Join the EU-Japan Centre digital mission during the Smart Manufacturing Summit 2024 in Aichi prefecture, the industrial capital of Japan! March 12 2024 -> March 15 2024

 

Apply here!

Deadline to apply: 24 November 2023

 

 OBJECTIVES

Through this 4-day mission, you will have the opportunity to:

• promote your technology at a new event dedicated to Japanese & European innovations for Industry 5.0, targeting smart manufacturing and smart mobility meet potential business partners
• create new business opportunities
• develop partnerships and business cooperation in global markets
• attend match-making events
• increase your innovation capacity and become more competitive on a global scale (as an SME)
• prepare the ground for practical cluster cooperation across borders and make a more strategic use of transnational cluster cooperation on markets outside Europe in areas of strategic interest (as a cluster)
• Attend a networking event separate from the trade show, one day before it starts.

For more info about Smart Manufacturing Summit 2024: https://sms-gi.com/english/ 

PARTICIPANT PROFILE

The programme targets participants from SMEs(*) (small and medium enterprises, start-ups) and clusters(**) from the EU or SMP associated countries(***), specialized in digital technologies (i.e. technologies encompassing digital devices, systems, and resources that help create, store, and process data) interested in doing business with Japan, in particular with applications in smart manufacturing and smart mobility.

ELIGIBILITY

The candidate must:

- work for an organization that is a juridical person based in

• the European Union, or
• a country associated to the Single Market Programme, SME Pillar(***)

- be supported by his/her employer through a signed letter - be able to participate in the entire programme - have a B2 or better proficiency in English - have proven experience in the industry

SELECTION

The main criteria for selection are:

• strategy of the participant's company regarding Japan ;
• innovative aspects of the product/technology/service offered by the company.
• the professional & educational background of the candidate

In order to ensure a high degree of personal attention, the number of participants in this mission is limited.

WHAT IS OFFERED

The EU-Japan Centre covers costs directly related to the mission: exhibition booth at the fair, printing service to give participants more visibility and interpretation at the fair. The selected participants' companies must cover travel costs to/from Japan, accommodation and any other living costs. 

SME participants will benefit from a €600 grant to partially support local travel, accommodation and living expenses in Japan. The grant will be paid within 2 weeks after the mission. However, absences during the mission may lead to deductions amounting to €120/day. 

NB: Selected participants will be requested to pay a 100% refundable deposit of €1 000 to guarantee the place on the mission. Failure to transfer the deposit by the deadline set by the Centre may result in the offer of the place being withdrawn. The deposit will be refunded within 8 weeks after the mission only if the participant submits the mission report the Centre asks him/her to make. 

The EU-Japan Centre covers costs directly related to the mission: exhibition booth at the fair, printing service to give participants more visibility and interpretation at the fair. The selected participants' companies must cover travel costs to/from Japan, accommodation and any other living costs. 

(*) SMEs are companies meeting the standard European Commission criteria for an SME

(**) Clusters are those who are registered in the European Cluster Cooperation Platform (http://www.clustercollaboration.eu. Registration on that platform is free of charge.

(***) Please check the status of your country at https://ec.europa.eu/info/funding-tenders/opportunities/docs/2021-2027/smp/guidance/list-3rd-country-participation_smp_en.pdf, for EFTA countries, please only refer to the sub-paragraph: "COSME strand (SMP COSME)". For EU Acceding countries, candidate countries and potential candidates, please only refer to the countries for which the agreement is in force.

SMP-COSME: Stands for “Countries Participating in the COSME strand of the Single Market Programme". The Single Market Programme is the Commission programme that funds the EU-Japan Centre.