CEATEC JAPAN 2009 Keynote Speech (Brief Summary)

Emerging Countries on the Rise

China, India, Russia, and Brazil, the BRICs, certain other emerging countries like those shown here are set to achieve economic growth far in excess of the developed nations, even while maintaining a relatively large population size.

If we look at the home appliance market, the BRICs will account for 27% of the whole market come 2015. Indeed, it is expected that in addition to the BRICs, countries outside of Europe, America, and Japan will account for the greater half of the overall market come this time.

As the newly emerging markets enjoy such growth, the purchasing power of each household will rise significantly.

According to various different surveys, there is a trend for ownership ratios of electrical products such as washing machines and refrigerators to rise quickly in emerging nations once their households' annual disposable incomes start to exceed $5,000.

Many households in the BRICs will enjoy greater purchasing power for consumer durables, and this, I believe, will become a major force that will influence our markets dramatically.

Environment & Resource Issues Have Become More Serious

There has been a greatly improved response to these environmental issues over the last year. This trend has also been pushed further forwards by the global recession. A succession of national policies that simultaneously pursue both economic and ecological benefits, such as the Green New Deal Policy in the United States, have been introduced by many different countries throughout the world.

Dramatic progress has also been seen in the field of environmental technology, however we cannot possibly predict the impact that this will have on our industries. For example, if petrol-powered cars are replaced by electric cars, then this changes the types and numbers of components that are needed, as well as the internal structures of the cars and the way they are built. This will cause major changes in trading relationship and for all the related industries, and could cause dramatic rises or falls for many companies and individual people.

This is truly a time of "Green Revolution." I believe that the revolution we are beginning to see now will be just as significant and could, in some cases, even have a greater impact than the Industrial Revolution in the 18th century and the Information Revolution in the 20th century, which both served to change societies and economies completely.

Aging of Population

An aging population is not just a Japanese issue; it is in fact now becoming a global trend. The proportion of the population aged 65 or over is expected to grow in Europe, America, and China as well.

Elderly people must deal with many different concerns. In Japan, surveys by the Cabinet Office and other organizations suggest that, aside from economic issues, the biggest concerns facing elderly people are health and medical care and living alone.

In an aging society, it will become more and more important to relieve the concerns and support the activities of elderly people.

Evolving Digital Network

The spread of the Internet has ended the fixed sender and receiver relationships of information.

This has all brought about a new network era, where countless individuals throughout the world can take a leading role in sending out their own information.

Amid these changes in the environment that surrounds us, we are also beginning to see major changes in values throughout the world.

I believe that there are three particularly important keywords that summarize the new value of this new era.

• Eco Way of Thinking: the emphasis on being friendly to the environment
• Best for Each Region, Best for Each Person: the emphasis on everybody's own individualitie
• Smart Consumption: desire without excess, based on the above two points

Meanwhile, I believe that as society is changing so much, it is also important for us to remember that people's desire for peace of mind and safety is only going to grow stronger.

One thing that we are determined to maintain whatever the era is the management philosophy established by our founder, Konosuke Matsushita.

This is detailed in our company's Basic Management Objective, but to put it simply, our philosophy is to contribute to realizing progress in society and enriching people's lives through manufacturing activities. This concept is also embodied within our brand slogan, "Panasonic ideas for life."

So, how should we put this management philosophy into practice in the current era? The answer is to realize products, services, and manufacturing which suit the values of the new era.

To go a step further, I believe that our mission should be to contribute to enriching lives in a sustainable way.

In order to turn these ideas into a reality, Panasonic itself must look to evolve dynamically from its existing form.

• Business Activities with an Eco Way of Thinking
• Product Development from a Customer Perspective
• Comprehensive Solutions for the Entire House & Building

Through the pursuit of these three goals, we will seek to spur innovation in manufacturing, and create new value unique to Panasonic.

Panasonic is aiming to develop proposals for energy solutions for the entire house and we are seeking to develop proposals for ways of living that produce virtually zero CO₂ emissions.

Energy Saving

Panasonic has devoted much attention to energy saving, and we have announced a new proposal called "Eco Navi" since autumn 2009. This proposal uses Panasonic's unique sensor technology and programming technology for optimum operation as a means of enabling each customer to save energy through optimum control, based on their own actual usage and operating conditions.

