Stockholm Trio Delegation Visits Tokyo as Japan Nears Horizon Europe Deal
At the end of September, a high-level delegation from the Stockholm Trio universities visited Tokyo to attend an interdisciplinary workshop at the University of Tokyo. In total, the delegation from Stockholm included 50 researchers, doctoral students and administrators.
At the end of September, a 50-person delegation from the Stockholm Trio universities visited Tokyo for the eighth interdisciplinary workshop with the University of Tokyo, titled “Turning Vision into Action: For a Healthy and Sustainable Society.” Photo: Yasuko Watanabe, Public Relations Office, Graduate School of Engineering, UTokyo.
“Turning Vision into Action: For a Healthy and Sustainable Society” was the eighth interdisciplinary workshop to be organized within the framework of the strategic partnership between Stockholm Trio and the University of Tokyo.
The plenary session of the workshop, was opened by Dr Teruo Fujii, President of the University of Tokyo, Dr Hans Adolfsson, President of Stockholm University, Dr Viktoria Li, Ambassador of Sweden to Japan and Mr Hideaki Mizukoshi, Ambassador of Japan to Sweden.
President Fujii high-lighted the importance of Japan’s association to Horizon Europe, the world’s largest research funding programme. President Adolfsson, emphasized that international collaboration between universities is more important than ever, given the so-called wicked problems humanity faces and increasing geopolitical tensions.
Among the speakers in the plenary were, Dr Katsuhiko Shirahige, the University of Tokyo and visiting Professor at Karolinska Institutet; Dr Martin Bergö, Vice President of Karolinska Institutet; Dr Stefan Östlund, Vice President at KTH, Royal Institute of Technology; Dr Jan Ellenberg, Director of SciLifeLab; Dr Maryam Hansson Edalat, Head of Research Support, Stockholm University and Dr Junichiro Shiomi, the University of Tokyo.
Six parallel themes
Following the opening plenary session, six parallel themes were held at the workshop: Brain, Ageing and Society; Biomaterial-Nanocellulose; Collaborative Frontiers in Biomaterials for Global Health; Robotics in Biomedical Applications; Urban Circularity in Action: Strategies for Decarbonizing Cities and Precision Medicine and 3D Genomics.
Among the new themes at this year’s workshop was Robotics in Biomedical Applications. It discussed how Artificial Intelligence could be used to improve surgical robot assist systems, among other things. The aim is to develop robotic technology to allow AI-assisted surgeons to perform operations at a great distance from the patient, with the ambition being to enable surgery on patients in space.
Horizon Europe
As Japan may become associated to Horizon Europe by early 2026 (depending on how fast negotiations are finalized), and Japanese researchers thereby eligible to apply for funding from next year, a special Horizon Europe lunch session was organized together with Euraxess in Japan. Targeted information sessions were also held in the theme meetings by Dan Andrée, Head of Stockholm Trio’s Brussels Office, Anna Raask, EU Research Advisor for Horizon Europe at KTH, Royal Institute of Technology and Dr Henrik Aspeborg, Research Officer at Stockholm University. The aim is to facilitate for researchers in Japan to form consortia together with partners at Stockholm Trio-universities.
The delegation from Stockholm also visited RIKEN labs in Wako and Yokohama, meeting with RIKEN President Dr Makato Gonokami and other members of senior management. RIKEN is Japan’s largest and most comprehensive research organization for basic and applied science. Many researchers at the University of Tokyo are also affiliated to RIKEN.