At the 30th EU-Japan Summit in Tokyo, the Leaders of the European Union (EU) and Japan have renewed the EU-Japan Strategic Partnership, affirming their shared values and principles such as the rule of law, fundamental freedoms, democracy, human rights, and open, free and fair trade. President of the European Council, António Costa, President of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen and Prime Minister of Japan, Shigeru Ishiba, adopted a Joint Statement (add URL) to strengthen their future collaboration, which among others also refers to the NEB:

Section V. New European Bauhaus “We welcome our growing collaboration on the New European Bauhaus (NEB), which has already fostered vibrant engagement at the Expo Osaka, Kansai, Japan. Together, we aim to turn environmental policy into visible local action. We will initiate a dialogue towards the launch of a NEB Academy Hub in Japan, and a country-specific NEB Prize for Japanese projects.”

EC-Japan Joint Statement, 23/07/2025

To initiate this EU-Japan dialogue, the NEB Academy team and the EC JRC facilitated an online meeting on 3 July 2025 with representatives of several Japanese higher educational institutions: Kyoto University, Kagoshima University, Tokyo University and Waseda University. The meeting addressed the following questions:

• How can the #NewEuropeanBauhaus create more international engagement?
• Is there a common interest and need to cooperate on #skills in #sustainable #architecture, #biobased materials and #circular #construction?
• How can members of the NEB Academy Hubs establish collaborations with Japanese institutions, and what are the right formats?

The group will kickstart the collaboration, initiate direct exchanges between partner institutions and co-create the foundation of a NEB Academy Hub in Japan.

Please contact andreja.kutnar@innorenew.eu

IMAGE TOP: President of the European Council, António Costa, President of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen and Prime Minister of Japan, Shigeru Ishiba. Photo credits: European Commission, 24/07/2025.

IMAGE CENTRE: NEBA Academy EU-Japan outreach kickoff meeting, 3 July 2025.

IMAGE BOTTOM: Osaka EXPO 2025: Grand Roof (Ring), one of the largest wooden buildings in the world with a building area (horizontal projected area) of approximately 60,000 m2, a height of 12 m (outside of the Roof 20 m), and an inner diameter of approximately 615 m.