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High-Ranking Official of France's Ministry of Economy, Finance and Industry Meets with Chairman of NEDO
(October 11, 2005)
On September 9, 2005, Luc Rousseau, Vice-Minister for Industry, Director-General of France's Ministry of Economy, Finance and Industry Directorate-General for Enterprise, and Tsutomu Makino, Chairman of NEDO, met at NEDO's Hibiya Public Relations Center.
At the beginning of the meeting, Mr. Makino explained the methodology used by NEDO for R&D project implementation and management. Noting the similarities in R&D approaches between Japan and France, Mr. Rousseau said that an R&D approach focusing on important industries such as information technology, environment, life science, new materials and nanotechnology is more essential than comprehensive coverage. He also remarked that paying serious attention to social demands and benefits is necessary when selecting R&D projects. In addition, Mr. Rousseau introduced the Agency for Industrial Innovation (AII), which was established in August 2005 to implement industrial technology support measures based on these principles. AII will carry out four to five large-scale projects over a period of three years with each project budget being two billion euro. The talks also touched on the information exchange agreement signed between NEDO and the French Agency for the Environment and Energy Management (ADEME) in April 2005. Opinions were exchanged regarding what kind of cooperation can strengthen the technological competitiveness of Japan and France based on the unique advantages of each country.
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