The European Commission is encouraging European enterprises to penetrate the Japanese market. To this end it has put in place various promotional activities to further European exports to Japan and to maximise business opportunities there.

The EU-Japan Centre for Industrial Co-operation organises:

Training programmes for EU managers (2 weeks):

– Get Ready for Japan HRTP (17-21 June 2024 online and 8-12 July 2024 optional in person) – provides an in-depth understanding of how to do business in Japan. It is targeted at EU young entrepreneurs who have a major role in defining and implementing their small medium enterprise’s policies in relation to Japan, or who are to be transferred to Japan, or come from companies intending to supply Japanese companies or wish to learn about management practices and technological developments in Japan. 

Deadline: 25 April 2024.

The candidate must:

– be a citizen of an EU Member State or of a COSME partnering country;

– be supported by their employer and be able to participate in the entire programme;

– have a reasonable command of English;

– be a manager or an executive from an industrial company;

– have proven experience in industry.

All participants cover their travel costs to and from Japan as well as living expenses in Japan, including accommodation.

The EU-Japan Centre covers all training-related costs such as speakers’ fees, room rental, transfers for company visits, etc for participants from SMEs.

Participants need to pay a deposit of €1000 to guarantee attendance at all meetings, seminars and company visits. This deposit is refunded within 8 weeks after the mission and upon participant’s completion of the post-event questionnaire. Participants will also benefit from a €1200 grant that will be paid within 2 weeks after the mission. 

 

World Class Manufacturing WMC (five days)

This training is organised twice a year (spring and autumn session)

The WMC for EU managers with knowledge of WMC and an engineering background – to assist EU companies to acquire a better understanding of how Japanese companies continually take costs out of their manufacturing, constantly innovating using « KAIZEN » manufacturing methods (continuous improvement), « JIT » (Just in Time), « TQC » (Total Quality Control), TIE (Total Industrial Engineering), TPM (Total Productive Maintenance) and « TQM » (Total Quality Management) practices.

Deadline: 12 October 2023 (Spring session to take place on 11-15 March 2024).

• Target participants are:
• managers and directors from industrial companies;
• good knowledge of English (level B2 or higher);
• be nationals of an EU Member State or of a COSME partnering country;
• must be supported by their employer through a signed letter and be able to participate in the entire programme;
• must have a good command of English;
• should be an employee/team leader involved in engineering methods or production/service strategy or production control or with experience in operations management;
• should have knowledge and practice of production methods of excellence.

 

Costs

The EU-Japan Centre covers all costs directly related to the WMC mission. Participants will have to cover their travel and accommodation costs. Participants must pay a deposit of €1000 to guarantee the place on the mission but it will be refunded to SME participants. SME participants will also benefit from a €600 grant that will be paid within 2 weeks after the mission.

Further information and application forms can be found here.