The FFPA received the award for its success in promoting the development of new standards and standardization efforts to stabilize various wireless systems in production facilities. The award also recognized the expansion of international partnerships, such as the strengthening of the relations between the Japanese National Institute of Information and Communications Technology (NICT) and DFKI.
The prize is presented by the Japanese Minister of the Interior and Communications to individuals and organisations that make a special contribution to progress in the information and communications sector and have great potential for creative future activities in the digital sector.
About FFPA
The FFPA – the Flexible Factory Partner Alliance – is a Japan-based non-profit organization dedicated to standardizing coordination and control technology for wireless technologies in flexible manufacturing environments. The aim is to ensure stable communication where different wireless systems are used together and to promote the use of Internet of Things (IoT) technologies in factories.
The FFPA members are OMRON Corporation, Advanced Telecommunications Research Institute International (ATR), National Institute of Information and Communications Technology (NICT), NEC Corporation, Fujitsu Limited, Sanritz Automation Co., Ltd., Murata Machinery, Ltd., and Siemens K.K.. In 2017, the DFKI-Professors Andreas Dengel and Hans Dieter Schotten were appointed chairs of the FFPA.
About the “Info-Communications Promotions Month”
The “Info-Communications Promotion Month” is an initiative launched in 1985 by the Japanese Minister of the Interior and Communications to disseminate and promote information and communication technologies (ICT). Each year, a month-long series of events takes place throughout Japan to bring ICT closer to the population and highlight its potential for improving the quality of life.
