Message from the President February.2020

CES is an annual event held every January in Las Vegas, USA. Originally held as an international consumer electronics trade show for companies to showcase their new products, it has now evolved into not only a trade show, but also a place for companies to show the current direction of technological innovations for the future. For this reason, I myself also really look forward to the information that is announced at CES every year, and I struggle to hide my astonishment at the accelerating pace of technological advancements taking place from year to year.

At CES 2020, too, many of the world’s top, representative companies exhibited their products and solutions. One thing that left a particularly strong impression was the “corporate vision” presented by one Japanese manufacturer. By displaying this corporate image and its epic world view in a concrete and visibly perceivable form, the company made a powerful impact on attending visitors, and drew the attention of the media. The company presented its mission and sense of purpose, of working to resolve social issues and achieve its vision—not alone, but rather by transcending the conventional boundaries of industries and business categories and calling for the cooperation of various companies—must surely also be making it the subject of major hopes and expectations from society.

At the same time, one of the technology innovation trends that I felt strongly from CES this time was that the unstoppable wave of digitalization is advancing rapidly in all manner of industries. The impact of digitalization will not only dramatically change existing industry structures and business models, but also lower the bar for market entry by new players, and increase the intensity of competition, amongst both companies and individuals.

When that time comes, our engineers will need to work continuously to increase their individual technical capabilities, seeking to contribute to new trends in technological innovation that will create a new future. Both when developing new foundational technologies, and combining existing technologies to create new value, I think that it will be important for each of us to make maximum effective use of technology while at the same time continuously considering how to improve upon our careers as engineers, and making ample use of our creativity.

Unlike 25 years ago, when the Internet finally began to gain widespread use, the speed of digitalization in recent times is increasing at a rapid pace. The change in our lifestyles over the next 10 years will probably go far beyond our wildest imagination. While digitalization has the impact to completely uproot and overturn existing services, at the same time this is also a good opportunity to create something new. By striving to create new value by responding flexibly to these changes, I would like us, too, to work as a united company so that we can contribute further to the realization of a more enriched society. That is the role what we should fulfill as a company that seeks to be an “Engineering Firm at The Core.”