University of Jena accepted as a supporter of the German Centre of Research and Innovation Tokyo

From 20 to 27 April 2024, the University of Jena took part in the delegation trip to Japan led by Wolfgang Tiefensee, Thuringia's Minister for Economic Affairs, Science and Digital Society, with it’s Interim President, Prof. Dr Georg Pohnert, and the Head of the International Office, Dr Claudia Hillinger.

The 40-headed delegation, which included representatives from industry and academia, travelled to Osaka, Kyoto, Kobe and Tokyo. The programme included various talks and visits: exchanges with Technology transfer institutions, laboratory appointments at the Tsukuba Science Campus and talks with rectors from Meiji University and Reitaku University, among others. The existing cooperation agreement with the latter was extended for a further 5 years during the tour. Meetings with the Goethe Institute and representatives of the German School in Japan rounded off the programme.

During the trip, the University of Jena was also officially accepted as a supporter of the German Centre of Research and Innovation TokyoExternal link.

The University of Jena has a longstanding history of relations with Japan, dating back to the Meiji period in the 19th century. It has maintained intensive academic exchange and cooperation in research, teaching and transfer for decades. There are currently 13 institutional partnerships, which on the one hand build on tradition of relations in the humanities and social sciences in subjects such as History, German as a Foreign and Second Language and Philosophy.

On the other hand, collaborations have been developed over the past two decades, particularly in fields of technology such as optics/photonics, biomaterials (bioactive glasses), solid state physics, chemistry, analytical mineralogy and others, which pool the complementary expertise and research strengths of the partners in both countries and tap into synergies. Transfer topics and start-up activities have also been increasingly put a focus on the cooperation agenda in recent years, and industrial partners from both countries are involved in some of the projects. The International Start-up CampusExternal link, an EXIST-funded joint project between the universities of Halle - Jena - Leipzig, offers a platform and support for networking with the Japanese innovation ecosystem.

Good contacts with the Goethe Institutes and the German School in Japan focus on teacher trainin, the strengthening of German as a teaching language and intercultural practice.

The University of Jena's most important partners currently include the universities of Osaka, Chiba, Saitama, Fukuoka, Meji, Dokkyo, Nagoya Institute of Technology, Sokendai, Kansai Gaidai and Kwansai Gakuin, but partners such as JAXA (Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency) and from industry in the Hamamatsu Cluster are also highly relevant to the cooperation.