Supporting cooperation between Europe and Japan on AI-driven

Meiji University and the Spanish company Tecnalia have published a document of great future value.manufacturing technologies

The EU-Japan.AI project was launched in 2021 to advance long-term cooperation and knowledge sharing between the EU and Japan for AI-driven innovation in manufacturing. To do this, the project consortium created an open web-based platform that would connect all the relevant stakeholders and facilitate the exchange of information between them. These efforts continue well into 2025.

Data That Keeps On Giving

During the project, EU-Japan.AI researchers gathered a significant amount of data from an international survey of manufacturing workers. The survey was conducted to gain insight into the benefits the workers expect to gain from AI in the workplace, as well as their concerns about it. Since the project’s end in October 2022, continued collaboration between project partners Meiji University from Japan and Spanish research and innovation company Tecnalia has led to the publication of a joint paper that was presented at the 21st International Conference on the Ethical and Social Impacts of ICT held in Spain in March 2024.

“The wealth of survey data gathered provides valuable insights on the economic and social impact of digitisation in manufacturing. This will help to outline directions for future joint research, as well as serve as a basis for new research projects,” comments project lead Damir Haskovic of MINDS & SPARKS GmbH, the Austrian research and innovation organisation that coordinated EU-Japan.AI.

The successful engagement between EU-Japan.AI consortium partners and expert and advisory board members, which led to several subsequent international collaboration opportunities, was all made possible through EU funding. Based on mutually recognised research excellence, researchers from the EU and Japan joined forces to tackle AI-related ethical and social challenges in the domain of responsible research and innovation, building upon EU-Japan.AI (Advancing Collaboration and Exchange of Knowledge Between the EU and Japan for AI-Driven Innovation in Manufacturing) research outcomes. “Such shared values and vision reaffirm the importance of a long-term strategic partnership between the EU and Japan,” Haskovic concludes.