11. German-Japanese Economic Forum, 2017

Industry 4.0 – ‚Creating value‘ in Germany and Japan

11. German-Japanese Economic Forum, Wednesday, 26. April 2017, Hannover

On the 11th German-Japanese Economic Forum, German and Japanese experts from politics and industry discussed in front of approx. 350 participants.

One year has passed since the German and the Japanese Ministry of Economies have agreed upon a close cooperation regarding “Industry 4.0. Dirk Wiese, Parliamentary Secretary of State at the Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs (BMWi), reported on interim results in his keynote, while Fumikazu Sato, Deputy Head of the Division Manufacturing Industries Policy from the Japanese Ministry of Economy (METI), and Dr. Wolfgang Scheremet, Head of the Division Industry policy at the BMWi, discussedcooperation in the areas of data security, standardization and medium-sized enteerprises, together with moderator Marcus Schürmann, Representative of the German Industry in Japan.

The following company presentations showed the huge innovation potential in both countries. Hitachi, Beckhoff Automation, itelligence NTT DATA Business Solutions, Mitsubishi Electric, Murrelektronik and Ernst&Young illuminated the several possibilities for ‘value creating’through Augmented Reality, Smart Linear Transfer Systems or Digital Twins.

The closing panel discussion with Taro Shimada (Digital Factory Divsion, Siemens), Dr. Tomoaki Kubo (Robot Revolution Initiative), Wolfgang Wiedemann (Murrelektronik) and Prof. Berend Denkena of the “Medium-sized Enterprises 4.0 Competence Centre” in Hannover, focused on Best Practices for Indsutry 4.0 in medium-sized enterprises.

As a special highlight, Tokushima prefecture invited all participants to a reception on the occasion of the 10^th anniversary of the partnership with the state of Lower Saxony.

The German-Japanese Economic Forum at Hannover Messe has been established over the years as an important platform for bilateral exchange and a fixed date in the calendar of top-class representatives of German and Japanese companies and institutions.

Under the patronage of the BMWi, the 11^th German-Japanese Economic Forum was organized by the Deutsche Messe, the German Chamber of Commerce and Industry in Japan (AHK Japan) and ECOS Consult and supported by the prefecture Tokushima, Siemens, Mitsubishi Electric, Beckhoff Automation, itelligence NTT DATA, as well as Murrelektronik, Ernst&Young, Hitachi, Mitsubishi International, FANUC and EPLAN.

Further cooperation partners were the Japan External Trade Organization (JETRO), the Federal Association of German Industry (BDI), the Japanese-German Business Association (DJW), the Japanese Chamber of Industry and Commerce in Düsseldorf (JIHK), the platform Industry 4.0, the Robot Revolution Initiative, as well as the State Lower Saxony.

Further information:

Johanna Schilling,
jschilling(at)ecos.eu,
Tel: +49 (0)541-911 909 97