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June 30, 2021, the first Shinshu University Satellite Office in Germany opened at the Fraunhofer Institute for Applied Information Technology FIT.

The online opening ceremony was graced by the presence of a number of distinguished guests, including Shinshu University’s President Kunihiro Hamada, Dr. René Reiners, Head of Department HCED, Fraunhofer FIT, and the Consul General of Japan in Düsseldorf, Mr. Iwama. Shinshu University Vice-President (International Affairs) Kiyoshi Tanaka presided over the virtual ceremony, in which the following guests conveyed their congratulations and spoke of their expectations for future cooperation:　

- President Kunihiro Hamada
- Dr. René Reiners (Head of Department HCED, Fraunhofer FIT)
- Mr. Kiminori Iwama (Consul General of Japan, Düsseldorf)
- Mr. Patrick Buchholz (Steinstosser, CEO)
- Ms. Sabine Ganter-Richter (Lyogroup International, CEO)

At the end of the ceremony, President Hamada presented the Office door plate to Dr. Reiners, albeit virtually through the camera, to mark the official opening and to underscore the strengthening of the ties between the two institutions.

The University’s collaboration with Fraunhofer FIT began in 2018 with the visit of Vice-President Tanaka and Daisuke Tsuda, Vice-Director of the Center for Global Education and Collaboration, to the Fraunhofer FIT, thanks to an introduction made by Ms. Sabine Ganter-Richter, CEO of Lyogroup International. Shinshu University entered into an agreement with Fraunhofer FIT (January 2020) and became a core member of the research network GRANITE, sponsored by the German Federal Ministry of Education and Research for its latest campaign “Future of Work”, and organized conferences and networking events on AI and IoT technologies within this framework. The opening of the Satellite Office is one of the results of our sustained relationship of mutual support.

The aim of this ongoing collaboration is not only to facilitate cooperation between the two institutions, but to resolve issues related to industrial and regional development in both countries through the sharing of advanced technology and knowledge transfer.

The Satellite Office will serve as an important point of contact in this initiative, connecting Nagano Prefecture and the Shinshu IT Valley Initiative with the Duesseldorf region and its SMEs.

With a big and heartfelt thank you to our colleagues in Germany, we are eagerly looking forward to all the upcoming projects.