Scotland at Expo Osaka 2025: Evaluation Report

Section 7: Ministerial Programme

As part of our wider Expo Osaka Programme three Ministerial visits were undertaken to support and align with each of Scotland’s three activation days at Expo but also to support the accompanying company trade missions. More than 50 Ministerial business focused engagements with senior delegates and business leaders in Japan were delivered, focusing firmly on the sectors relevant to our activation day themes, supported by some supporting diplomatic and cultural engagements with Japanese leaders.

April – Gaming & Consumer Industries

The Minister for Business, Richard Lochhead MSP, visited from the 14^th to the 18^th April to engage with the Japanese Government, lead Scotland’s Expo Activation Day on 17th April, join up with Scotland’s trade mission focusing on consumer industries and engage in a series of trade and investment focused meetings across the week.

In meeting with some top gaming companies within Japan, the minister was able to outline Scotland’s strengths within the sector and discuss shared opportunities going forward. Further engagement will be planned within this sector to understand the potential for growth within the sector, on the back of this visit and Design, Innovate, Communicate, Entertain (DICE) conference which took place in Scotland in September.

This visit kickstarted Scotland’s activity in Japan, delivering on 2 evening receptions alongside our first day of Expo activity in the UK Pavilion.

June – Health Technologies

The Cabinet Secretary for Health and Social Care Neil Gray’s visit was delivered from the 23^rd to the 26^th June. The visit offered the chance to engage with the Japanese Ministry for Health, Labour and Welfare to discuss our shared challenges in areas such as caring for an aging population. Additional Health focused meetings were delivered in engaging with Canon Medical, AstraZeneca and Reprocell to discuss opportunities for Scottish Companies.

The Cabinet Secretary met with Sumitomo Electric to build upon the relationship he had built with the company’s chair, Mr Matsumoto, from his meeting in 2023. This meeting was important to reiterate Scotland’s commitment to working with Sumitomo on shared goals including the success of their cable factory at Nigg.

The Cabinet Secretary was also invited to attend the King’s Birthday Dinner in the Embassy as part of this visit, addressing the audience and engaging with VIP’s from the Japanese business sector.

September – Offshore Wind

The Cabinet Secretary for Climate Action and Energy visited Japan (Tokyo and Osaka) from the 16^th to 19^th September to showcase Scotland’s offshore wind sector.

The visit emphasised Scotland’s commitment to working with key investors such as JBIC, Mitsui, Hitachi, Marubeni and Sumitomo. There was a broad recognition of the scale of renewable investment opportunities that Scotland has to offer in addition to some concern expressed about challenges such as grid connection dates and order pipeline.

A key part of the visit included announcement of a £1.7m grant for Hitachi from Scottish Enterprise to secure overall investment of over £3m and deliver around 90 jobs at a new Engineering Centre of Excellence in Glasgow.

An MoU between European Marine Energy Centre (EMEC) and Japan’s Floating Offshore Wind Technology Research Association (FLOWRA) was also signed during the visit with the aim of exploring possibilities for collaboration in establishing a new floating offshore wind demonstration site in Japan.

The visit provided a strong platform to showcase Scotland’s approach to developing the offshore wind sector; identify opportunities to share knowledge and expertise especially in relation to innovation and floating technology; and hold high level discussions with significant investors and supply chain companies with aim of attracting further future investment to Scotland.