Skip to main content

Hitachi Social Innovation Forum 2019 EUROPE

Speaker at an event on the stage

Event location Milan

Event date Thursday, 7 November, 2019

Society First - Our second Social Innovation Forum held in Italy, a key country in Hitachi’s global capability network, was an opportunity for over 500 technology and social infrastructure leaders from across Europe to share ideas about how best to apply the latest and emerging digital solutions to solve society’s challenges.

Welcomed by Lorena Dellagiovanna, our Country Manager for Italy, leading figures of the European industrial world shared their insights on the trends and strategies required to achieve successful “Human-Centric Digital Transformation”. Among them, Henrik Plougmann – CEO of Metroselskabet, Arrigo Giana – ATM General Manager, Alessandro Russo – Chairman and CEO CAP Holding, Roberto Cingolani – Chief Technology & Innovation Officer of Leonardo, Petra Sundstrom – Head of Digital Business Development at Sandvik, Andrea Ceriani – Head of Industrial Operation for Kubota Farm Machinery Europe, Caroline Gorski – Global Partnership Director for Rolls Royce, Mauro Ferrari – President of ERC and Giuseppe Sala, Mayor of Milan.

Our Responsibility - Alistair Dormer, Executive VP at Hitachi, Ltd., highlighted our commitment to Powering Good - that we have a responsibility to use Social Innovation to make our world safer, smarter, and healthier by improving social, environmental, and economic value globally.

He advised that the technologies enabling improvements in global connectivity, manufacturing and trade, and access to energy, need to be used strategically to make better and more sustainable societies. Climate change, resource scarcity, demographic shifts, urbanisation, and the rise of automation present challenges to society as we know it. That is why Hitachi continues to develop with its partners meaningful solutions in the fields of social infrastructure, mobility, health, water, energy, IoT and AI technologies.

Digital Partnership - The past decade has seen dramatic change driven by new technological innovations, globalization and changing demographics, that create both unprecedented growth opportunities as well as a high risk of failure. Hicham Abdessamad, Chief Executive of Hitachi’s Social Innovation Business, explained how Hitachi continues to create an ecosystem of trusted partners who—when combined with Hitachi’s global capabilities and expertise—create a digital powerhouse that is unparalleled in the marketplace.

With several of these partners on the same stage, Hicham discussed how this expanding ecosystem works based on a co-creation approach focused on delivering greater value and business outcomes for all digitally transforming customers, and with an enduring commitment to improving society.

Human-Centric Design – a shared opinion throughout the day was the need to ensure all design decisions meet the identified requirements of the society that the technology is to serve, both today and into the future. The world needs access to sustainable energy. We need access to clean, safe water. We need reliable transport which not only keeps cities moving but which connects societies to each other. We need better healthcare systems that prioritise the patient and we need to trust the infrastructure around us to continue to serve us as society grows larger and older.

That is why Hitachi is committed to global growth and expansion of our digital and Social Innovation Business, which will explore the use of new technologies and our human-centric vision of social, economic and environmental values aligned with Society 5.0.