Upon invitation by the Federal Minister of Education and Research, DIJ principal researcher Celia Spoden will give a keynote speech at the anniversary event to celebrate 50 years of science and technology cooperation between Japan and Germany. Drawing on her research project on Cyber-physical spaces and avatar technologies: new opportunities for an inclusive society? she will explain ‘Why Technology Development Needs the Social Sciences: Opportunities and Risks of Avatar Robots’. The event takes place in Kyoto on October 6 and will be attended by leading representatives from both countries’ ministries, research and funding organisations. The two other keynotes will be given by the president of the German Research Foundation (DFG), Katja Becker, and by Ishiguro Hiroshi (Intelligent Robotics Laboratory, Osaka University), a leading Japanese roboticist and engineer.