The International Electrotechnical Commission (IEC) is holding its 78th General Meeting from Nov. 4 to 15 at the Tokyo International Forum. This is the first General Meeting to be held in Japan in 15 years. As it is being held the same year Junji Nomura was named IEC president, expectations are mounting for Japan's contribution and enhanced presence with regard to the IEC's international standardization movement.
Since "smart" has become a global issue in the electric/electronic advanced technology arena, "Integration toward a Smarter World" has been identified by Japan as the theme for the meeting. Taking advantage of this opportunity, the country seeks to broadly introduce and propagate its original "smart" approaches (as they apply to cities, grids, electric automobiles, reduced energy consumption, the environment and other areas) to overseas meeting attendees.
Also being held under the meeting theme are Technical Visits, permanent exhibits, technological displays, symposiums and demonstration experiments. Furthermore, the event will also feature sightseeing tours and culture experience programs sponsored by the Tokyo Metropolitan Government, allowing foreign guests to attend tea ceremonies, wear kimono and enjoy sightseeing in and around the capital.
The IEC meeting is mainly comprised of the high-level General Meeting and meetings of the Council Board (CB), Standardization Management Board (SMB), Conformity Assessment Board (CAB), as well as Technical Committees (TC) and Subcommittees (SC). Usually, all meetings are closed sessions attended by international standardization technological specialists from around the world. This year's General Meeting in Tokyo is slightly different, as there are several programs open to the general public, including the General Meeting open session, open symposiums and technological displays.
Technical Visits
Leading Japanese companies and organizations will provide registered participants from overseas and those accompanying them with Technical Visits to company sites and showrooms on a complimentary basis.
Each visit has been prepared by the sponsoring companies as a way to introduce their latest technological activities to technical specialists from overseas. A notable inclusion on the list of Technical Visit destinations is the "Fukushima Renewable Energy Institute" of the National Institute of Advanced Industrial Science and Technology, which opened in April in Koriyama, Fukushima Prefecture.
Sponsors' Exhibition
From Nov. 4 to 14, a Sponsors' Exhibition by seven sponsor companies will be held in the lobby gallery of the Tokyo International Forum B1F.
The exhibitors are NTT Corp., Sony Corp., Fujitsu Ltd., Mitsubishi Electric Corp., Hitachi Ltd., Toshiba Corp. and Panasonic Corp.
Special Exhibition
On Nov. 11 (afternoon) and 12, a Special Exhibition by 26 companies and organizations will be held in Hall B7 (1) at the Tokyo International Forum.
The exhibitors are Panasonic Corp., Philips Electronics Japan, Ltd., Ricoh Co., National Institute of Technology and Evaluation, Fuji Xerox Co., The New Energy and Industrial Technology Development Organization, Corning Inc., Sumitomo Electric Industries, Ltd., Sharp Corp., TÜV Rheinland group, UL Japan Inc., Fuji Electric Co., Intertek Japan K.K., TDK Corp., Japan Quality Assurance Organization, Hitachi, Ltd., KDDI Corp., NGK Insulators, Ltd., Toshiba Corp., NTT Corp., NEC Corp., Murata Manufacturing Co., Mitsubishi Electric Corp., National Institute of Advanced Industrial Science and Technology, IDEC Corp. and Asahi Glass Co.
Information provided by the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry and the official website of the 78th IEC General Meeting in Tokyo. For more information, visit www.iec2014.org
The 78th IEC General Meeting Open Session
Date and time: Nov. 14, 2 p.m. to 5 p.m.
Venue: Tokyo International Forum, Hall B7
Under the theme "Integration toward a Smarter World — Coexistence and Sustainability," which has been defined by the host country Japan as the original concept for this general meeting, the session is open to general public.
Following the keynote speech titled "Learning from the past and looking into the future" by Masaki Sakuyama, president & CEO of Mitsubishi Electric Corp.; there will be three presentations: "Delivering Transformative Change through Sustainability and Smart Cities — Amsterdam and Aizu Examples" by Peter Lacy, global managing director, Sustainability Services for Accenture; "Smart Grid Maui Island" by Leon R. Roose, faculty specialist at University of Hawaii; "Smart Industrial Park in West Java, Indonesia" by Satri Falanu, head of PLN Research Institute.
