AI for Planetary Challenges in the Anthropocene

(01.12.22) At the 3rd trilateral symposium on Artificial Intelligence (AI) on 27th and 28th October, more than 60 speakers from Japan, France and Germany gathered in Tokyo to discuss measures to tackle planetary challenges that humankind is facing in the Anthropocene and share their visions for realizing a sustainable society. The two-day event was organized by the AI Japan R&D Network, the DWIH Tokyo (German Centre for Research and Innovation Tokyo) and the Embassy of France to Japan and took place at the Miraikan (The National Museum of Emerging Science and Innovation) and online.
The DFG and partner organizations of all three countries organized a variety of side events which facilitated a lively exchange on a broad range of related topics and sparked new ideas for cooperation.

Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz Prize winner Prof. Dr. Elisabeth André spoke in the Plenary Session “AI for a Sustainable Society”. In this session experts from the three countries shared their visions of how AI can contribute to the transition to a sustainable society to ensure peace and prosperity for people around the globe.

In a special session nine research teams presented their trilateral research projects, which are jointly funded by the DFG, the Japan Science and Technology Agency (JST) and The French National Research Agency (ANR). The discussions at the venue and the online contributions from France, Germany and Japan showed what a broad range of issues are covered by the trilateral AI-projects. (Please refer to the programme via the link below for an overview of the projects.)

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On the Saturday after the AI symposium Prof. Dr. Elisabeth André joined the “Haru Fest”, which featured talks and panel discussions around the topic of “social robotics”. The Event was named after the social robot “Haru” developed by a consortium of international researchers and the Honda Research Institute (HRI).

On Monday PIs of the nine trilateral projects met at the JST and online to exchange about their ongoing research and discussed how AI can be adopted for research in areas ranging from AI adaptations for Aging societies to applications in robotics or medicine.

All events showed the importance of direct exchanges and interactions to deepen and broaden international collaborations in research.

• Program
• Haru the Social Robot | Honda Research Institute Japan Co., Ltd.
• Information for Researchers - Trilateral French-Japanese-German Research Projects on Artificial Intelligence