The European Union and Japan agreed to further their collaboration on tech regulatory and industrial matters, in particular on data, AI, quantum, semiconductors, digital infrastructure, and online platforms.
“The success of our partnership is rooted in our continued trusted discussions and collaboration,” said Henna Virkkunen, Executive Vice-President of the European Commission in charge of tech. She met with three Japanese ministers to ink the new deals. Coming to Brussels, there were Hisashi Matsumoto, Minister for Digital Transformation, Yoshimasa Hayashi, Minister for Internal Affairs and Communication, and Toshiyuki Ochi, Parliamentary Vice-Minister of Economy, Trade and Industry.
Brussels and Tokyo agreed to further cooperation through the joint development of data platforms, established by a new Data Strategy Working Group. The group will work on data policy frameworks to create common systems. On a similar topic, they collaborated on a pilot project on digital identities. The pilot was successful, demonstrating that interoperability can work even across different systems.
During the meeting, Japan and the EU also committed to establishing a cooperation agreement on AI to ensure its continued development serves the public good and remains profitable for businesses. Japan has already agreed to join Horizon Europe, the EU’s research and innovation funding programme, in a bid to increase joint AI research.
Another cooperation agreement will deepen collaboration on content moderation systems on social media, as well as on tracking illegal content and rights-infringing information more effectively.