2025 Japan Symposium Dialogue Outcomes
Towards an Australia-Japan partnership in advanced manufacturing
August 2025
The international environment is undergoing profound and rapid transformation, challenging long-held assumptions about global economics, security, and geopolitics.
In an era of such uncertainty, innovative collaboration and good-will between trusted international partners has never been more critical – especially in industries vulnerable to disruption. Increasingly, defence capabilities, supply chain infrastructure, and the energy transition are becoming key priorities for domestic and international stability.
Australia and Japan are natural, complementary partners in this regard. Together, the two countries have an opportunity to rebuild, reinforce, and propel their industrial bases into future-oriented industries, keeping ahead of the dramatic technological and geopolitical shifts now shaping our international stage.
To help facilitate future collaboration, the Perth USAsia Centre’s 2025 Japan Symposium, Towards an Australia-Japan Partnership in Advanced Manufacturing, brought together experts from both sides of the bilateral relationship to discuss the future of Australia-Japan cooperation in advanced manufacturing. This report captures the key outcomes from this dialogue.
Key Recommendations
↗ Workforce development: Addressing issues of scarcity and skill gaps, enhancing workforce capacity, and ensuring future engagement in industry.
↗ Scenario-based analysis: Employing research-driven, scenario-based planning to ensure that bilateral efforts are both effective and meet the challenges of a changing global order.
↗ Automation and remote operations: Japan’s automation expertise and Australia’s remote operations experience can help bolster both the defence and resource industries. This can help in supplementing workforces, increasing efficiency, and increasing safety.
↗ Regional Partnerships: Expanding cooperation and friendshoring with other trusted regional allies to diversify supply chains, increase security, and amplify collective impact
↗ Cultural understanding in business: Cultivating deeper business cultural literacy between Australia and Japan is key to improving collaboration. Australia and Japan have different operational cultures, different cultures of procurement, and a different relationship between government and business.
↗ Private sector consultation: Increasing private sector involvement and communication to ensure that government policies and initiatives are implemented effectively and are responsive to real-world challenges.
↗ Upgrading the narrative around the bilateral partnership: The bilateral relationship has evolved significantly, becoming more integrated than many realise. It is time for Australia and Japan to project a more contemporary image of their relations to the general public and showcase how Australia and Japan cooperate in multifaceted ways.
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