We are also focusing our energies on LED light bulbs, a new form of energy-saving light bulbs about which great things are expected. In comparison to normal 60-watt light bulbs, the products that we are set to launch in October 2009, consume just one-eighth the amount of electricity to produce a similar level of brightness and their lightweight bodies also help save on resources.

Certain models even feature dimmer controls as well. Panasonic has already proved its strength in lighting fixtures, but with the development of further Panasonic-unique products in this field, we hope to present ideas for diverse, energy-saving lighting options that suit a number of different lifestyle scenarios.

Energy Creation

The core of our energy creation business is our solar cells and fuel cells. Since 2009, we have begun to supply home fuel cells with the best power generation efficiency in the world.

Energy Storage

In our energy storage business, we are promoting the development of home storage batteries that store electricity on a temporary basis, so that the energy created in these solar cells and fuel cells can be used without waste.

The storage batteries use lithium-ion batteries that have previously been developed for mobile devices such as notebook computers and mobile phones.

Lithium-ion batteries have the potential to be developed for a variety of uses within people's lifestyles, including as power sources for electric vehicles and two-wheel EVs for which much future growth are expected, and as back-up power sources in emerging countries.

By using the technology that our company has cultivated in the past, we have already completed the development of a lithium-ion battery module that offers high volume, high reliability, and safety. We now plan to develop the range of uses for this module, so that we may respond to the various growing needs associated with eco-friendly lifestyles.

Energy Management

By linking all of our equipment together and making them perform to their optimum capabilities, we can realize more comfortable, more energy-saving lifestyles than ever before.

As a company that deals not only in various home appliances and housing equipment, but in electric wiring networks as well, Panasonic can present new lifestyle ideas in which an entire house is managed in a single system.

Meanwhile, we also have great hopes for our AC/DC Hybrid Wiring System, a technology that will help realize more efficiency energy management.

There still remain a number of issues to be solved, not least safety, but we hope that our AC/DC Hybrid Wiring Systems will contribute to the reduction of these energy losses by creating an environment in which direct current can be used as it is, without the need for conversion, wherever possible.

The 'eco ideas' House is an extremely close embodiment of a lifestyle that produces virtually zero CO₂ emissions by using Panasonic products—from energy creation, energy storage, and energy saving equipment, building equipment and materials, and our energy management system.

Contribute to Eco Cars

We also believe that the various technologies behind our "eco for the entire house" concept will be able to be developed for use in eco cars as well.

For electric cars in particular, the efficient use of energy, such as electricity and heat, greatly affects not only basic driving performance, but also comfort and safety as well.

This means that, just like in the home, technology for energy creation, energy saving, energy storage, and energy management to control all of these in a system will become increasingly important for cars as well.

The motor-driven compressors shown here is one example of this. We are using the wide range of products and technologies that we have originally cultivated for the home to develop ideas for energy solutions for eco cars as well.

Photocatalyst Technology

Now, for the final part of this eco living section, I would like to speak to you able the photocatalyst technology that we are currently researching.

One key theme of our research is photocatalysts that generate hydrogen from water. If these are used within household solar panels, then we can create hydrogen from natural sunlight and water alone, without generating any CO₂. This could then be used to generate electricity in fuel cells and provide hot water.

Meanwhile, we are also researching photocatalysts to convert CO₂ into methanol. This technology uses energy from sunlight to absorb CO₂ emitted from within the home, and create fuel for biofuel vehicles. Through a combination of cutting-edge technologies like these, we hope to make a greater and greater contribution to the realization of a low-carbon society.

Link with ViERA

In 2006, Panasonic led the industry in introducing VIERA Link, and promoting the enjoyment of linking different products together. Since then, we have been the first to propose a wide range of other lifestyle ideas as well, in which videos recorded with HD camcorders or digital cameras, and online contents from services such as acTVila and YouTube can be viewed on large-screen televisions.

Recently, we have expanded this VIERA Link function even further, to propose an environment in which people can enjoy their favorite contents not only in the living room, but also in the kitchen, in the bedroom, and even out of the house as well.

Immersive Communication

The next advance that we are working on within the field of connected living is immersive communication.

The HD video communications system that we have already developed for commercial use sends full HD video and clear audio over the Internet, allowing for natural conversations to take place as if both parties were actually in the same room. We now hope to develop this technology for home use.

