EU Industry Days is Europe’s flagship annual event on industry. It serves as the main platform to discuss industrial challenges and co-develop opportunities and policy responses in an inclusive dialogue with a wide range of partners, also at international level.
Japan and the EU have concluded an Economic Partnership Agreement (EPA), which entered into force in February 2019. Together with a more general Strategic Partnership Agreement (SPA), provisionally applied since the same date, and the Partnership on Sustainable Connectivity and Quality Infrastructure signed in September 2019, it has become the cornerstone of an enhanced relationship between the EU and Japan. The EU and Japan have yet more to gain by working together to grow their economic relationship, and by aligning their mutual interests to find a new way forward in the face of disruptions and challenges across economic and geopolitical spectrum.
Online event on Thursday 18th March
Book now for the EU-Japan Centre online event on Thursday 18th March entitled, The EU and Japan: A New way Forward – Industrial transition towards green and digital economy. It will start at 09:00 / 17:00 (Brussels / Tokyo time) and will be a platform to discuss industrial challenges and co-develop opportunities notably towards three types of cooperation: (i) Regulatory cooperation and new standards, (ii) technological cooperation and industrial innovation, and (iii) EU-Japan Business cooperation in third markets, notably in Asia and Africa. The session will be recorded and available for viewing again.
For this EU-Japan online event, the EU and Japanese Authorities will be represented by EU Commissioner Breton and METI Minister Kajiyama who will deliver statements and by Ms Flor, EU Ambassador to Japan and Mr Masaki, Ambassador of Japan to the EU. The co-Chairmen of the EU-Japan Business Round Table, Mr Sakuyama – Chairman of Mitsubishi Electric Corporation and Mr Wahl – Chairman & CEO of Le Groupe La Poste will speak during the opening and closing sessions. The Industrial transition towards green economy panel session will feature speakers from Veolia Japan, Iwatani, Juwi Shizen Energy and the European Business Council in Japan. The panel discussion on the Industrial transition towards digital economy will feature presentations by DigitalEurope, Rakuten France, NEC and BusinessEurope.
EU-Japan Centre virtual booth at EU Industry Days 2021
To coincide with the EU Industry Days conference in February, the EU-Japan Centre had a virtual booth allowing it to meet with companies and other organisations interested in establishing or developing their links with Japan.
The European Green Deal: Are we ready? Main IP challenges for the Green Deal
On Monday 1st March, the five IP Helpdesks (EU, China, India, Latin America, South-East Asia) and the EU-Japan Technology Transfer Helpdesk (a service of the EU-Japan Centre) co-organised a webinar – as an EU Industry Week 2021 virtual event – on the theme of the European Green Deal and considering the questions "Are we ready?" and "What are the main IP challenges for the Green Deal?". Watch the discussion
Looking "Beyond the EU" podcast
Philippe de Taxis du Poët (the EU-Japan Centre's EU-side Managing Director) took part in a podcast episode looking at the challenges and opportunities SMEs going outside the EU borders can encounter. The podcast sheds light on specific instruments set up by the EU to help businesses use the opportunities offered by key Asian markets. The "EPISODE 8: Beyond the EU" podcast is available on all the main podcast platforms and also via the EU Industry Days website.
Published: March 2021