking for products and technologies that cater to the aforementioned needs. Examples are power storage systems, emergency power generation systems, emergency water supply systems, and biodegradable materials. The company envisages acting as an interface between the producer and the user, buying directly from the EU manufacturer and selling to customers in the Japanese market. The trading company has more than five decades of experience in importing goods from Europe and successfully distributing in the Japanese market. It counts among its customers all big industrial groups of Japan. Currently the company is acting as official distributor for several European and American companies.
Traditionally, the companies’ strength lies in the field of parts and materials for the heavy electric industry, for example for power transformers and switchgear. Lately, adjusting to the developments in the Japanese market, the trading company has expanded its activities to other domains. Those include products related to sustainable development goals and decarbonisation (for example biodegradable packaging material or carbon neutral dielectric fluid). New customers, as above-mentioned municipalities and local utility providers, have also been gained. It is confident it can use its sales network to effectively promote the partners’ product in the form of a commercial agency or distribution services agreement.
Type (e.g. company, R&D institution…), field of industry and Role of Partner Sought:
The Japanese trading company is looking for an EU partner with a product or technology who is not already present on the Japanese market. Exceptions can be made if the prior market presence does not impose any restrictions on sales channels in Japan. Furthermore, the partnership should not be on commission base.
The Japanese company would like to freely negotiate prices with the partner and set sales prices in Japan. Finally, the EU partner should be able to provide after-sales assistance in case customers have issues. Additional positives would be if the EU partner is capable of supplying relevant quantities with a short lead time and is able to dispatch staff and/or to provide online training. However, these are not strict requirements.
Technical Specification or Expertise Sought:
The company is looking for products to be used by municipalities and local utility providers that contribute to the safety, reliability and environmental friendliness of local utility supply in Japan. These could be technologies used in the case of natural disasters, but also technologies that contribute to the reliability and environmental friendliness of public utilities such as electricity and water.
Solutions that are currently envisaged are:
- power storage and management systems
- emergency power generation systems
- emergency water supply systems
- biodegradable materials
The company is open to a range of ideas. However, the company is explicitly not looking for products or technologies related to foodstuffs and pharmaceuticals. They welcome new technologies, but it is required for the offered product or technology to be market ready.
External code:
BRJP20210402001
