The EU-Japan Centre for Industrial Cooperation website has been revamped!

Customer-oriented, the new website enables direct access to the Centre’s services on the main page: business missions to Japan, events, helpdesks, and other support activities. The main website has been merged with the spin-off website by the Centre, containing a vast library of resources on EUBusinessinJapan. It contains expert reports and recorded webinars on different sectors of Japan, local regulations, as well as Japanese business culture. The simplified language and visual layout aim to appeal to all past and future visitors of the new website.

Background

The EU-Japan Centre is an initiative co-funded under the Single Market Programme by the European Innovation Council and SMEs Executive Agency (EISMEA) and the Directorate for Internal Market, Industry, Entrepreneurship and SMEs (DG GROW) of the European Commission, in collaboration with the Japanese Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry (METI).

Founded in 1987, it is a non-profit organisation whose objective is to promote all forms of industrial, trade, science & technology or R&D cooperation between the EU and Japan, as well as to improve EU and Japanese companies’ competitiveness by facilitating exchanges of expertise and experience through a full range of support services. Notably, the ‘Vulcanus in Europe’ programme allows EU companies to host a highly skilled Japanese engineering/science student (along with its counterpart ‘Vulcanus in Japan’), while World Class Manufacturing (WCM), Get Ready for Japan, and other trainings prepare EU companies to establish or expand their business in Japan. Several other activities, programmes and services have proven to be a success in developing the partnership between the two economies. The Centre cooperates closely with other SME-supported EISMEA actions, such as the European Cluster Cooperation Platform (ECCP) (EU-Japan Regional & Cluster Cooperation Helpdesk), the Enterprise Europe Network (EEN) as the EEN Japan representative, and the European Innovation Council (EIC) in the context of Space.Japan Helpdesk and Technology Transfer Helpdesk.

Over the years, the EU-Japan Centre activities have reached over:

• +2 000 EU executives with its business & training missions to Japan.
• +1 000 participants taking part in Lean/Kaizen/WCM-related missions.
• +1 200 EU and Japanese engineering students through the Vulcanus programme
• +400 analytical reports and e-learning webinars
• +14 000 subscribers to its various newsletters

Currently ongoing calls for applications

• Vulcanus in Europe – deadline to apply September 25
• European Biotech & Pharma Virtual Partnering Conference 2023 – 25 to 29 September
• Nanotech cluster/SME Mission – deadline to apply October 5
• WCM March session – deadline to apply October 12

• Green cluster/SME Mission – deadline to apply October 30
• Digital cluster/ SME Mission – deadline to apply November 24