The CYBATHLON Wheelchair Series Japan 2019 will be held at Cultz Kawasaki, a new sports and cultural facility belonging to the city that is designed to be barrier free in many ways. It may well become the world’s first official CYBATHLON Series, a spin-off of the CYBATHLON which is an initiative of ETH Zurich to promote the development of cutting-edge assistive devices useful for daily life as well as the inclusion of people with disabilities into society.

Ambassador Paroz offered his best wishes and support to Mayor Fukuda who expressed that hosting the CYBATHLON Wheelchair Series in May 2019 is a pleasure and honor for the city that has been promoting Para Movement, an initiative to advance social inclusion and diversity. The city’s efforts are compatible with CYBATHLON’s ideals as it not only tries to inform and educate citizens about the values of social inclusion but also strives to spread the idea through experience. Such objectives are also in line with the Embassy’s purport to promote humanitarian efforts through international collaboration.

Mr. Yamada will lead the CYBATHLON Wheelchair Series Japan 2019 Organizing Committee as Chairman together with vice chairmen Prof. Kohei Itoh, Dean of the Faculty and Graduate School of Science of Keio University and Prof. Shuro Nakajima of Wakayama University who participated in the first CYBATHLON in 2016.

In the meeting, Mayor Fukuda also voiced his eagerness in broadening collaborations with Switzerland to other areas of economy and industry. The city is actively inviting and supporting industries that are advanced in cutting-edge research and development. Ambassador Mauro Moruzzi of the Secretariat for Education, Research and Innovation visited Kawasaki city’s one such facility in March during his visit to Japan leading the delegation to the Joint Committee Meeting between the Swiss and Japanese government and affiliated institutions under the Science and Technology Cooperation Agreement.