From October 2 – 19, the GRANITE ambassadors team travelled Japan to meet and exchange with various actors from industry, academia and administration. The tour covered a number of prefectures and areas of the country, starting in Tokyo and stopping at Takamatsu (Kagawa Prefecture), Kyoto as well as Matsumoto and Suwa (both Nagano Prefecture). Throughout the journey, we were welcomed with very much hospitality by our partners and the strong interest in exchanging topics and working together in the future.

Some selected highlights further include the participation at the “Japanese-German Symposium on the Implementation of AI and IoT Technologies in Industry” at Shinshu University as well as the GRANITE booth at Suwa Industrial Messe.

This first of three trips to Japan already build a solid base, enabling dialogue between Japan and Germany and further expanding the network.

GRANITE’s next journeys to Japan are autumn 2020 and Spring 2021.

For questions and inquiries, please contact us.

Tour Schedule

October 2 – 9, 2019, Tokyo

The visit started off with a meeting with Prof. Tanaka, GRANITE project partner and vice president at Shinshu University. Further appointments in Tokyo included visits at several companies to exchange on digitalization in different industries: Kusuhara Transportation, the design and consulting agency U’eyesDesign and NRW Invest Japan K.K.. Furthermore, we were invited by the Ota City Industrial Promotion Organization to introduce the GRANITE project and discuss future collaboration as well as B2B and research matching opportunities. At the annual meeting of the JSPS Club, followed by the 7th European Research Night, we then had the chance to connect with the European research community of Japan.

October 10 – 11

The GRANITE team stayed at Takamatsu, Kagawa prefecture, discussing current trends and technology transformation concepts suited for the area with both Mayor Onishi of Takamatsu and Governor Hamada of Kagawa prefecture. During a one day workshop at Kagawa University, we were able to connect with experts from local industry and research. The stay at Takamatsu was completed by a visit at Kotoden, the local public transportation company, followed by a networking dinner with the local Japanese-German Association.

October 12 – 15

After a stop-over at Kyoto and Nagoya, we arrived at Matsumoto (Nagano prefecture). Governor Abe kindly welcomed our team despite the emergency situation due to Typhoon 19. After the meeting, we attended the “Japanese-German Symposium on the Implementation of AI and IoT Technologies in Industry”, organized and hosted by Shinshu University. The symposium allowed us to present the GRANITE project and was a successful step towards creating a Japanese-German network with one focus on Nagano prefecture.

 

October 16 – 19

During the last, we stopped at Suwa, Nagano prefecture, to participate in the DTF workshop and Suwa Industrial Messe. At the workshop, the GRANITE project was introduced together with our Human-Centered Engineering approach as well as a first-hand experience report from our partner Steinstosser Group. At Suwa-Messe, we were present with an ambassadors‘ booth which enabled us to directly engage with visitors and even Nagano‘s Vice Governor. Back at Tokyo, we held two final meetings with Tekken and GRANITE project partner Clover Design.