Press Release

Photo Sessuon

The Japan Association for the 2025 World Exposition (hereinafter referred to as “the Association”) is pleased to announce 10 new general sponsors of “Theme Weeks” at Expo 2025 Osaka, Kansai, Japan (hereinafter referred to as “the Expo”). On the day of the announcement, an announcement ceremony was held with representatives from eight of the sponsors.

Overview
1. Name:　　Announcement Ceremony of the General Sponsors of Theme Weeks
2. Date and time:　　From 14:00 to 15:25, Friday, May 24, 2024
3. Venue:　　Osaka Chamber of Commerce and Industry (2-8 Honmachi-Bashi, Chuo-ku, Osaka)
4. Contents
(1) Announcement of the General Sponsors of “Theme Week”
　① Greetings from the Organiser
　② Introduction of new sponsors and comments from the general sponsors
　(New General Sponsors) (alphabetical order)
　・Azbil Corporation
　・COSMO ENERGY HOLDINGS CO., Ltd.
　・Electric Power Development Co., Ltd. (J-Power)
　・FUJI ELECTRIC CO., LTD.
　・Hitachi Astemo, Ltd.*
　・Idemitsu Kosan Co., Ltd.*
　・JERA Co., Inc
　・Mitsubishi Logisnext Co., LTD.
　・ONO PHARMACEUTICAL CO., LTD.
　・Tokyo Electron Ltd.

(10 participants in total) * Idemitsu Kosan Co., Ltd. and Hitachi Astemo, Ltd. were absent.

③ Photo session
　・8 representatives of sponsors
　・ISHIGE Hiroyuki, Secretary General of the Japan Association for the 2025 World Exposition
　・ISHIKAWA Masaru, Expo Site Operation Producer, Japan Association for the 2025 World Exposition

List of new sponsors and attendees (alphabetical order)
　●　Azbil Corporation (Director, Representative Corporate Executive, President & Group CEO, YAMAMOTO Kiyohiro)
　●　COSMO ENERGY HOLDING CO., LTD. (Senior Executive Officer and CDO, RZONCA Noriko)
　●　Electric Power Development Co., Ltd. (J-Power) (Executive Managing Officer, ECHIGO Shoichi)
　●　FUJI ELECTRIC CO., LTD. (Managing Executive Officer, MIYOSHI Yoshitada)
　●　JERA Co., Inc. (Managing Executive Officer of Enterprise Value Creation, FUJIIE Minako)
　●　Mitsubishi Logisnext Co., Ltd. (Representative Director and President, MANO Yuichi)
　●　ONO PHARMACEUTICAL CO., LTD. (Corporate Executive Officer, TAKADA Akira)
　●　Tokyo Electron Ltd. (Corporate Director and Chairman of the Board of Directors, NUNOKAWA Yoshikazu)

(2) Panel discussion about the Association’s “Agenda 2025” Theme Weeks programme Moderator:
　 ISHIKAWA Masaru, Expo Site Operation Producer, Japan Association for the 2025 World Exposition

　Speakers
　●　KARITA Sam, Managing Director & Senior Partner, Boston Consulting Group; Global Leader, BCG Henderson Institute Japan
　●　YAMAMOTO Kiyohiro, Director, Representative Corporate Executive, President & Group CEO of Azbil Corporation
　●　RZONCA Noriko, Senior Executive Officer and CDO of COSMO ENERGY HOLDING CO., LTD.
　●　FUJIIE Minako, Managing Executive Officer of Enterprise Value Creation of JERA Co., Inc.
　●　MANO Yuichi, Representative Director and President of Mitsubishi Logisnext Co., Ltd.

“Agenda 2025” Theme Week Programme Panel Discussion

(Left: Producer ISHIKAWA Masaru, Right: KARITA Sam, Boston Consulting Group)

With less than a year to go until the opening of the Expo, a panel discussion was held to explain  the planning details of the Association’s Theme Weeks Agenda 2025 programme, the outline of which is being finalised. The panel discussion was moderated by ISHIKAWA Masaru (Expo Site Operation Producer, Japan Association for the 2025 World Exposition) and featured Mr KARITA from the Boston Consulting Group (BCG), which is involved in the planning of “Agenda 2025” with the Association, and representatives from four of the new general sponsors. They spoke about the future visions and initiatives of the sponsors and their thoughts on Expo 2025 Osaka, Kansai, Japan with regard to the two themes of “The Future of Earth and Biodiversity” and “The Future of Community and Mobility”.

(Summary of remarks by each company)

[Theme: Future of the Earth and Biodiversity]
●　COSMO ENERGY HOLDING CO., LTD. (RZONCA Noriko, Senior Executive Officer and CDO )
　　She introduced the COSMO Eco Fund, which has been running for more than 20 years. She said that when considering major social issues, the first step is to think about what we can do and act accordingly. In response to a question about the use of generative AI in the manufacturing industry, she said that companies around the world are considering the use of generative AI to achieve their missions and that there will be many such opportunities in Japan in the future.

●　JERA Co., Inc. (FUJIIE Minako , Executive Officer of Enterprise Value Creation)
　　She talked about her company’s mission to “provide cutting-edge solutions to the world’s energy problems” and their efforts to achieve zero emissions by 2050. In response to a question on the advantages of each approach, she stated that it is important to provide a range of options so that the initiatives can be tailored to the actual situation in each country.

　[Theme: Future Communities and Mobility]
●　Azbil Corporation (YAMAMOTO Kiyohiro, Director, Representative Corporate Executive, President & Group CEO)
　　He said that he would like to accelerate future-oriented activities together with other sponsors with the idea of “people-centred automation” which aims to achieve both a comfortable and prosperous society and global environment. In response to a question about global demand for countermeasures against ageing infrastructure, he said that Azbil Corporation aims to contribute to infrastructure renewal, which will be a major social issue in the future, with its unique measurement and control technologies.

●　Mitsubishi Logisnext Co., Ltd. ( MANO Yuichi, Representative Director and President )
　　He said that as a comprehensive logistics equipment manufacturer, his company set a vision of “Sustainable logistics that support urban infrastructure,” and introduced efforts to solve logistics-related issues through the power of technology. In addition, regarding the Agenda 2025 initiative, the company conducted planning meetings with young employees and dialogues with experts to deepen their understanding of global-level issues and also spoke about their expectations for the growth of each employee.

(For reference)
Video footage of the day is available on the Expo’s official YouTube channel.
https://youtu.be/1vYoXL6DqBE (Japanese)