News

Connecting East and West – A Short Interview with …

Prof. Dr. Suzuki Shoko

Our series “Connecting East and West – A Short Interview with …“ presents people involved in German-Japanese research collaborations – and their insights on how and where to cooperate successfully! This week we welcome Suzuki Shoko, Professor at Kyoto University, Leader of the Artificial Intelligence Ethics and Society Team at the RIKEN Center for Advanced Intelligence, and an expert on the ethics of artificial intelligence.

Toru Kumagai’s reports on R&D trends in Germany

No more disinterest in Industry 4.0 – Covid-19 pandemic Accelerates Digitalization of German Industry

July 09, 2021 [by Toru Kumagai] The results of a survey published on April 7, 2021 by the German Association for Information Technology (Bitkom) have attracted a great deal of attention in European academic and business circles. This is because the results of the survey clearly showed that the Covid-19 pandemic, which has been ravaging the world since the spring of 2020, has accelerated the digitization of German industry.

Toru Kumagai’s report on R&D trends in Germany

BioNTech Demonstrates German Capacity for Innovation to the World with Development of COVID-19 Vaccine

July 01, 2021 [by Toru Kumagai] BioNTech is an example of one of Germany’s most successful start-up companies, with a record that will go down in history. The company was the first in the world to receive approval for its COVID-19 vaccine, and it is saving millions of lives. BioNTech is a shining example of what in German is known as a Mittelstand, or a medium-sized enterprise. It illustrates how long years of medical research at a university can come to fruition in a venture start-up that will produces a product of vital importance for humanity.

Overview: German Embassy Tokyo

Quantum Technology – Research in Japan

The German Embassy Tokyo has compiled information on quantum technology research in Japan. The overview summarizes the current situation as follows:

Connecting East and West – A Short Interview with …

Sasaki Tetsuya and Michael Hechtel

Our series “Connecting East and West – A Short Interview with …“ presents people involved in German-Japanese research collaborations – and their insights on how and where to cooperate successfully! This week we welcome Sasaki Tetsuya, Senior Director of the Saitama City Foundation for Business Creation (SFBC), and Michael Hechtel, Research Assistant at the Institute for Factory Automation and Production Systems at the University of Erlangen-Nuernberg.

Report: Virtual Symposium

Coping with the Crisis – The Psychosocial Impact of the Pandemic

The Corona crisis has affected societies in Japan and Germany in many ways. In addition to the health consequences, the pandemic also brings with it significant social and psychological effects such as unemployment and growing poverty, depression, loneliness, and conflicts in the home environment.

Toru Kumagai’s report on R&D trends in Germany

The Future of Work: New Technologies and the Workplace

June 16, 2021 [by Toru Kumagai] The ongoing COVID-19 crisis that began in spring 2020 is significantly changing how people work in Germany and Japan. The pace of digitalisation, the shift to working remotely, the spread of artificial intelligence (AI), and the adoption of robots are all accelerating. In particular, in Germany the idea that telecommuting should be retained as one working arrangement even after the COVID-19 crisis is over is a powerful one. Moreover, with the further spread and propagation of the oncoming Fourth Industrial Revolution (the so-called “Industry 4.0”), expanding telecommuting beyond the companies in the financial services and information technology (IT) sectors into manufacturing industry is becoming an important issue.