Under the EU International Urban and Regional Cooperation (IURC) programme, led by the Directorate-General for Regional and Urban Policy (DG REGIO) and the Foreign Policy Instruments (FPI) service of the European Commission, six EU regions and five Japanese prefectures have been selected to participate in the EU-Japan Region-to-Region Innovation Cooperation Project.
- 28 October 2022
EU Regions
Japanese Prefectures
Auvergne-Rhone-Alpes (France)
Basque Country (Spain)
Catalonia (Spain)
Emilia-Romagna (Italy)
Ljubljana Urban Region (Slovenia)
Val d’Oise (Paris Region) (France)
Aichi Prefecture
Kyoto Prefecture
Osaka Prefecture
Hiroshima Prefecture
Oita Prefecture
The objective of the project is to support European regions and Japanese prefectures to exchange best practices and knowledge to improve and to internationalise their respective regional innovation strategies while promoting international value chains. The cooperation will be based on the smart specialisation strategies of EU regions and regional innovation and competitiveness policies of Japanese prefectures. They will focus on common policy priorities in the EU and Japan such as green transition, industrial transformation, digitalisation and social innovation.
EU and Japanese Prefectures will participate in study visits and joint seminars and meetings. The first study visit by the EU Regions to Japan will take place from 13 to 19 November 2022. They will be divided into two groups, each visiting Aichi and Hiroshima Prefectures and Osaka and Oita Prefectures, respectively, and both groups will meet to visit together Kyoto Prefecture. They will have working meetings with each prefecture for knowledge exchange about regional innovation policies and conduct site visits to observe cutting-edge innovative projects and technologies.