In 2024, business co-creation is ramping up through new partnerships. JAMA Chairman Masanori Katayama explained how this year's Japan Mobility Show fits in.
The Japan Automobile Manufacturers Association (JAMA) held a press conference on May 23, 2024.
Chairman Masanori Katayama (Isuzu) used the opportunity to announce this year’s Japan Mobility Show (JMS).
Building on the momentum of 2023, which expanded the circle of like-minded partners creating future mobility, Chairman Katayama said the event “will be more focused on the business side.”
With 150 startups and 50 established companies scheduled to exhibit, the JMS is set to serve as a co-creation platform for sparking new businesses.
The Mobility Show will run between October 15 and 18 at Makuhari Messe in Chiba Prefecture. This year’s event will also be held jointly with CEATEC, a comprehensive exhibition of digital innovation to showcase Society 5.0*.
*"A human-centered society in which economic development and the resolution of social issues are compatible with each other through a highly integrated system of cyberspace and physical space," as put forth in the Japanese government’s Fifth Science and Technology Basic Plan (approved by the Cabinet in 2016).
Becoming an annual event
Last year’s JMS, renamed from the Tokyo Motor Show, drew 1.11 million visitors.
On the event’s final day, then JAMA Chairman Akio Toyoda made the following comments during a “big recap” with Matsuko Deluxe.
Chairman Toyoda
From those taking part in creating the future to the car lovers and driving enthusiasts who attend (Tokyo) Auto Salon, as well as ventures and people from other industries...
This time, we set out to create an event that brings all these people together.
That’s why we changed “Tokyo” to “Japan” and “Motor Show” to “Mobility Show” for this first edition.
(…)
Mobility has its share of unfortunate stories, as well as exciting ones.
I feel that this Mobility Show served as our rallying cry for others to join us in creating mobility, while ensuring that the good narratives increasingly outweigh the bad.
On the day of the press conference, JAMA also launched this year’s JMS website. Additionally, the press release states a vision of mobility companies acting “both as suppliers of a means of travel and as problem solvers in regard to various societal issues, working together to create a buoyant mobility-based society.”
Carrying on the spirit of the first JMS, JAMA also announced that it would hold the event annually.
Each time, the focus will alternate between last year’s showcase of the latest mobility-related advances, offering visitors a glimpse of the future, and this year’s business-centric format for forging new partnerships and collaborations.
The JMS brings these two different facets together in a single package.
At the press conference, Chairman Katayama outlined the three main pillars of the business event.
Like last year, the event will promote new partnerships with startups and established companies exhibiting their technologies and services.
The show will also set up opportunities for startups and established companies to communicate, both at the venue and online, facilitating vibrant dialogues and business-matching.
And then there is the Future Mobility Forum, featuring JAMA’s chairman and vice chairmen. They will discuss their visions and challenges in working toward a mobility-based society.
Given the excitement around last year’s Pitch Contest for startups, Chairman Katayama said he also wants to include reverse pitching (see figure below) this time around.
In a conventional reverse pitch, an established company presents its chiefly physical issues so that startups and other industries can come up with solution ideas. This time, Chairman Katayama wants it to be a reverse pitch “in the sense of established companies and startups working together to co-create and sincerely address challenges, figuring out how to create a new mobility society.”
Creating the future of mobility across industry boundaries
Chairman Katayama also commented about the collaboration with CEATEC, saying, “The IT and electronics industries possess many elements and ideas for enhancing mobility value and experiences, and we hope to work together to build a prosperous, promising future.”
What kind of future-shaping businesses will come out of this year’s JMS? Stay tuned for more details.