Tokyo mars 2024

New Call for ASPIRE!

The Adopting Sustainable Partnerships for Innovative Research Ecosystem (ASPIRE) program aims to accelerate international collaboration across various research communities by fostering connections between top researchers from Japan and those from other advanced countries and regions. Established in fiscal year 2023, operations have been managed by the Japan Science and Technology Agency (JST) and the Japan Agency for Medical Research and Development (AMED). The purview of the JST comprises seven areas: AI and Information, Bio, Energy, Materials, Quantum, Semiconductors and Communications. The AMED is responsible for the health and medical fields. Currently, Japan is focusing on international collaboration and nurturing young researchers; Sweden has been selected as a potential collaboration country.
For more information, please see the
FY 2024 ASPIRE Public Offering Information (JST)
and the AMED.
Please note that the due dates for these are different from JST and AMED!

MIRAI

Sweden and Japan have a long and rich history of academic collaboration based on the strategic initiatives of individual researchers and universities. The Japan-Sweden University President’s Summit was held at the Swedish Embassy in Tokyo in October 2015, and the MIRAI Project, consisting of Japanese universities and Swedish universities, was launched on this occasion. This year, 17 universities in Japan and Sweden are participating in the third phase of MIRAI to tackle global issues. In order to implement the research results in society, the universities involved in MIRAI would like to form a startup or collaborate with companies, as well.
More information on MIRAI's website.

Visit to JAXA (Space Agency) by Mr. Andreas Norlén, Speaker of the House of Representative

Last month, Office for science and innovation (OSI)OSI Tokyo brought the delegation of Swedish Speaker of House of Representative to JAXA, the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency! The delegation members were given an explanation on how JAXA’s space research contributes to solving climate change, how the Swedish National Space Agency and the Swedish Space Corporation collaborate with Japan, and how the issue of space debris is being handled, which was a collaborative topic that was agreed at the G7 S&T Ministerial Summit in Sendai, Japan where EU also joined the discussion. The interest was so intense that there were endless questions from the delegation.

Visit by Minister for Rural Affairs

Peter Kullgren, Minister for Rural Affairs, recently visited Chiba University’s Kashiwanoha campus. While there, he toured the plant factory demonstration and saw three houses for growing agricultural products using artificial light and sunlight. There are many facilities on this campus that use innovative technology and digital technology to study sustainable agriculture. Chiba University is developing sustainable technologies and systems that enable agriculture to solve food loss, and cope with climate change and energy problems, and the Minister listened with great interest.
The Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences is also collaborating with Japan.

Stay tuned!

We’ll report on what Japan is focusing on in the field of science and technology in the next post. 

If you would like to get in touch with OSI Tokyo, please send us an email.

Inbrief Office for science and innovation (OSI) in Tokyo:
OSI Tokyo was established in 1966. Since then, the office has contributed to facilitate the collaborations between Sweden and Japan in terms of research and innovation. We strive to support Sweden to be the top knowledge nation in research and innovation.