Mar. 20 – The Embassy of Italy in Tokyo hosted the first meeting of Italian researchers working in Japan, which was chaired by Domenico Giorgi and attended by 25 representatives of various scientific and technical disciplines, working in Japan’s top institutions: RIKEN, AIST, University of Tokyo, and Waseda University. The meeting was held to identify ways in which bilateral cooperation could be expanded, highlighting the interaction opportunities for Italian and Japanese institutions and the potential impact of said research on economic and industrial activities (this was brought up by the Director of the Italian Cultural Institute and an ICE representative). The scientific collaboration between Italy and Japan currently sees 141 active joint research projects, thanks to the past decades’ boost on cooperation.
The meeting, however, wished to address further areas and tools: programs of the Japan Society for the Promotion of Science (JSPS), the Japan Science and Technology Agency (JST) in addition to those proposed by individual institutions research, such as the RIKEN, and the WPI (World Premier International Center Initiative Research). In addition to these, there are a series of European programs (within the Marie Curie Actions and projects of the Seventh Framework Programme (FP7) of the EU) to which the Japanese research institutions can participate as partners. This is made possible thanks to the recent agreement EU-Japan bilateral cooperation on S & T, which provides among other things the opportunity of financing industry initiatives related to start-ups.
