EU-Japan.AI

Cooperation between the EU and Japan in domains relevant for AI-driven innovation in manufacturing and digital industrial platforms needs to be strengthened and transformed into a long-lasting partnership, enabled by a long-term strategy. Website: https://project.eu-japan.ai/

The EU-Japan.AI project seeks to establish and stimulate a lasting cooperation between the European Union and Japan in areas pertinent to AI-driven innovation in manufacturing and the digital industry. This is to be achieved through the implementation of a platform-based approach that connects all relevant stakeholders and encourages them to utilise modern, online-driven awareness approaches.

The project focuses on gathering data related to significant events, projects, organisations, and opportunities in the field of AI in manufacturing within the EU and Japan. This information is then published through a web portal, along with additional valuable resources, to facilitate connections among partners from both regions and foster collaboration.

Specifically, the project aims to:

• Collect and analyse information to develop a comprehensive understanding of the AI and manufacturing ecosystem in Europe and Japan, including challenges and motivators for its adoption.
• Gather knowledge and experiences from practitioners to identify the most pressing issues faced by manufacturers across Europe and Japan and the manufacturing application areas that stand to gain the most from AI-driven innovations.
• Identify discrepancies and gaps within the ecosystem and assess capability gaps among different organisations.
• Analyse policies, incentives, roadmaps, previous initiatives, and ethical, social, and legal considerations that could influence the future implementation and adoption of AI-driven innovations in manufacturing.

In the initial stages of the project, experts in the field primarily collected data through desktop research. However, as the project progressed, the team initiated the development of the EUJapan Observatory, an observatory which automatically collects and analyses AI-related research papers, media reports, jobs and skills markets, research projects, and open source projects. Additionally, the tool offers visualization and analysis of AI policies for both the European Union and Japan.

Data concerning relevant events, projects, organisations, and opportunities is obtained through desktop research, either through outside providers or automatically by our own tools.

The anticipated outcomes of the project include:

• increased research excellence through twinning efforts for researchers and companies from EU and Japan in the field of AI for manufacturing
  the mapping of existing stakeholders, initiatives, road-maps, policies, challenges, and subsidies in the advanced manufacturing sector
• the mutual exchange of information concerning research programs and technological advancements in AI applications for manufacturing between the EU and Japan
• increased general public perception and acceptance of artificial intelligence and related modern technologies, emphasising their benefits for manufacturing

The platform promoting networking and cooperation among relevant stakeholders is accessible at https://www.eu-japan.ai/.