UK-Japan Frontier Technology Partnership – GOV.UK

Context

The UK-Japan relationship has reached an all-time excessive, anchored by a strong alliance in science and expertise. This momentum is pushed by high-impact collaboration – together with our Strategic Cyber Partnership (2026), Economic Security and Industrial Strategy Partnerships (2025), Semiconductor Partnership (2023), and Digital Partnership (2022) – all of which construct upon the enduring basis of the 1994 Agreement on Cooperation in Science and Technology.

As one another’s closest safety companions in Europe and Asia respectively, the UK and Japan are uniquely positioned to harness our shared innovation capabilities. By working collectively as like-minded nations, our science and expertise relationship will ship high-value development and technological company. This collaboration will leverage our complementary strengths to reinforce our financial and nationwide safety in an period of rising geopolitical unpredictability with the overarching objective of reaching peace, prosperity and stability for the worldwide neighborhood.

In January 2026, UK Prime Minister Starmer and Japanese Prime Minister Takaichi introduced their intent to work collectively to progress excessive precedence frontier expertise challenges, harnessing our foundational science and expertise strengths to bolster mutual financial development and financial resilience.

Commitment

This Frontier Technology Partnership will ship that dedication, combining the UK’s world-class software program and analysis management with Japan’s unparalleled {hardware} and manufacturing energy to help collaboration throughout our distinct but extremely suitable industrial bases. It accelerates and advances our nations’ ambitions as set out within the UK’s Industrial Strategy and Japan’s Growth Strategy.

We will construct on our deep and valued science and expertise relationship, setting out a shared ambition to go additional, with a give attention to the applied sciences which can be most vital for the long run and with innovation ecosystems based mostly on safety, security, belief and cooperation.

• We will promote and shield these crucial and rising applied sciences via authorities co-operation and coordinated, focused R&D help.
• We will generate development and construct a aggressive edge by mobilising personal capital in direction of strategic applied sciences​, fostering business collaboration and supporting high-potential firms to emerge and scale.
• We will form the event of crucial applied sciences and safeguard our shared values via multilateral coordination on worldwide requirements and regulation.

Cooperation

Both the UK and Japan have recognized rising applied sciences which can be crucial for the flourishing of every nation. These are applied sciences which can be already basically disrupting economies and societies internationally.

The UK and Japan recognise that now could be the second to put money into these applied sciences and work collectively as like-minded and complementary innovation ecosystems.

We have a shared imaginative and prescient and ambition:

• Together, the UK and Japan will probably be AI makers and never simply AI takers, fostering resilient, secure, safe, and reliable AI ecosystems and enhancing our nationwide AI capabilities. We have dedicated to selling ties between our respective AI innovation ecosystems, advancing joint analysis to unlock the ability of AI for Science, and exploring formal pathways to interlock our AI semiconductor strengths. We reaffirm the necessity for a steady and secure AI provide chain, and recognise the significance of selling efforts, in cooperation with diversified companions and suppliers to reinforce the resilience of AI provide chains. We will deepen cooperation between Japan AISI and UK AISI in driving ahead the science of AI analysis via the International Network for Advanced AI Measurement, Evaluation and Science. Furthermore, we’ll work to additional promote the Hiroshima AI Process and to discover synergies between our respective initiatives on AI cooperation with the Global South in co-creating a secure, safe, and reliable AI ecosystem globally. We concurred on establishing a high-level dialogue on AI to advance cooperation in these precedence areas and supporting Japan towards internet hosting a profitable AI Summit following Switzerland in 2027.
• We will develop globally aggressive, commercially scalable and deployable quantum applied sciences, together with computing, sensing and communications, constructing on our Quantum Memorandum of Cooperation (2025). We will strengthen the connection between the UK and Japan’s quantum computing capabilities. UK and Japanese companies will export, make investments, and conduct R&D in each other’s markets, and each governments are dedicated to joint, long-term collaboration on quantum high-performance computing (HPC) integration. In parallel, we’ll advance sensible purposes of quantum applied sciences throughout computing, sensing, communication and networking domains via strengthened cooperation on testbeds, analysis frameworks and system integration.
• We will work in shut collaboration to discover new approaches to mobilise funding and speed up innovation within the subsequent era of defence and dual-use applied sciences.

• We will deepen our efforts to counter and deter novel and rising organic threats as a part of our broader method to dual-use S&T, strengthening our shared dedication to non-proliferation, and our strategic approaches to enhancing organic safety as a part of our wider cooperation on science and expertise.

• We will drive ahead shared priorities on area via the UK-Japan Space Consultation, together with area safety, area sustainability, and business growth, pursuing alternatives for joint industry-led analysis beneath JAXA and the UK Space Agency, together with on satellite tv for pc communications applied sciences to guard and improve the very important networks that underpin our nations’ shared safety and prosperity.
• We will form superior connectivity applied sciences to make sure that future telecoms networks are safe and resilient and deal with the wants of our societies and economies. This will embody delivering on our joint analysis programme and dealing via the Global Coalition on Telecommunications to implement the 6G Security & Resilience Principles.
• We will deepen efforts to decommission our nuclear legacies extra effectively and safely, furthering the collaboration between our cutting-edge robotics capabilities to resolve among the world’s most advanced engineering challenges—extra environment friendly and safer decommissioning of nuclear websites like Sellafield and TEPCO’s Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Station.
• We will deepen efforts to develop civil nuclear collaboration, together with superior nuclear applied sciences and fusion power, by strengthening sensible cooperation between {industry} and analysis establishments within the UK and Japan.
• We will construct resilience to cyber threats, reinforcing and strengthening long run cyber cooperation via the UK-Japan Strategic Cyber Partnership, welcoming industry-led initiatives that harness complementary capabilities and dealing collectively to strengthen the resilience of crucial nationwide infrastructure towards the complete vary of cyber threats going through the UK and Japan.
• We will work collectively to guard crucial and rising applied sciences via deepening cooperation on analysis safety, recognising the necessity to handle dangers related to these applied sciences, whereas supporting open, safe, and trusted worldwide analysis collaboration. We decide to working bilaterally and with like-minded companions to share data on coverage measures to scale back lack of crucial expertise. This work will probably be complementary to the Joint Declaration on Economic Security Cooperation.
• We will work collectively to advertise analysis and growth within the discipline of healthcare while constructing our capabilities as globally related world-leading hubs for drug discovery.

Commercial Announcements 

Alongside this Statement, the UK and Japan welcome business bulletins by {industry} companions launching collaborative tasks in crucial expertise sectors recognized within the UK-Japan Industrial Strategy Partnership equivalent to Quantum, AI and Cybersecurity. These business initiatives display the real-world sensible and financial advantage of our partnership on Frontier Technology.

This Frontier Technology Partnership doesn’t represent or create any legally binding obligations.  Nothing on this Partnership is meant to change or have an effect on any current agreements between the Participants. Cooperation is meant to happen throughout the framework of relevant nationwide laws and worldwide obligations.

Signed in duplicate at London on 14 June 2026 within the English language

For the Government of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland:

Prime Minister Keir Starmer

For the Government of Japan:

Prime Minister TAKAICHI Sanae