Date/Time
Date(s) - November 28 2023 - November 30 2023
12:00am
Location
Toyko
On behalf of the Department for Transport (DfT), UK rail businesses based both within the UK and Japan are invited to apply to join a DfT Rail Trade Mission to Japan taking place between 28 to 30 November in Tokyo, linked to the longstanding UK-Japan Rail Working Group (RWG). The exact programmes and networking opportunities will be shared with those preselected companies, but the initial draft programme involving mission members is as follows.
- Tuesday 28 November 2023 – DfT & MLIT Presentations on UK & Japan ‘Rail Hot Topics’ and mutual issues (e.g. decarbonisation, innovation, high-speed rail)
- Wednesday 29 November 2023 – Site visits to Shinkansen Operating Centre & Tokyo Central station
- Thursday 30 November 2023 – Business networking day (including 1:1 matchmaking between UK & Japanese rail businesses)
If interested, please complete the attached application form to request to participate in this year’s RWG in Japan and return it to railinternationalandfreight@dft.gov.uk by 17:00 on 29 September 2023. DfT in turn will then let businesses know if they have been selected, or not, to join the mission.
Businesses will be expected to fund their own travel, accommodation, and subsistence on the mission.
Background: Over 21 years ago, the DfT agreed a Memorandum of Understanding with Japan’s Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism (MLIT). This has turned into a strong Government-to-Government relationship on rail, which culminates every year in the UK-Japan RWG. The RWG brings an opportunity for knowledge sharing between UK and Japanese experts, and to discuss opportunities to work together, e.g. third country collaboration.
At this year’s RWG in Tokyo, we will be giving UK businesses the opportunity to directly meet Japanese businesses and Japanese Government officials to discuss closer collaboration and business opportunities. Previous RWG’s have resulted in UK business wins in Japan.
Japanese businesses attending this year’s RWG have expressed an interest in hearing from UK businesses offering new innovative technologies, products and services offering decarbonisation solutions, and automatic and/or labour-saving solutions.
Japanese businesses at the last RWG held in Tokyo were from the following fields: consultancy, design, rail operators, law firms, rolling stock manufacturers, signalling manufacturers, system manufacturers, trading companies, financial institutions, public entities, public authorities, freight operators, general contractors, construction companies and telecommunications.
Feedback from the UK-Japan Rail Working Group 2022
“Last winter, a team of delegates from RazorSecure were invited by the DfT to take part in the UK-Japan Rail Working Group. It was a great opportunity for us at RazorSecure to take our message into new international markets, and make connections we might not otherwise have made. The DfT enabled us to connect with potential suppliers and customers in Asia, where we are building a presence with our suite of advanced cyber and digital solutions for rail. I look forward to attending more of these events as they support our expansion into new international markets.”
Dr Emma Taylor, CISSP CEng, Head of Digital Safety, RazorSecure
If you would like further details, please contact the DfT International Team at railinternationalandfreight@dft.gov.uk
UK-Japan Railway Working Group 2023 Tokyo – Business Application Form