What we hope to achieve is truly immersive visual communications, in which family members in different locations can converse as if they were in the same room, and enjoy recorded TV programs and home movies taken with HD camcorders together.

Continue the Quest for Real-life Excitement

Meanwhile, we are also continuing our quest to discover extreme, real-life excitement that goes beyond the limits of full HD.

One part of these efforts is our FULL HD 3D System. Panasonic provides total solutions for the production of full HD 3D video from recording to editing, authoring, and equipment for viewing. We now hope to use these technologies and know-how and bring the real-life excitement of full HD 3D video into televisions in the home.

We have now already reached the point at which people will be able to enjoy high-quality 3D television in the home, with the same degree of real-life excitement that they would get at the cinema. Panasonic is now taking the lead in working to promote the spread of these FULL HD 3D Systems into people's homes.

In addition, we are also working to develop 3840 x 2160 pixels (4K2K) plasma televisions capable of producing extremely fine pictures with a resolution four times greater than full HD. A prototype of this technology is also on display at this exhibition. Please do take a look and sample the real-life excitement for yourselves.

Panasonic will continue to present ideas for connected living to support richer communication within our everyday lives.

Check and See If Your Family Is Safe

Even now, we are able to keep an eye on things from anywhere inside the home, and indeed outside the home, by linking together Panasonic's sensor cameras, televisions, Blu-ray Disc recorders, intercoms, and mobile phones.

This system is not only a means of preventing crime; it also enables us to check on our young children or on elderly relatives living elsewhere, meaning that we can truly see if our entire families are safe.

In order to advance these home security systems even further, we are also working to develop a multi-view surveillance camera system.

As you can see, by converting and automatically combining the video images from multiple surveillance cameras, we can look over our properties from above the house without any blind spots whatsoever.

This is being developed using the technology already used to help safer driving in cars, and it could even be developed out of the homes into a system that will watch over the town.

Watching over the Town

In terms of watching over the town, we are also working to supply greater peace of mind and safety with our state-of-the-art video recognition technologies. One of these technologies is our "Advanced Video Motion Detector (AVMD)", the world's highest level of technology for the detection of people and behavior analysis.

Recently, there have been more and more examples of system orders to thousands of security cameras to be installed in theme parks or busy downtown areas, and as such, handling such huge volumes of video information is becoming a much bigger issue.

A combination of AVMD and Panasonic cameras allows distributed processing to be conducted by the cameras themselves, meaning that even when dealing with a high volume of video information, abnormalities can be detected instantaneously.

These systems have shown good results in trials, and have even been installed in some places already. We hope that our technology will, in some small way, help to realize a society without accidents or crime.

Monitoring Condition of Health

Ultra-small attached sensors are the key of “Body Area Network Technology" to this idea. These sensors are so light and small that we would forget that they were even attached to our bodies, but they incorporate various different sensor devices, antennas, ultra-low-power wireless circuits, and devices that use body heat and vibrations to generate electricity, meaning that no batteries ever need to be changed.

These sensors measure things like body temperature, blood pressure, and activity levels 24 hours a day, and send this information to a health administration center via mobile phone. This means that our healthcare data can be constantly monitored, and where necessary, we can receive healthcare advice from our doctors whenever we need it.

We believe that there will also be many other ways to monitor the condition of our health on a daily basis. Alongside our research and development activities, we are also looking to accumulate a wide volume of ideas from outside our company, so that we may use this information to create more new solutions.

Life-assisting Robots

In order to contribute further to this ideal of living with peace of mind and security, we also plan to apply the electronics technology and manufacturing technology that we have cultivated in our home electronics and FA businesses into the development of robots.

In the robot business that we are aiming to develop, the leading role will still always be played by people. Our basic concept here is that robots should be tools to give us assistance in our daily lives, so that we may live in greater safety, peace of mind, and comfort.

By using the strengths that our company has established in developing products to assist people's lives in the home appliance field, we intend to work on issues such as this, and lead the way in the industry to promote the research and development of robots in the future. It is our company's aim to contribute to realizing peace of mind, safety, and comfort in an aging society, through the introduction of new robot products.

This brings me to the end of this taste of Panasonic's business philosophies and specific business initiatives.

It is my hope that Panasonic will continue to be a company that generates ideas to assist people's lives and contributes to the development of society. I ask you all for your continued understanding and support to our company's various initiatives.