NIKKEI FORUM 25th Global Management Dialogue held on the theme of technology

On November 7th and 8th, Nikkei Inc. held the NIKKEI FORUM 25th Global Management Dialogue under the title of "Navigating an Era of Frontier Technologies." As in the previous year, the conference was held in a hybrid format, with both online and in-person attendees. More than 130 participants took part in the event while physically present, surpassing the number from last year. The number of speakers from abroad on the who were on stage at the actual event increased to five, including the CEO of Intel Corporation, Mr. Pat Gelsinger, and the Executive Director and CEO of Rio Tinto, Mr. Jakob Stausholm. This figure was up from only two in 2022. A reception dinner on the first evening was also held at a large venue for the first time since 2019, and also for the first time since that year, it was possible to sense a buzz in the air almost as substantial as that which existed before the spread of the COVID-19.

*[Photo 1: Intel CEO Pat Gelsinger, (right), speaking with Nikkei moderator Akito Tanaka]

The most significant occurrences organized by the Global Events Unit have been given the new name "NIKKEI FORUM" as an official title starting this year. The aim is to promote the Nikkei brand widely overseas through a variety of events, and here the English name has been changed from "Nikkei Global Management Forum" to "NIKKEI FORUM Global Management Dialogue." As this was the first conference to be held since the downgrade of COVID-19 to a common infectious disease, a total of 551 people, including invited guests and related parties, visited the venue over two days, up from a count of 462 for the previous year's conference. The number of registrations (including those that took place online) was 809, up slightly. In addition to Intel, Geo Technologies, Panasonic Connect and Rio Tinto, KPMG Japan, which has been a special sponsor for 10 consecutive years, was named a "special partner" because the company in charge of auditing is included in the sponsors. For the first time in four years, the special sponsors' booths were back in the foyer in front of the main venue of the Imperial Hotel Tokyo, where the event was held. President and CEO of Geo Technologies Hiroshige Sugihara personally visited the booth and asked attendees to take part in the survey.

The theme of this year's event was "Technology," and keywords such as "transformation," "digital," and "artificial intelligence (AI)" repeatedly appeared in the discussions among the 21 speakers. In the opening session, Mr. James Gorman, Chairman and CEO of Morgan Stanley, reflected on his 14 years of reforming the business model as CEO, saying, "A pure investment banking trading business, while it can be a great business, is volatile. Thus, we wanted to take our strength and marry it with a stable and more resilient business. This is why we moved so strongly into wealth and asset management." Gorman's remarks were also reported by Bloomberg in Tokyo.

​*​[​P​h​o​t​o​ ​2​:​ ​Ms. Jareeporn Jarukornsakul, Group CEO of WHA Group (right) talking with the Nikkei moderator, Francesca Regalado​]​

On the second day, CEO of Suntory Holdings Takeshi Niinami, who is also president of the Keizai Doyukai (the Japan Association of Corporate Executives), took to the podium and expressed his desire to "enable people in their 50s and older to use generative AI to be active inside and outside the company in the 100-year-life era."

The title of the conference used the word "Dialogue" in its English version this year, and the editorial board members who acted as moderators tried to create rich dialogues among the speakers and the moderators, among the speakers and the audience, and among members of the audience. In an attempt to increase the level of satisfaction from participating in the event by encouraging communication, a "Lunch Session & Networking" event was held for the first time in the afternoon on the first day. Nikkei Commentator Makoto Kajiwara and Nikkei Senior Producer Kaori Takahashi took the stage at the lunch venue to discuss with participants what kind of company investors are looking for and the next generation of innovation under the theme of "Conditions for a Company to be Chosen by the Market." A male business manager (55) who participated in the session commented, "In addition to helping me understand the main session, I was able to interact with the participants seated near me through the discussion."

To attract new participants, a page was set up on the event website to introduce corporate plans for the first time, and group applications were accepted from NTT Group and other companies. In addition, two young British employees in charge of marketing for the "FT Live" event at the Financial Times came to Japan and joined the team, contributing to the distribution of short videos on social media and the building of cooperative relationships with external organizations for publicity.

The NIKKEI FORUM 26th Global Management Dialogue is scheduled for October 28-29 to avoid the U.S. presidential elections. Although the next event will be held slightly earlier than usual, the entire Nikkei Group will work together to prepare for it, and it is expected to make an even greater leap ahead as a flagship event to promote the Nikkei brand worldwide.

See here for more information.
https://www.ngmf.com/gmd2023/

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