Call for Papers
EU-Japan Centre for Industrial Cooperation
On EU-Japan Trade and Industrial Relations - Opportunities for SMEs
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BACKGROUND AND CONTEXT
The EU-Japan Centre for Industrial Cooperation is a joint veture between the Directorate–General for Enterprise and Industry of the European Commission and the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry of the Japanese Government.
Both the EU and Japanese Authorities have great expectations of the ability of their innovative SMEs to create growth and jobs at home, and plan to invest in relevant SME-support to foster SMEs’ capacities to work across borders and internationalise their activities.

AIMS AND SCOPE OF THE PUBLICATION
In this context, we will issue a publication with two main objectives:
- to present and analyse the current situation/landscape of European SMEs doing business with/in Japan with a view to designing the most appropriate support schemes for SMEs, taking into account Japanese market specificities.
- to foster a mutual EU-Japan policy exchange/learning on the issue of support for SME internationalisation: a policy priority for both parties. The importance of this study must be considered in the context of the debate on possible EU-Japan negotiations for an FTA agreement which would stimulate trade and investment in each other’s market.
TOPICS
1. Why Japan is still an attractive investment destination – opportunities for European SMEs
2. EU-Japan FDI and Market Access Issues from the perspective of small businesses
- The regulatory dialogue: issues, aspects, sectors with most significance for SMEs
- The potential impact and relevance of an EU-Japan FTA
- Niche markets and promising sectors in Japan for European SMEs
- The service sector in Japan: specific issues for European SMEs
3. Japanese Market Horizontal issues and opportunities from SMEs’ perspective
- Innovation; standardisation; public procurement
4. EU and Japanese policies and programmes in support of SMEs’ internationalisation
- General pattern of SMEs’ internationalisation in the EU and Japan: statistical and sectoral analysis, obstacles and incentives, geographical preferences and priorities
- EU strategies, policies and programmes: general analysis; EU support for SMEs’ access to the Japanese market; reflections on the European Commission Communication Small Business, Big World – a new partnership to help SMEs seize global opportunities ( COM(2011) 702 final)
- Member States’ policies and support schemes: examples of best practice; Japan case
- Japan’s strategy and policies: general analysis; Support for Japanese SMEs access to the EU market
- EU and Japanese support for SMEs in high growth markets: support for market access in China- case study (other high growth markets can be also considered for comparative purposes)
Other materials with relevance for EU-Japan economic, trade and industrial cooperation might be also considered on a case by case basis

SUBMISSIONS
Authors are invited to submit a 500-word (½ page) abstract by 15 July 2012 to: callforpapers@eu-japan.eu.
All abstracts will be assessed based on their originality, quality and relevance to the main proposed topic.
The results of the selection will be notified by 15 August 2012.
The selected authors will be requested to submit a 5-15 page paper by 15 October 2012
Besides the policy and market analysis materials, considerable importance will be given to factual recommendations and practical advice/suggestions as to what should be the future of public support for SME internationalisation, with a focus on Japan .
We will accept submissions of updated versions of abstracts / papers which have already been published (subject to copyright provisions and/or approval from the initial publishing organisation) or presented at other related events.
Contributors can submit their papers as an email attachment to: callforpapers@eu-japan.eu, for publication.
Language: articles must be submitted in English.

SELECTION PROCEDURE
The EU-Japan Centre will set up a Selection Board made of experts from the field.

FURTHER INFORMATION
For additional information, contact:
EU-Japan Centre for Industrial Cooperation
Contact: Margherita Rosada (callforpapers@eu-japan.eu)