The European Commission has officially launched the network of European researchers in Japan. Through the network, the Commission helps researchers develop their contacts and provides access to information on career development, research funding and Europe-Japan cooperation opportunities. Japan is home to several thousand European researchers who could become an important instrument to link Japan with the European Research Area (ERA).

'European researchers working in Japan represent a patrimony of knowledge and experience,' the European Commissioner for Science and Research, Janez Potocnik said. 'They are the ambassadors of European research in Japan and this network will be an important tool for reinforcing research collaboration between Europe and Japan.'

Under the name EURAXESS-Links, the network will be charged with establishing a number of services:
- a website containing information on research funding, career and work opportunities at Member State and EU level, as well as interactive tools for information exchange;
- e-mail alerts to make users aware of new opportunities;
- an e-mail newsletter;
- information on networking, meetings and events;
- participation in and organisation of career fairs and workshops for researchers to establish ties with industry, research institutions and other potential employers.

In order to assess the potential usefulness of such a network, the Commission initiated an online survey directed at European researchers working in Japan. The results, which were published last year, revealed that 74% of respondents were in favour of its establishment, deeming it to be 'useful' or 'very useful'. At the same time, the survey showed that the EU's research activities were not very well known in Japan: The European Research Council (ERC) only meant something to 43% of informants, while 37% had heard of the Seventh Framework Programme (FP7) and just 23% were aware of the European Research Area (ERA).

Japan is home to several thousand European researchers, making it an important target for the EU to increase collaboration. However, current cooperation between the EU and Japan is largely limited to a number of international projects such as the fusion reactor ITER. Japanese involvement in EU research programmes has so far been focused on the traditionally strong information and communication technology (ICT) sector, and the country lags behind the US, China and India in most other areas of the framework programmes. Complementing other measures such as an EU-Japan Science and Technology Cooperation Agreement, which is currently under negotiation, this is what the new network is set to change.

Generally speaking, the Commission hopes to promote Europe as an open, competitive and attractive labour market for researchers with the help of such networks, transforming the concepts of 'brain drain' and 'brain gain' into 'brain circulation' instead.

The new EURAXESS-Links is the second network of its kind, after the ERA-Link with the USA was launched in June 2006. By now, 3,500 US-based European researchers have joined. Further ERA-Link networks are in the pipeline, including one for researchers based in China.

Further information on the survey of European researchers in Japan

Source: Community R&D Information Service (CORDIS)