NEDO Expands Frontier Incubation Project to Six Domains to Create New Industries for 2040 and Beyond

Expansion of the Frontier Incubation Project to Six Domains

NEDO has expanded its 'Frontier Incubation Project,' which promotes R&D and commercialization of new sectors (frontier domains) that Japan should address as a nation, to a six-domain framework starting in fiscal 2026, with the aim of creating new industries for 2040 and beyond.

Following the launch of the project in fiscal 2025 with two domains, 'Extreme Materials' and 'Utilization of Unused Underground Resources,' the project added four new domains in fiscal 2026: 'Industrial Technology Development for Ocean CDR,' 'Ocean Robotics,' 'Braintech/Neurotech,' and 'Quantum Sensing,' totaling six domains.

To ensure consistent progress from technical development to social implementation in these four newly added domains, four Program Directors (PDs) have been appointed.

Furthermore, in the 'Utilization of Unused Underground Resources' domain, following a one-year feasibility study, a call for proposals for natural hydrogen projects was conducted. As a result of the evaluation, a total of 26 research and development themes were selected across five research topics.

Project Overview

NEDO's Innovation Strategy Center (TSC) overlooks trends in each field to identify and propose 'frontier domains' to the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry (METI). The project supports early-stage R&D in fields with high future growth potential, aimed at realizing a decarbonized society and creating new industries.

NEDO appoints a PD to each domain to manage R&D progress and deliberate on business strategies, thereby accelerating development into national projects and the creation of startups. This addresses Japan's challenge of the low ratio of R&D successfully reaching commercialization, enabling early response to business risks in the GX (Green Transformation) sector.

PD Responsibilities

PDs are responsible for a consistent range of tasks, from identifying and selecting R&D topics to strategy formulation, execution, evaluation, review, and the promotion of private investment. They are appointed by the NEDO Chairman from individuals possessing broad expertise, management experience, and strong negotiation skills.

Focus of New Domains

- Unused Underground Resources (Natural Hydrogen): Aims to elucidate mechanisms of generation, migration, and accumulation in deep underground areas and explore their potential as a future low-carbon hydrogen source. - Ocean CDR: Focuses on industrial-scale, low-cost CO2 removal from seawater, leveraging Japan's strengths in material and membrane technologies.