The first EU-Japan Regional Cooperation Annual Conference & Matchmaking was successfully held on 17-18 May 2021 on the theme of “Future of the EU-Japan Regional Cooperation”, with 136 participants from Europe and Japan, including 7 prefectures and 2 cities from Japan, 6 regions and one city from Europe, as well as 11 clusters from Japan and Europe.

This event was organized by the EU-Japan Regional Cooperation Helpdesk* (CEEJA and CLAIR) and the EU-Japan Centre for Industrial Cooperation (joint venture between DG GROW and METI), in cooperation with the European Cluster Collaboration Platform.
The first session, held on May the 17th, was devoted to EU-Japan Regional Cooperation Policies, and highlighted good practice strategies of two Japanese prefectures (Aichi Prefecture and Osaka Prefecture – Bio Headquarters) and two European regions (Kosice Region, Slovakia and Grand Est Region, France). These presentations were introduced by a global overview from JETRO Tokyo.
A second session on “Trends of EU-Japan Regional Cooperation” highlighted new developments from Ibaraki and Gifu Prefectures, the City of Sendai, the Energy Agency of the state of North Rhine Westphalia in Germany, and two clusters (Alpha RLH focused on photonics, Vitagora focused on agri-food innovation, and which opened offices in Japan).
A panel discussion on best practices, challenges and opportunities regarding digital transformation and green transition closed the conference.
The matchmaking event on May the 18th was introduced by the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry of Japan (METI) and involved a pitch session with 6 speakers from Europe and Japan. 19 meetings were organized with European and Japanese clusters, Japanese prefectures and European regions, with the objective of accelerating cooperation between these actors.

The presentations and the recording of the conference will soon be available on the EJRC website
*The EU-Japan Regional Cooperation Helpdesk is an initiative of the EU-Japan Centre for Industrial cooperation