17 July 2015

The Hi-Tech Park presented investment and research projects in the field of high technology for joint implementation to Japanese diplomatic and business circles. The meeting was held during an official visit of a Japanese business delegation headed by Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of Japan to the Russian Federation with concurrent accreditation to the Republic of Belarus Chikahito Harada to Belarus. 

Among members of the delegation, there were representatives of major Japanese technological corporations and communities, including CEO of Mitsubishi Motors Rus Yukio Matsumoto, Moscow office Manager at Mitsubishi Heavy Industries Yukihiko Okumura, Moscow Office General Manager at Sojitz Corporation Masaaki Kaneko, CEO of Panasonic Rus Junichi Suzuki, CEO of Kawakami-Parker Co., Ltd. Yasunori Satoh, Chief Representative at CBC Co., Ltd. Moscow Representative Office Kazuya Hirota, Head of the Secretariat of Japanese Business Club in Moscow Tsumutoku Yamada, etc.

During the meeting, the parties discussed perspective areas of mutually beneficial cooperation. The guests from Japan learned about the establishment of Belarus Hi-Tech Park, its major achievements and the investment and export potential of HTP resident-companies.

Members of the delegation marked the expertise of Belarusian companies in the fields of computer games and mobile applications development. Taking into account the acquisition of Viber, with a Minsk-based development center Viber Media, by Rakuten Corporation, the parties expressed confidence in the potential of Belarus-Japan cooperation.

During the meeting, the HTP company BelHard Development presented their project ASP, an automated warning system for earthquakes and tsunamis, which drew a special interest of the guests. The system is designed to provide short-term forecasts of earthquakes and tsunamis in a given area, as well as forecasts of floods and landslides caused by high seismic activity. Director of BelHard Development Igor Mamonenko noted that the company is currently investing not just in software development but also in high-tech projects such as creation of robots, exoskeletons, etc. These projects are developed on the basis of the research and production center of Belhard. "We have about 10 projects like this. But we are facing the problem of funding, today we do not have enough partners to implement such ideas. Therefore, we hope for the mutually beneficial cooperation," noted Igor Mamonenko.