JLGC will collaborate as part of a UK-Japan research consortium looking at how policymakers in both countries can better understand the dynamics of economic development and innovation in regions and cities.
Led by Edinburgh University, researchers (including JLGC’s Andrew Stevens) will investigate ‘Entrepreneurial and Innovation Ecosystems in the UK and Japan – Place-based policy scenarios and options’, thanks to funding from the Economic and Social Research Council and Arts and Humanities Research Council.
The funding is part of a £79 million investment in international projects announced on 22 January 2019, that will see UK researchers and innovators working with their counterparts across the globe. The projects, supported through the Fund for International Collaboration and delivered by UK Research and Innovation (UKRI), involve collaborators from 17 lead countries, including Japan.
The Fund aims to enhance the UK’s excellence in research and innovation through global engagement, forging new bilateral and multilateral research and innovation programmes with global partners.
It aims to improve the connectivity between UK and Japanese social science, arts and humanities research communities through funding for groups of researchers to make new connections and identify common interests to enable future collaborative research activity. New joint research agendas between the best researchers in both countries will ultimately enhance the volume and strength of UK-Japanese partnerships in the social sciences and humanities.
The Fund follows recent prime ministerial announcements between the Government of Japan and the UK aimed at furthering research collaboration by harnessing mutual strengths in science and innovation, as part of the UK’s Modern Industrial Strategy and Japan’s equivalent, Society 5.0. Through these, Britain and Japan are committed to strengthening economic links, and will work together to tackle shared Grand Challenges of an ageing society, Artificial Intelligence (AI) and data, clean growth, and the future of mobility.
UKRI press release
BEIS press release
Edinburgh University website
