Japan’s Society 5.0 Plan and Hitachi’s Vision of the Future of Technology
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Japan’s Society 5.0 Plan and Hitachi’s Vision of the Future of Technology
May 14, 2019 @ 5:30 pm - 8:00 pm
$17 – $22
In recent months, dystopian views of technology have proliferated. Social media violates citizen’s privacy and abets foreign meddling in our internal affairs. AI threatens to replace the jobs not just of the low-skilled but the highly skilled. Huge companies, driven by the power of the network effect, threaten competition and further distort income inequality. Japan’s leaders see these dangers clearly but have a vision of using technology to create a much more positive future. That approach is best illustrated in the Society 5.0 concept heralded by Hiroaki Nakanishi, Chairman of the Keidanren (Japan’s Business Federation).
Society 5.0 is a detailed vision of the future where technology can be harnessed to free humans, make them healthier and more fulfilled, enable sustainable livelihood, better protect them against natural disaster, and ensure diversity and correct growing inequality. The concept takes the 4th industrial technologies, especially AI, IoT and new forms of energy, and creates a framework for harnessing them to meet human needs.
Come hear Hitachi’s Yasuo Tanabe explain Society 5.0 and what it means in practical terms to his company, which helped pioneer the concept. As a former Government official, an academic, an experienced businessman, and a graduate of Stanford who was advised by Professor Dan Okimoto, Mr. Tanabe has a unique breadth of experience in the areas of trade, energy and technology. He is equally at home in the Bay Area as he is in Tokyo and is ideally perched at the senior-most levels of one of Japan’s largest companies. Don’t miss this rare opportunity to hear from one of Japan’s business leaders talking about the future of the human engagement with technology.
Event Schedule:
5:30 – 6:00: Registration
6:00 – 6:10: Welcome & Introduction
6:10 – 7:10: Presentation and Q&A
7:10 – 8:00: Refreshments & Networking
Speaker Profile:
Yasuo Tanabe
Special Representative for External Relations, Hitachi, Ltd.
With former posts in the Ministry of International Trade and Industry of Japan, the Economic Affairs Bureau of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Japan, Yasuo Tanabe is an Alumnus of Stanford University with experience in areas of trade, energy, and technology. Following his retirement from the Japanese government in 2010, Mr. Tanabe has worked in various roles at Hitachi, Ltd. and is now the Special Representative for External Relations.
Event venue generously provided by Skadden, Arps, Meagher, and Flom LLP
