Karliczek in Japan: Focus on Artificial Intelligence
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During her visit to Japan, the German Federal Minister of Research and Education puts AI and digitisation at the centre of political talks on research policy and future Japanese-German cooperation.
On April 16, 2019, Anja Karliczek, German Federal Minister of Research and Education (BMBF) met Akimasa Ishikawa, Parliamentary Vice Minister of Economy, Trade and Industry (METI) in Tokyo to sign a Joint Declaration of Intent on Japanese-German Cooperation on Promotion of Research and Development in Advanced Artificial Intelligence.
The Joint Declaration acknowledges AI as a key technology with an impact on production and value chains worldwide and welcomes cooperation between national implementing organisations of AI, namely, Japan’s National Institute of Advanced Industrial Science and Technology (AIST) and the German Research Centre for Artificial Intelligence (DFKI).
Karliczek stressed a human-centred approach and the values shared between Germany and Japan when pursuing research in AI and translating digitization into current working environments. An AI Strategy was published by the German Federal Government in November 2018 and in 2017 by the Japanese government. Japan plans to renew its strategy ahead of the G20 summit in June 2019.
The German Minister, accompanied by a delegation from education and research, among them the presidents of the German Research Foundation (DFG), the Fraunhofer-Gesellschaft (FhG), the Leibniz Association (Leibniz) and Helmholtz Association of German Research Centres (HGF) later engaged in political talks with Takuya Hirai, Minister of State for Science and Technology Policy, Cabinet Office and Masahiko Shibayama, Minister of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology (MEXT).
For more information, please, check the following links:
BMBF press release 039/2019, April 15, 2019 (only available in German)