Science and Technology Policy Japan

Japan Post Insurance is shifting its approach to sustainable investing by picking companies with a technological edge for solving global problems, its investment chief said, in a move away from typical ESG selection criteria.

The relaxation of regulations on drone operations has spurred the expansion of their fields of use, with some delivering parcels or doing challenging infrastructural inspections. The latest in drones are being unveiled at Japan Drone 2019, one of the nation’s largest drone fairs, which runs through Friday at the Makuhari Messe convention center in Chiba.

The Economy, Trade and Industry Ministry started recruitment activities Thursday for two employees who would take charge of a project to promote an autonomous aerial vehicle.

The green light has been given to a controversial research process that involves implanting human stem cells inside animals and could eventually lead to growing human organs for transplant inside animal hosts.

Japan looks to clear a path for allowing self-driving cars on public roads, by updating traffic law to set new standards for driver conduct and vehicle safety like those already enacted in other advanced economies.

The Japan Society of Obstetrics and Gynecology’s (JSOG) executive board has decided to allow obstetrician-gynecologists who run private practices to conduct blood tests on pregnant women to detect possible chromosome abnormalities such as Down syndrome in their fetuses.

The health ministry conditionally approved Tuesday the world’s first clinical study to treat patients with corneal disease by using induced pluripotent stem (iPS) cells.

With Japan being prone to natural disasters, hopes are high that electric vehicles and their plug-in hybrid equivalents could play a key role as “batteries on wheels” when emergencies strike.

Japan will call on operators of critical infrastructure, such as water and electricity, to caution against procuring telecommunications equipment that have the risk of containing malicious software, Nikkei has learned.

The government is finalizing plans for a new organization dedicated to comprehensively monitoring the business dealings of large IT companies and formulating policies to ensure transparency in their practices.