The event was organised in a hybrid format as part of the Hungarian V4 Presidency programme. The international seminar was organised by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade in cooperation with the National Research, Development and Innovation Office, the Embassy of Japan in Budapest and the R&D funding agencies of the V4 partner countries.
In his opening speech, Márton Schőberl, Deputy Secretary of State for Cultural and Scientific Diplomacy of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade, highlighted that the countries of the Central European region and Japan have had excellent relations in the field of scientific cooperation for decades. Japanese companies represent significant added value to the Hungarian economy.
The international seminar, which was organised in a hybrid format as part of the Hungarian V4 presidency programme, presented jointly funded and potential cooperation projects of the five countries, ranging from basic research to technological innovation. In the first session of the programme, speakers highlighted the common elements of the V4 countries’ and Japan’s automotive strategies, with a special focus on cooperation in the fields of self-driving technology and artificial intelligence. In the second part of the seminar, jointly funded and ongoing successful materials science programmes launched in 2015 between the V4 countries and Japan were presented, including a success story involving Nobel Prize-winning Japanese Professor Amano.
Dr István Szabó, Vice President of the National Research, Development and Innovation Office, recalled that the V4-Japan joint research and development programme was announced for the second time in 2021 with the Office granting an increased budget of EUR 637,000 for funding the participation of Hungarian researchers.
