Three EU-Japan Cooperation webinars were organized during CEATEC 2020, Japan’s largest IT and electronics tradeshow, on the topics of Digital Policy and Regulation, 5G and Beyond and Artificial Intelligence Governance, enabling an open exchange of information among government, industry, academia and SDOs.

Building on the strategic cooperation between the European Union and Japan over the past decade, the European Commission DG Connect, the Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communication (MIC) and Ministry of Economy Trade and Industry (METI) of Japan co-chaired the following webinars during CEATEC 2020 (www.ceatec.com/en/), Japan's largest IT and electronics tradeshow.

EU-Japan Digital Cooperation in the era of the global digital competition

In this first webinar held on the opening day of CEATEC 2020 online edition, two keynote speakers each reported on the progress of EU-Japan digital cooperation.

- Mr Hirobumi IIDA, Director General for the International Cyber Economy Policy of METI of Japan,
- Mr. Gerard DE GRAAF, Director for the Digital Single Market in the European Commission DG Connect,

Their presentations were followed by an open discussion on the future of EU-Japan cooperation in the era of global digital competition, moderated by Mr. Marco CANTON (FUJITSU), Digital Innovation Committee Chair of Japan Business Council Europe (JBCE).

EU-Japan Cooperation on 5G Standards and beyond

On the second day of the show, InDiCo organized a comprehensive webinar on 5G related topics, including 5G Vertical use cases, Research & Innovation programs beyond 5G as well as 5G Security initiatives.

Find out more about the EU-Japan Cooperation webinar on 5G and beyond at CEATEC 2020.

EU-Japan Cooperation on Artificial Intelligence Governance for Competitiveness, Human rights and Safety

On the third day of the show, the workshop on Artificial Intelligence Governance gathered a panel of policymakers from Europe and Japan together with high level industry representatives and experts :

- Mr. Takuya IZUMI, Director for Information Policy Planning, Commerce and Information Policy Bureau, METI
- Mr. Eric BADIQUE, Advisor for AI, DG Connect
- Mr. Barry O'SULLIVAN, Director of the Insight Center for Data Analytics, University College Cork
- Mr. Junichi ARAHORI, Head of Digital Technology Promotion Legal Office, Legal, IP & Internal Control Unit, Fujitsu
- Mr. Takashi EGAWA Corporate Technology Division, Standardization Promotion Department, NEC
- Mr. David SADEK, Vice President for Research, Technology & Innovation, THALES

The session was moderated by Mr. Antoine LARPIN (PANASONIC), JBCE Digital Innovation Committee Vice-Chair.

The panel discussed how to build the appropriate governance system to ensure human rights and safety while maintaining the competitiveness of AI technologies. They provided insights about the role of governments for a responsible stewardship of trustworthy AI.

As a conclusion, further areas for cooperation between EU and Japan on AI governance could be explored, including work on common standards for safety, interoperability, ethics and citizen protection.