DWIH Focus Topic for 2019: Artificial Intelligence

Global relevance

For Germany as a country of research and innovation, issues relating to the subject of artificial intelligence play a central role. In all five DWIH host countries, artificial intelligence in science and research is also being explored from every conceivable perspective. The DWIH are ideally suited as forums for fostering an interdisciplinary and international exchange on the important future topic of AI.

The Board of Trustees of the DWIH network has therefore selected artificial intelligence as the overarching focus topic for all five DWIH in 2019. Together with its supporters, each DWIH will thus pursue a variety of activities relating to this topic, creating springboards for further cooperation in the future.

Japan: a society in flux

Artificial intelligence is a central element of the “Society 5.0” concept set out in Japan’s strategic plan for science and technology. “Japan is currently making very rapid advances in the area of artificial intelligence in particular”, says Dr Jörg Schneider, head of the Japan office of the German Research Foundation (DFG).

The DWIH Tokyo is furthering the discussion about AI

As a DWIH supporter, the DFG also played an important part in the first high-level Japanese-German-French DWIH Symposium on Artificial Intelligence in November 2018. Next to financial support and program related for the symposium, DFG held a side meeting with the Japan Science and Technology Agency (JST) and the French National Research Agency (ANR). In consequence, a letter of intent for research collaboration in the field of AI was signed in April 2019, and a trilateral call for research proposals on AI was announced at the end of June 2019.

Several events are planned by DWIH Tokyo in follow-up of the AI symposium: a trilateral conference on AI and SDGs (October 2019), a trilateral forum on AI and Healthcare (December 2019). A second trilateral symposium is prospectively scheduled for November 2020.