About Polish-Japanese Research Conducted at the Faculty of Philosophy and Social Sciences, Nicolaus Copernicus University, at EXPO 2025 in Osaka
On June 26, 2025, the EU-Japan Healthcare Conference "United for Saving Lives" symposium occurred at the Grand Prince Hotel Osaka Bay. The event was part of EXPO 2025 in Osaka and brought together numerous experts worldwide.
Dr. Tomasz M. Rutkowski from the RIKEN Center for Advanced Intelligence Project (RIKEN AIP) in Tokyo, who has frequently visited Nicolaus Copernicus University (NCU) as part of mobility programs, was invited to participate. These visits were a research collaboration with Dr. Tomasz Komendziński from the Department of Cognitive Science at NCU under a research agreement between NCU and RIKEN AIP.
As part of this collaboration, the workshop "NOW: Nature, Neurotechnology, Olfactory, Wellbeing – AI, Healthy Aging, Sleep, Music, and Dementia Prevention" took place in Toruń in May 2025.
https://ai.umk.pl/
The cooperation between NCU and RIKEN AIP and the outcomes of their joint research were the focus of Dr. Rutkowski's presentation, "RIKEN Experiences and Projects Developed in Cooperation with European Partners." During the presentation, Dr. Rutkowski highlighted the collaboration with NCU and the research agreement between NCU and RIKEN AIP. Over 20 slides of the presentation were dedicated to detailing Polish-Japanese research conducted in Toruń at NCU and in Tokyo at RIKEN AIP, starting with the paradigm and summary of the first phase of their collaborative research.
The second phase of the NCU-RIKEN AIP research concluded with the presentation of results. The research results will be presented at a conference in Copenhagen in July 2025.
The symposium was organized by the Polish Investment and Trade Agency (PAIH) in cooperation with the Embassy of the Republic of Poland in Tokyo, the EU-Japan Centre for Industrial Cooperation, the EU Delegation to Japan, Osaka Prefecture, and the Japan Agency for Medical Research and Development (AMED).
Participants included, among others, PAIH Vice President Łukasz Gwiazdowski, Polish Ambassador to Japan Paweł Milewski, EU Ambassador to Japan Jean-Eric Paquet, Ireland's Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Employment Peter Burke, representatives from AMED, the Polish Ministry of Health, as well as medical sector experts and curators of the Polish Pavilion at EXPO 2025.
In the panel discussion titled "New Technologies in Medical Devices and Drug Discovery Research – How to Collaborate and Compete to Improve Human Health?" featured Dr. Artur Zaczyński, Director of the Department of Neurosurgery at the Ministry of Interior and Administration Hospital and Head of the Humanitarian-Medical Team at the Chancellery of the Prime Minister of Poland, among others.
After the symposium, participants had the opportunity to visit the Osaka Healthcare Pavilion, the EU Pavilion, and the Poland Pavilion.
