Dr. Naoko Sugita

Advisor to the Director, Earth Observation Research Centre at JAXA

Speaker

Earth Observation Program Strategy Office and Earth Observation Research Centre, Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency

Dr. Sugita has more than 25 years of experience in the space sector. She has held numerous roles and led several projects in fostering innovation with the private sector, international cooperation and strategic research for the executives. Currently, she serves as the Japan lead for Earth Observing Dashboard in cooperation with NASA and ESA, to make information from satellites available to decision-makers and the public.

She is also promoting public-private-academia partnerships in Earth Observation through the Consortium for Satellite Earth Observation (CONSEO). By leading the secretariat of CONSEO, she and the team is serving more than 340 member companies and specialists.

She is the lead author of a paper “Earth Observation for Digital Twin: Fusion of Smart City and Satellite Data for Japan’s Energy Transition” in The Energy Transition in Japan: Smart Cities and Smart Solutions, Edited by Maciej M. Sokołowski, Fumio Shimpo, Routledge, 2025.

Dr. Sugita obtained her Ph.D. from the National Graduate Institute of Policy Studies for research of the evolution of Japanese space policy and holds master’s degree in public administration from Harvard Kennedy School.