On the 4th of December, Commissioner Hitoshi Ito from the Japan Patent Office met with JBCE Directors and Chairs to discuss the challenges Japanese companies in the EU face and the potential of the Japanese government to work to alleviate these issues. The discussion covered copyright levy, intellectual property, international standardization and research and development projects such as Horizon2020. The Commissioner appreciated the discussion with JBCE members and expected further collaboration with JBCE.