Germany and Japan intensify their cooperation on innovative 5G technologies

The newly launched German-Japanese R&D flagship project entitled "EmKoI4.0 – Developing modern communications technologies for Industrie 4.0" aims to promote innovative and modern communications technologies (5G advanced technologies) by means of international standardisation, harmonisation and interoperability as a key component of the digitisation of industry and to facilitate the secure, robust and fast transmission of large quantities of data.

Parliamentary State Secretary at the Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs and Climate Action Dr Franziska Brantner said: "The automation and digitisation of production leads to an increase in the quantities of data to be transmitted. 5G advanced technologies provide the basis for fast, secure and robust communications. These technologies are thus a key element to make forward-looking production a success. Germany and Japan therefore want to contribute to the international standardisation and harmonisation of these technologies in the context of this bilateral R&D project."

In 2017, the German Federal Government developed a joint strategy with Japan, which was laid down in the Hanover Declaration. In 2018, the talks were resumed in the context of the digital dialogues. Agreement was reached on the objectives of joint R&D cooperation, including the goal to increase productivity in the industrial sectors of both countries by deploying AI and IoT. The Joint Declaration of Intent of the German Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs and Energy (BMWi) and the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry (METI) and the Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications (MIC) of Japan signed at the end of 2018 provides the political framework for this cooperation.

To date, the agreement resulted in two joint calls for proposals for the funding of one flagship project each. The winner of the first call for proposals is the project AIRPoRT in the field of industrial IoT and AI, and the winner of the second call for proposal in the field of mobile connectivity for key industries is the project EmKoI4.0.

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