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« EU-Japan Regional & Cluster Cooperation Annual Conference & Matchmaking »

16-17 January 2024

European and Japanese Clusters,

European Regions & Japanese Prefectures・Major Cities

The EU-Japan Regional & Cluster Cooperation Helpdesk launched by the EU-Japan Centre for Industrial Cooperation provides a new platform towards mobilizing industrial clusters, regions and, and prefectures interested in reinforcing existing or build new cooperation, in terms of industry, trade, investment, innovation, tourism, and people mobility. In addition to bilateral cooperation with European and Japanese clusters, they may also open up to joint operation with clusters in third countries, e.g. in Africa, South East Asia, EU neighbourhood countries, and Latin America.

Target Audience

Interested European regions and Japanese prefectural and major city governments, industrial clusters, and regional development organizations are invited to participate.

Day 1 - Annual conference

Tuesday 16 January 8:30-11:00(CET)・16:30-19:00(JST)
“Trends of EU-Japan Regional Cooperation”

Simultaneous interpretation

- Opening session

EU Japan Centre for Industrial Cooperation Mr. Manuel Hubert Managing Director of the EU-Japan Centre for Industrial Cooperation and Minister Counsellor of the Delegation of the European Union to Japan

DG GROW, European Commission Mr. Christophe Guichard, Policy officer – Cluster Internationalisation

Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry – METI  Mr. Takeshi CHINEN Principal Deputy Director, Europe Division, Trade Policy Bureau

EU Japan Regional & Cluster Cooperation Helpdesk/CEEJA Ms. Catherine Trautmann, President of CEEJA and former French Minister of Culture and Communication

Institute for Regional Collaboration – IRC Mr. Kenichirô Hamada, President

European Cluster Collaboration Platform - ECCP Mr. Antonio Novo Guerrero, President of the European Clusters Alliance

- EU-Japan Regional & Cluster New Cooperation
Testimonies and new developments from the EU & Japan (Clusters Managers, European Regions and Japanese Prefectures)

Ibaraki Prefecture – cooperation agreement with Emilia Romagna Region – Italy (Friendship Region since 1986)

Mr. Tomoo Nishiguchi Deputy Director Ibaraki International Business Development Division Department of Business Strategy Ibaraki Prefectural Government

Cluster Renewable Energy Hamburg - Hamburg and Fukushima deepen co-operation on energy policy (new agreement signed April 2023) Mr. Jingkai Shi International Cooperation Renewables at Erneuerbare Energien Hamburg Clusteragentur GmbH

- Panel discussion on "Cluster to Cluster Short-term Mobility Programme"
with the participation of the selected EU Clusters

Presentation of the “Cluster to Cluster Short-term Mobility Programme” Mr. Fabrizio Mura (EU-Japan Centre for Industrial Cooperation)

Presentation of 4 of the 5 clusters selected for the FY2023

• CIMES Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes (France) Mr. Loïc MARIN European project manager

• CleanTech Cluster Lithuania (Lithuania) Mr. Alfred Šostko Community and Innovation Manager

• Ukrainian Automotive and Mobility Cluster (Ukrainian) Ms. Olga TROFYMOVA Cluster Manager

• Finance Innovation (France) Ms. Gisela Sanchez Cluster Manager

- Panel discussion on local innovation in aviation related industries, biotechnologies, green transition & digital

Presentation of the new webinar series of the EU-Japan Regional
& Clusters Cooperation Matchmaking Webinars – Meet Japanese
Prefectures & Clusters –

Iwate prefecture / ILC (Green Transition)Prof. Maxim Titov (CEA Saclayn France), Prof. Marc Winter (IJCLab/IN2P3), Prof. Masakazu Yoshioka (Iwate, Japan)

Okinawa Prefecture / MRO Cluster (Aviation Related Industries) Mr. Yasuhisa Iida Senior Researcher All Nippon Airways (ANA)/ Institute for Regional Collaboration (IRC)

Akita Prefecture (Green Transformation) Mr. Yasuhisa Iida Senior Researcher All Nippon Airways (ANA)/ Institute for Regional Collaboration (IRC)

Okayama Prefecture/Tsuyama Stainless Metal Cluster (Digital) Mr. Yasuhisa Iida Senior Researcher All Nippon Airways (ANA)/ Institute for Regional Collaboration (IRC)

Ibaraki Prefecture/Tsukuba Life Science (Biotechnologies) Mr. Tomoo Nishiguchi Deputy Director Ibaraki International Business Development Division Department of Business Strategy - Ibaraki Prefecture

- Closing remarks

Day 2 – Matchmaking between clusters, regions and prefectures

Wednesday 17 January 8:30 - 10:30 (CET)・16:30-18:30 (JST)

Biotechnology & Healthcare, Environmental technology & Circular economy, Agri food, Digital, Photonics& Manufacturing, Sustainable tourism  

Consecutive interpretation English/Japanese in case of necessity in all the rooms

The FREE matchmaking event will give you the opportunity to meet potential new partners during pre-arranged 20 minutes meetings and create real business development opportunities. The 5 key sectors are:

• Biotechnology & Healthcare    
• Environmental technology & Circular economy
• Agri food
• Digital, Photonics & Manufacturing
• Sustainable tourism  

Why participate?

• As cluster – discover new suitable Japanese or European clusters and find a new partner
• As European Region/Japanese Prefecture and Major Cities- find new Japanese or European partners and learn more about regional cooperation

Participants are invited to register and provide a profile describing either an offer or a request. All profiles will be evaluated and published on the website of the EU-Japan Regional Cooperation Conference & Matchmaking.

Organized by:

EU-Japan Regional & Cluster Cooperation Helpdesk (CEEJA & IRC)

EU-Japan Centre for Industrial Cooperation (DG GROW & METI)

with support of the European Cluster Collaboration Platform (ECCP)