How to join

JACA Membership

  • Steps to join JACA
  1. Let us know your intent to join JACA and the type of membership category you would like to get
  2. JACA admin will send you the membership form. Please fill it in and send the PDF back to us
  3. JACA will send you the invoice. Once the payment is made, you will be our member
  4. You may be asked to fill in some administrative format to update you on JACA’s membership list and emailing list, etc.

Membership categories

Full membership
¥1,200,000/y (c.$8,000/y)

  • Out of over 50 membership corporates and academia (as of 22 June 2023),
    • 71% of JACA membership companies selected Full-membership
    • 89% of non-Japanese companies selected Full-membership
  • The information shared with full-membership companies includes much information informally collected through various external organizations, such as government officials, politicians, consumer organizations, etc., based on our trust and reputation. Thus we cannot give you detailed examples here without your signed membership form with the NDA clause, but the insights that JACA get by communications with various industry may largely affect your view on the timeline for the Japanese government to get ready for the market launch environment of cultivated food.
  • Be informed about detailed information on industry and regulatory trends/updates, as well as information obtained in the course of activities is shared (excluding trade secrets)*, such as
    • Real-time information obtained through discussions with relevant domestic ministries and agencies (MAFF, MHLW, Consumer Affairs Agency, METI, Cabinet Office, etc.), industry associations (consumer groups, livestock, and fishery-related parties, etc.)
    • Real-time information obtained through discussions with overseas regulatory authorities, standardization bodies, and international organizations
    • Be informed about opportunities to participate in closed round tables with domestic and foreign policymakers, companies, and intellectuals
SFA Chairman made a courtesy visit to JACA to discuss our policy recommendation toward the government and some members from the Quality Control Committee joined the opportunity
  • Opportunities to participate in various committees
    • Since committees are mainly conducted in Japanese, overseas membership is offered to participate in Monthly-Update Meetings for the progress of each committee discussion
  • Full Membership will cover opportunities provided to Observers

Observer
¥360,000/y (c.$2,400/y)

  • Participation in regular semi-annual and year-end meetings
  • Commenting opportunities on policy recommendations semi-finalized by JACA committee members
JACA submits policy recommendations to Ministries and politicians’ group
  • Participation opportunities in various networking/strategy/other types of meetings, such as
    • JACA held an invitation-only event on 22 May 2023 with key members of the ruling party in Japan and government officials from Japan and abroad, as well as R&D,

Management, and Strategic Offices members from various corporates and startups

    • Invitation-only strategy and networking event during SIAW in Singapore among Japan-based and overseas JACA members
    • One-on-one catch-up meetings with specific issues for the Japanese market entry if necessary
  • Prompt support for public relations activities
    • JACA advised, joined, and supported member companies’ communications to the government, politicians, including a cabinet minister, and public media
    • If opportunity allows, we proactively introduce JACA members to more engaging opportunities with the key stakeholders (For example, we are sometimes asked by government officials to coordinate companies to visit for their business trips to overseas)
  • Activities by committees

Quality Control Committee (Food Safety)

Aim

  • Gather scientific knowledge for the safe production and distribution of cultivated food products through the collection and analysis of domestic and international food safety information, and share it widely with stakeholders (PJ Safety)

Examples of materials and opportunities that the committee members have access to

  • discussion opportunities to improve JACA’s guidance of the safety of cultivated food to implement your safety-related agenda as “Japan-based Cellular Agriculture Industry’s Opinion”,
  • information such as the meeting records between JACA and Ministries and relevant organizations (such as MHLW and CAA),
  • translated materials of studies under the Food Safety Committee, MHLW, and other important stakeholders, and
  • meeting opportunities with critical stakeholders pertinent to the safety discussion of cultivated food (such as MHLW, CAA, and professors leading government-funded studies for the safety), etc.

Definition and labelling

Aim

  • We will examine the best way to provide clear labeling rules for consumers and aim to build a consensus on them

Examples of materials and opportunities that the committee members have access to

  • discussion opportunities to improve JACA’s guidance of the labeling of cultivated food to implement your agenda/food category as “Japan-based Cellular Agriculture Industry’s Opinion”, and
  • information such as the meeting records between JACA and Ministries and relevant organizations (such as CAA and some Consumer Organizations), etc.

Nomenclature

Aim

  • In determining the name of cultivated food products, we do not simply translate the terms used overseas but will consider factors such as the manufacturing methods of cultivated foods and the acceptance of Japanese consumers, and explore a rational and understandable nomenclature of cultivated food in Japanese while aiming for unified usage by domestic stakeholders

Examples of materials and opportunities that the committee members have access to

  • opportunities to customize JACA-led consumer studies for your understanding toward the Japanese market, and
  • consumer research result conducted by JACA, etc.

Intellectual
Property Protection

Aim

  • We will consider a framework to protect the intellectual property rights of branded animal cells. In other words, a mechanism is needed to prevent a situation where branded-animal cells are used without permission of the animal farmers or with any scheme that the farmers would consider it as exploitation

Examples of materials and opportunities that the committee members have access to

  • discussion opportunities to build policy recommendations, and
  • updated status of discussions between the MAFF and JACA, etc.

Promotion of
Communication

Aim

  • We will actively share the state of cellular agriculture industry in Japan to international stakeholders, while collect industry trends information for domestic consumers and other stakeholders, after carefully examining the source of the information
  • By sharing the progress and efforts in Japan with overseas stakeholders, we aim to secure Japan’s presence in international consensus building scenes

Examples of materials and opportunities that the committee members have access to

  • Meeting notes between JACA and CAA, MHLW, and some of the consumer organizations, and
  • commenting opportunities to JACA’s public communications documents, etc.

International Strategy

Aim

  • We set this committee to share among JACA members some of the best or even failed practices of communication with the authorities, etc. to improve JACA’s strategy to promote cellular agriculture 

Osaka Expo

Aim

  • An initiative to leverage the opportunity of national showcase, Osaka Expo 2025 to promote the cellular agriculture industry​