Visit by the new president of the Japan Science and Technology Agency to ANR

The new President of the Japan Science and Technology Agency (JST), Dr. Michiharu Nakamura, made his introductory visit to the French National Research Agency on Thursday 20th March 2012. The importance of the ANR-JST collaboration was reiterated during the visit, as shown in particular by the success of the joint calls for proposals launched in the field of Information and communication science and technology as well as by the Flash call for proposals launched in 2011 following the earthquake in Fukushima. No Franco-Japanese call will be launched in the framework of ANR’s 2012 programme planning, however several collaboration tracks were envisaged to relaunch ANR-JST collaboration in 2013: staff exchange in order to compare the operating mode of both agencies; and the launching of at least one annual call for proposals in one of the three identified fields of common interest: green innovation and energy; life science; and ICT and their usages.