News Releases

Hitachi Hosts "Hitachi Social Innovation Forum 2018 TOKYO"

The Largest Scale Hitachi Group Event in the World

Tokyo, September 11, 2018 --- Hitachi, Ltd. (TSE:6501) today announced that it will host "Hitachi Social Innovation Forum 2018 TOKYO" on October 18 and 19 at the Tokyo International Forum, a convention center in Tokyo metropolitan area. The goal of this Forum, the largest scale Hitachi Group event in the world, is to share with customers and partners its ideas for realizing an affluent society, and to promote open discussions.

Hitachi positions this Forum, a consecutive 20^th event, as a flagship among independent events held in every region around the world. This year, it expects to welcome more than 10,000 visitors over two days. Through a diverse program that includes speeches, business sessions, seminars, and exhibitions based on the theme of "Co-Creating Next Society with Social Innovation," Hitachi will introduce a broad range of results from its Social Innovation Business, which has evolved by combining Hitachi's unique strengths and experiences in OT, IT, and Products, as well as the future outlook.

In a Keynote Speech, entitled "Co-create the Promising Future -- Hitachi's Social Innovation," Hitachi, Ltd. President and CEO Toshiaki Higashihara will talk about the evolution of Hitachi's Social Innovation Business, which utilizes digital technologies, and about Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and the realization of Society 5.0, while providing real-world examples of Social Innovation Business and Collaborative Creation with customers and partners.

In a Special Speech, entitled "Making the world a better place one nudge at a time," Richard H. Thaler, a professor at the University of Chicago and a recipient of the 2017 Nobel Memorial Prize in Economic Sciences, and co-creator of the concept of "Nudge," will provide a detailed explanation of Behavioral Economics with examples of its practical applications in society.

In a Special Talk entitled "Creating Sustainable Cities-Lifestyle Innovation: Its Past and Future-," the architect Hiroshi Naito and the historian Kazuto Hongo will look back at the unique historical characteristics of the development of cities in Japan, which have continued from the middle ages until now, and will think about hints for the development of sustainable cities for the future, and about the expected role of a company in this regard. Former rugby player of Japan's National Team Daisuke Ohata and Seoul Olympic Synchronized Swimming Duet Bronze medalist Miyako Tanaka-Oulevey will conduct a discussion on the theme of "Team Building for Continuous Success -Motivation Science for Individuals and Teams-," in which they will talk about mental control and approaches to build strong teams that can also be applied to the business environment, drawing from their own past experiences as top athletes.

Speech and Business Sessions will feature discussions on themes, including the areas where Hitachi is focusing its efforts, such as Power and Energy fields, as well as Industry, Distribution, and Water fields, Urban field, and Finance, Social and Healthcare fields. Hitachi executives, along with leaders, experts, and managers active in a wide range of fields throughout the world, will engage in discussions and offer a glimpse into the rich future made possible by Social Innovations. Discussion topics will include "Social Innovation, Expanding Globally"; "Renewable Energy that Opens a New Era -Approach towards Dissemination and Future Vision-"; "Digital Innovation -Creating with AI & Big Data Analytics-"; "Industrial Innovation driven by "connected"-Creating a new "made-in-Japan" quality-"; "Human-centric Society Driven by Society 5.0 -Social / Public Services Lead by Digital Transformation and Collaboration-"; "Leading the Next Medical Innovation Driven by Data"; "Future Social Infrastructure Achieving Safety and Comfort -Innovative Services by Robotics and Drones-"; and "Sustainability Strategy and Role of Private Sectors in the Era of SDGs".

At the exhibition venue, Hitachi will introduce a broad range of the latest achievements and activities in its evolving Social Innovation Business. This venue will feature some 200 exhibits, including hands-on and 3D exhibits, divided into eight zones - "ENERGY," "INDUSTRY," "URBAN," "FINANCE," "HEALTHCARE・LIFE SCIENCE," "Digital Transformation, Lumada," "SECURITY," and "WORKSTYLE INNOVATION". These exhibits, which will illustrate the business innovations and new possibilities driven by Collaborative Creation with customers and partners, will draw visitors' interest and promote live and open discussions. Hitachi will also provide opportunities to foster customers' deeper understanding of its Social Innovation Business through more than 60 industry-specific seminars, which will present solutions to the management issues at customers' sites, along with actual customer cases.

About Hitachi, Ltd.

Hitachi, Ltd. (TSE: 6501), headquartered in Tokyo, Japan, delivers innovations that answer society's challenges, combining its operational technology, information technology, and products/systems. The company's consolidated revenues for fiscal 2017 (ended March 31, 2018) totaled 9,368.6 billion yen ($88.4 billion). The Hitachi Group is an innovation partner for the IoT era, and it has approximately 307,000 employees worldwide. Through collaborative creation with customers, Hitachi is deploying Social Innovation Business using digital technologies in a broad range of sectors, including Power/Energy, Industry/Distribution/Water, Urban Development, and Finance/Social Infrastructure/ Healthcare. For more information on Hitachi, please visit the company's website at http://www.hitachi.com.