New deal to support EU-Japan research

The European Commission and Japan have agreed to deepen their co-operation on research and innovation based on a new strategic partnership.

The agreement will build on the strong research ties in areas like ICT and aeronautics and strengthen collaboration in health and medical research, environment, energy and physics. The partners will also set up a joint funding mechanism that will make it easier to finance common R&I projects and collaborate more closely on policy aspects, for example open science.

Commenting, Carlos Moedas, European Commissioner for Research, Science and Innovation, said: “Europe and Japan must tackle many of the same challenges such as energy security, ageing populations or access to critical materials. So it’s only natural that we also work together closely to find solutions to these challenges. The joint vision endorsed today will take our co-operation to the next level.”

In addition, the Japan Society for the Promotion of Science and the European Research Council have signed an agreement to stimulate international scientific exchanges.

Japan was an active partner in the EU’s Seventh Research and Innovation Framework Programme, with Japanese entities participating 116 times in FP7 signed grant agreements, involving 56 different Japanese organisations, receiving a total EU contribution of €9.8m. Furthermore, 352 Japanese researchers have been funded through the Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions and 18 Japanese researchers have received an ERC grant.

Since the start of Horizon 2020 in 2014, there have been 28 Japanese participations. In addition, the Commission has co-financed 20 joint projects in ICT, aeronautics, materials and energy for a total EU contribution of €34m.