Japan Seeks New Agritech Opportunities, Long-term Partnerships With Malaysia
KUALA LUMPUR, July 21 (Bernama) -- Japan aims to catalyse new agritech business opportunities and cultivate long-term partnerships with Malaysia through deeper cooperation in agricultural innovation and food technology.
Japanese Ambassador to Malaysia Shikata Noriyuki said Japan would support industry exchanges, facilitate regulatory dialogue and help innovators identify suitable partners, sites and mentors.
“Our goal is clear: to catalyse new business opportunities and cultivate long-term partnerships that deliver value for Malaysia, Southeast Asia and Japan,” he said at the Malaysia-Japan Agritech Leaders Dialogue and Recognition Ceremony hosted by the Japanese Embassy here on Tuesday.
The event celebrated Qarbotech’s Grand Prize victory at the SusHi Tech Global Pitch Challenge 2026 while highlighting Malaysia’s potential as a hub for agritech solutions to global agricultural challenges.
Qarbotech beat more than 800 applicants from over 60 countries to emerge as the top start-up at the competition, held during SusHi Tech Tokyo 2026 at Tokyo Big Sight.
The company received the ¥10 million (US$62,000) Grand Prize.
Shikata said Malaysian and Japanese start-ups could help turn policies, pilot projects and innovative ideas into scalable solutions.
“Malaysian and Japanese start-ups will be the bridge from policy to practice, from pilots to scale, from bright ideas to measurable impact,” he said.
He identified potential areas of collaboration in paddy cultivation and horticulture, sustainable agricultural inputs, robotics and automation to ease labour shortages, and data platforms to improve farm-to-fork transparency.
Shikata also called for the dialogue to lead to new pilot projects, consortiums and market-entry initiatives.
Meanwhile, Leave a Nest Group founder and chief executive officer Dr Yukihiro Maru said agritech and food technology must remain priorities despite the growing focus on artificial intelligence (AI) and data centres.
“We cannot survive on AI and data centres. Every day we eat. Every day we cultivate some crops, right? And how do we sustain this food and agriculture? That is a very big issue,” he said.
Maru said Leave a Nest, which connects university-developed science and technology with industry, aimed to use its start-up development experience to build a stronger innovation ecosystem in Malaysia and Southeast Asia.
“Malaysia has strong technological potential and talent. We want to strengthen the bridge between Malaysia and Japan, and ultimately connect Southeast Asia with the world,” he said.
- BERNAMA
