Reportage - European Innovation Day 2018

The second annual European Innovation Day, jointly organised by EURAXESS Japan and the EU-Japan Technology Transfer Helpdesk was held on the 15^th of October 2018 at the Delegation of European Union to Japan.  It was once again  a high-level innovation event that gathered participants from various fields including universities, manufacturers, corporations and stakeholders involved in promoting technology exchange, investments and entrepreneurship between EU countries and Japan.

By bringing together key thinkers, Japan-based community of innovators, individuals and  representatives of institutions, Europe and Japan was brought closer in the exchange of ideas, with presentations of the brightest examples of innovative solutions by European companies responding to the needs of Japanese markets.

European start-ups showed that their solutions and initiatives have the power to respond to the challenges faced by the Japanese society  such as rapid population aging etc.

The event also provided a useful service for Japan based innovators interested in Europe and offered deeper insights and information on specific cases during the case study sessions with European researchers and companies. Through this facilitation, we  believe  that truly competitive solutions, opportunities and ideas could be  born through the   exchange of ideas, presentations of the brightest examples along with the offering of a clear overview of the various European innovation landscapes with the analysis of ground-breaking stories of European start-ups and their exceptional achievements.

The highlights of the event were the “Research to Market”  and the “European Countries Innovation Landscapes” sessions, underlining the fact that Europe and Japan are in the forefront of research and innovation. We witnessed that the European excellence in research and innovation has the potential to attract Japanese research and innovation community, policy leaders and business representatives interested in having a presence in Europe or in Japan.

Current events show that Japan and the EU are working towards an effective implementation of the strategically important Economic Partnership Agreement, which is certainly going to deepen trading relations and strengthen ties between the EU and Japan.  European excellence in technology and innovation is being promoted through various channels in several fields, such as biotech, healthcare, financial services, Internet of Things (“IoT”), blockchain and renewable energy. Besides sharing a long history of cooperation, academic and social exchange, EU and Japan share a close culture of business ethics and values, therefore this should be recognised as an additional point and advantage for European companies to make a step in Japan.

Finally,  participants of the European Innovation Day received useful information and appreciated first-hand stories about entry into market from reputable experts and guests. We would like to use this opportunity to thank our participants for attending the European Innovation Day 2018 and we look forward to seeing them again in our future events.

PHOTO GALLERY & PRESENTATIONS

Opening remarks

EURAXESS and EU-Japan Technology Transfer Helpdesk services for innovators

Research to Market Session 1 #Genomics #RNA #DNA

European Countries Innovation Landscapes (rapid fire session)

Lunch Networking

Research to Market Session 2 #MEMS #NEMS #Nanotech

Research to Market Session 3 #Biotech #CellScience #Proteins

Research to Market Session 4 #Energy #FuelCells #Hydrogen

Research to Market Session 5 #AI #AutomatedVehicles #Aeronautics

European Countries: success stories & companies (rapid fire session)