EBC Newsletter – May 19, 2021

The entry ban to Japan is still creating difficulties to European companies. We remain active in monitoring the border situation and you can contact the EBC if your company encounters any problems with the closure due to COVID-19. Since January, we have been helping businesses with some cases of success.

In this week’s Newsletter, we are pleased to recommend you :

• A report on EU-Japan business cooperation in third markets with a focus on the digital economy
• 2 webinars organized by the EU-Japan Centre for Industrial Cooperation
  • On 27 May, on green hydrogen
    In this event, experts from Europe and Japan will share the latest developments on public policies and deployment of large-scale green hydrogen production. They will also open a discussion on possible cooperation between Europe and Japan in green hydrogen projects.
  • On 28 May, on IPRs and firms: intellectual property rights and firm performance in the European Union and IP support measures for SMEs in Japan

Enjoy these events!

We hope you stay positive and healthy during this difficult time.

Valerie Moschetti
EBC Chief Operating Officer

The report written by Florence Arnu, as part of the MINERVA Market & Policy Intelligence Programme, provides recommendations to companies, and in particular EU SMEs, on how to be involved in business cooperation with Japanese partners in third markets, with suggestions on promising sub-sectors of the digital economy and opportunities in third markets.

EU-Japan business cooperation in third markets is supported by a substantial political momentum between the EU and Japan and surveys in some EU Member States, such as Germany, show that many EU companies are already involved in business activities with Japanese partners outside Japan. In addition, business opportunities remain largely untapped in emerging countries, which have made ASEAN, Africa and Latin America, among other regions, particularly attractive for EU-Japan business cooperation in third markets. Finally, the report highlights opportunities that result from the following trends: (i) the growing need for smart cities and smart rural solutions which often require innovative digital solutions; (ii) the growing importance given by governments and businesses to development issues and the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs); and (iii) the growing need for digital transformation, in particular for the healthcare sector, which has been accelerated by the COVID-19 pandemic.

• Deployment of large-scale green hydrogen production | EU-Japan Online Workshop
  Hydrogen is projected to meet one quarter of global energy demand in 2050. But 95% of today’s hydrogen production is fossil-based, as low-carbon hydrogen is not yet cost-competitive. To truly contribute to achieving the goal of carbon neutrality set both by the EU and Japan by 2050, hydrogen will have to be produced from renewable sources.Renewable hydrogen has the potential to deliver decarbonised energy where renewable electricity has its limits, notably when it comes to storage, heavy-duty transport and energy-intensive industries. Together, renewable electricity and renewable hydrogen can provide the synergies needed to deliver an integrated, flexible, clean energy system. To realize this vision, a massive increase in supply of products and processes based on renewable hydrogen is needed. This implies substituting fossil-based hydrogen by renewable hydrogen in existing value chains and increasing the maturity of technology to reach market viability and competitiveness.In this event, experts from Europe and Japan will share the latest developments on public policies and deployment of large-scale green hydrogen production. They will also open a discussion on possible cooperation between Europe and Japan in green hydrogen projects.Date: Thursday 27 May |16:30-19:00 JST
  Language: English and Japanese with simultaneous interpretation
  Registration is free
  Agenda and registration
• Webinar on IPRs and firms: intellectual property rights and firm performance in the European Union and IP support measures for SMEs in Japan IPRs play a vital role for firms that are trying to establish themselves by introducing products and services into the market. Is there any correlation between IPRs and business performance? Are SMEs ready to navigate the world of IPRs? To answer these questions, we are going to have an EU-Japan approach that will help us understand how IPRs and firm performance are indeed correlated, and how SMEs can benefit from IPRs, and how they can be helped in doing so.The first part of this webinar will illustrate the results of the follow-up report by the EUIPO and the EPO covering the period from 2007-2019 into the role of IPRs by analyzing a representative sample of over 127,000 European firms from all 27 EU member states and the UK.In the second part of the webinar, we will go through the main supporting measures that the JPO provides to support SMEs, and startups which play a vital role in the world’s economy.Date: Friday 28 May 2021 | 17:00 – 18:00 JST
  Language: English & Japanese simultaneous interpretation
  Registration: please register to ZOOM by clicking here.

This year’s White Paper is called “Strengthening partnerships – in crisis and opportunity alike” . The opportunity is of course referring to the EU-Japan EPA that entered into force on February 1, 2019. Unfortunately, at the same time the COVID -19 crisis struck the world.

We are, however, confident that with our recommendations, the European and Japanese economies and companies will continue to prosper.