Workshop in Tokyo: “Addressing the Aging Challenge in Europe and Japan: Insights from the INNOVCARE Project”
On June 20 was held the Workshop “Addressing the Aging Challenge in Europe and Japan:
Insights from the INNOVCARE Project”.
This Workshop was the opportunity to strengthen the relations with the Japanese members while further discussing the comparative backbone of the project ‘now in a Triangle, between france, Japan and Germany through its Affiliated members). The morning session with members of the INNOVCARE project was hosted at the German Institute for Japanese Studies (DIJ) while the afternoon session was hosted at Sophia University. The workshop was concluded by a keynote speech by Sébastien Lechevalier, professor at EHESS, visiting researcher at the DIJ, and the lead coordinator of the INNOVCARE project. The speech was preceded by an introduction by Miki Sugimura, president of Sophia University, and Didier Marty-Dessus, scientific counsellor at the Embassy of France in Japan and was attended by 35 participants, of which a dozen online.

The workshop puts the emphasis on the interdisciplinary nature of aging-policy-making, gathering researchers from both humanities and robotics. The one-day meeting resulted in a series of presentations and discussions on community-based care structures specific to Japanese territories, studies related to « successful aging » or loneliness for older adults in Paris, as well as human-machine interactions through robotics, and also economics of aging – all of which sometimes highlight conflicting points of views.
This meeting definitely bolstered the ties between the international partners – for this reason, the INNOVCARE team is extremely grateful for Sophia University, the German Institute for Japanese Studies and EHESS for co-organizing the meeting, with the support of France 2030 PPR Autonomie and Toshiba International Foundation.
OpenEdition suggests that you cite this post as follows:
Sébastien Lechevalier (July 31, 2025). Workshop in Tokyo: “Addressing the Aging Challenge in Europe and Japan: Insights from the INNOVCARE Project” INNOVCARE. Retrieved February 14, 2026 from https://doi.org/10.58079/14g9o










