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Hitachi Social Innovation Forum 2016 TOKYO drew 36,000 attendees.
Hitachi, Ltd. held the world' s largest business event for the Hitachi Group at the Tokyo International Forum in Chiyoda Ward on October 27 and 28. Amidst advancing societal and industrial transformation, the event featured diverse lectures, business sessions, and exhibitions under the theme "Leading the IoT Era through Co-creation," aiming to accelerate co-creation with customers as an innovation partner in the IoT era. Over 36,000 people attended cumulatively.
Toshiaki Higashihara, President and CEO of Hitachi, Ltd., delivered a keynote speech titled "Accelerating Social Innovation through Digital Technology and Co-creation." He introduced initiatives centered on "co-creation" and "connecting" – key concepts for creating new value – using concrete examples. He concluded by outlining "The Vision Hitachi Should Pursue to Realize an Affluent Society."
President Higashihara's keynote speech can be viewed here.
A special lecture titled "Reversing Thinking: Turning Uncertainty into Wealth - How to Drive Innovation" was delivered by Nassim Nicholas Taleb, author of 'The Black Swan'. The Black Swan is a metaphor for an extremely unlikely event, an occurrence no one could have predicted. Using the example of a turkey raised carefully for 1,000 days, believing without doubt that this would continue forever, only to be slaughtered on the 1,001st day, he explained a perspective on risk.
Taleb suggested hints for driving innovation in an age of uncertainty: "Fragile things that dislike disorder and change will inevitably break. Companies that have overcome difficulties live longer than those untouched by risk. Time and disorder strengthen companies."
Read the full report on Nassim Nicholas Taleb's special lecture here.
The exhibition hall showcased the evolving social innovation initiatives of the Hitachi Group, centered around the IoT platform "Lumada." Lumada is an open co-creation platform developed by Hitachi to enable seamless integration with systems from numerous companies.
Organized into five categories—"IoT PLATFORM," "ENERGY," "INDUSTRY," "URBAN DEVELOPMENT," and "LIFE & ECONOMY"—the exhibits, including interactive and multi-dimensional displays, sparked customer interest and fostered dialogue, offering numerous insights for driving social innovation.
Particularly, the demonstration of the humanoid service support robot "EMIEW3" guiding foreign tourists and assisting new staff at a shopping mall attracted significant attention.
In the lobby gallery, we regularly held attraction exhibits introducing Hitachi's artificial intelligence "Hitachi AI Technology / H" (hereafter referred to as H). In the attraction, a robot connected to H hangs from a horizontal bar and begins moving with the goal of "maximizing its swing amplitude." Initially moving its legs slightly, the robot gradually gets the hang of it, progressively increasing its swing amplitude.
Synchronized with this movement, the exhibit used videos and models to sequentially showcase H's high versatility—its ability to be added to different systems—and its implementation cases. It concluded with a lively musical performance. By the end of the attraction, the robot, which had started with awkward movements, achieved smooth motions like a gymnast.
The attraction display, which introduced H's features in an engaging way, drew interest not only from visitors but also from passersby, who stopped to watch.
Watch the AI attraction video here.
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