Prospects of Innovation Policies Presented through the GUNDAM OPEN INNOVATION Project

Mobile Suit Gundam is an animated robots television series that started in 1979. Since its start, the animation has been developed into a wide variety of media, including toys, movies, and video games, and has gained worldwide popularity. The story is set in the “Universal Century”, an era when people make full use of new technologies and have advanced into space. In this Quick Reads, we will discuss the prospects for Japan’s innovation policies that were presented through the Gundam Open Innovation project initiated by Bandai Namco Group, taking on social challenges by re-interpreting the Universal Century in the context of the current society.

GUNDAM crossed with future technology

In the Gundam Open Innovation project, Bandai Namco Group aims to contribute to sustainability by taking advantage of the Gundam world. The company re-interprets the historical background of the Universal Century (an imaginary chronology in the story that refers to the era after people succeed in advancing into space) shown in the Gundam world in the context of the current society, and calls for new ideas and technologies that might be conducive to tackling social challenges.

Accelerating innovation making use of a worldview shared through animated stories

At the International Robot Exhibition 2023, representatives of the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry (METI) and Bandai Namco Group took the stage on December 1, 2023, and discussed possibilities of new approaches to accelerate innovation and startups through a worldview shared through animated stories, while taking the Gundam Open Innovation project as a model example.

The project started by bringing together technological innovators and idea proprietors who share the worldview depicted by the contents of Gundam. The Universal Century, a future era depicted in the animation, contributes to the creation of innovation through backcasting (a planning method that starts with a desirable future as a goal and then works backwards to specify approaches in the present).

Japan is in a position to be able to try this new model of accelerating innovation taking advantage of the worldview shared through animation stories, one of Japan’s own strengths.

METI will encourage and support such efforts to create innovation as seen in the Gundam Open Innovation project.

Accelerating innovation circulation

METI promotes innovation circulation,* in which supports for startups and measures for open innovation contribute to further research and development and investments in human resources.

Advancement of innovation circulation is expected to help with the development of an innovation ecosystem unique to Japan, in which companies and other entities can design ambitious visions, and human resources are able to become leading players without fear of failure.

*Note: Innovation circulation:

The term “innovation circulation,” a concept upheld by METI, refers to a series of activities that: [i] create new value (products, services, etc.) through innovative methods (technologies and ideas) and new combinations of existing methods that lead to solutions to the challenges that society and consumers face, [ii] promote the acceptance and dissemination of new value across society and consumers, and thereby [iii] help with the generation of business cashflow and solve social challenges (achievement of mission).

Related Links

• GUNDAM OPEN INNOVATION
• R&D and Innovation Subcommittee Compiles Recommendations to Promote Innovation Circulation for Value Creation and Generating Sustainable Industries (June 2, 2023)

Division in Charge

Innovation and Industry-University Collaboration Division,
Industrial Science, Technology and Environment Policy Bureau, METI