Also, there will be a panel discussion featuring the three presenters and Fumio Ueno, IEC/SEG1 convener as panelists, moderated by Hiromichi Fujisawa, IEC vice president and chairman of conformity assessment board.
Symposiums examine Japan's international standardization activities
On Nov. 11 and 12, three organizations will hold symposiums on international standardization activities of Japan at the Hall B7 (2) of the Tokyo International Forum.
Japanese/English simultaneous interpretation is scheduled to be available for foreign participants. Admission Free
"International standardization; key for opening new market with innovation"
Date and hour: Nov. 11, 1:30 p.m. to 5 p.m.
Venue: Tokyo International Forum, Hall B7
Organizer: National Institute of Advanced Industrial Science and Technology (AIST)
A mechanism for linking innovation to emerging technology based on research activities is required. We think that standardization is one of the most important tools to build this mechanism. AIST held three symposiums on strategy for international standardization to shared such ideas with national stakeholders.
This year, the General meeting of International Electrotechnical Commission will be held at Tokyo for the first time in 15 years. At this opportunity, AIST the Printed Electronics (PE) has been chosen to be the topic of the symposium because PE is a market-ready technology.
Following the opening speech by AIST's Ryoji Chubachi and a keynote speech by Hirofumi Katase, director general of the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry, experts from various countries are invited as speakers.
The speakers are John W. Mitchell, president of IPC; Stephan Kirchmeyer, chair, Organic and Printed Electronics Association (OE-A); Sunghan Kim, vice president of Samsung Electronics Co.; Ikuzo Ogawa, managing executive officer of Sumitomo Chemical Co.; Takao Someya, professor of the University of Tokyo who serves as printed electronics project leader at the New Energy and Industrial Technology Development Organization; and Toshihide Kamata, director of Flexible Electronics Research Center, AIST.
"International Standards: Use and Global Strategy in Businesses"
Date and time: Nov. 12, 10 a.m. to noon
Venue: Tokyo International Forum, Hall B7 (2)
Organizer: Tokyo Chamber of Commerce and Industry (TCCI)
In recent years, as the globalization of business has progressed, there has been rapid development in manufacturing both in advanced countries and in the emerging countries of Asia, Africa, and elsewhere. This development has also brought cooperation and competition on a variety of levels. For Japan to improve its international competitiveness in the modern world, it is now, more so than in the past, increasingly important for Japan to pursue a strategy of standardization.
This symposium will focus on the importance of pursuing a standardization strategy and offer case studies of businesses that are pioneering in this area.
The keynote speech titled "Defense to offense: recognizing international standardization as a critical strategy for medium and small-sized enterprises, and knowledge from successes and failures" will be delivered by Toshihiro Fujita, senior executive officer, chief technology officer of IDEC Corp.
Also there will be case studies on international expansion and the handling of international standards in businesses.
Prior registration is required. For inquiries, call the Tokyo Chamber of Commerce and Industry, SME Department at 03-3283-7754.
"What's going on in international standardization of Smart Cities/Community?"
Date and time: Nov. 12, 2:30 p.m. to 4:30 p.m.
Venue: Tokyo International Forum, Hall B7
Organizer: IEC Activities Promotion Committee of Japan (IEC-APC)
This event is intended to promote further understanding by broad stakeholders of international standardization activities on Smart Cities/Community.
The speakers are Fumio Ueno from Toshiba Corp., who serves as the convener of IEC/SEG1, which is working on smart cities; Yoshiaki Ichikawa from Hitachi Ltd., who serves as the chairman of ISO/TC268/SC1, which is working on smart community infrastructures; and Sekhar Kondepudi of the National University of Singapore, who serves as vice chairman of the ITU-T/Focus Group on Smart Sustainable Cities
No prior registration required.
For more information, visit www.2014iectokyo.jp/events/en/symposium.html
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