On October 15, 2019, Switzerland’s first #SWISSTECH Pavilion opened at the CEATEC technology fair in Makuhari Messe in Chiba. CEATEC is one of Asia’s largest technology fairs in the CPS/IoT area and is gaining growing interest internationally every year. This year’s motto was “Toward Society 5.0”, the Japanese concept for a super smart society that makes full use of advanced technologies to further economic growth and solve sociodemographic problems.
The goal of this first Swiss presence at CEATEC was to showcase Switzerland as a country of great innovation, which abroad is often overshadowed by Switzerland’s infamously beautiful landscapes and renowned watches, cheese and chocolate. The #SWISSTECH Pavilion, a joint project realized by the Embassy of Switzerland in Japan, Presence Switzerland, Swiss Business Hub Japan / Switzerland Global Enterprise as well as Science and Technology Office Tokyo / State Secretariat for Education, Research and Innovation, featured 17 innovative companies active in the fields of FinTech, SportsTech, entertainment, VR/MR, drones, and robotics. They were able to showcase their products and services and got the chance to interact with a wide array of visitors until the closing of the exhibition on October 18.
In addition to the individual booths of our exhibitors, the Pavilion also included a stage that regularly attracted many visitors with company pitches and spectacular drone shows. The official opening ceremony on October 15 included speeches by the Ambassador of Switzerland in Japan, the CEATEC Executive Board and NEC Chairman, Nobuhiro Endo, as well as the Deputy Director-General for IT Strategy of the Commerce and Information Policy Bureau at METI, Yoichi Ogasawara.
The #SWISSTECH Pavilion at CEATEC was well received by the Japanese media and public. The project was carried out as part of the “Innovation” Pillar of the current “Doors to Switzerland in Japan 2020” communication campaign. It was successful in building bridges between Switzerland and Japan, two countries that can benefit from each other’s groundbreaking innovation and technology.
