Group CTO Message

The Panasonic Group is committed to its mission of realizing an ideal society with affluence both in matter and mind, and aims to make people’s lives more convenient, prosperous, and better through its business activities. This philosophy remains the foundation of our business and technological development today.

In recent years, we have been advancing R&D with the aim of contributing to two urgent issues: solving global environmental issues and ensuring each customer’s lifelong health, safety and comfort. As Group CTO, responsible for technology development, environment, and intellectual property across the Panasonic Group, my role is to help turn these ambitions into practical outcomes by working closely with the technical teams across our operating companies.

With regard to solving global environmental issues, at present the activities under Panasonic Green Impact (PGI), our Group-wide environmental initiative spanning businesses, technologies, and operating sites, are working effectively and have already made meaningful progress toward reducing environmental impact while creating value for society.

We believe AI will play a major role in advancing the life-long health, safety, and comfort of our customers. To that end, we have begun working with our operating companies to explore, from both a technology and AI perspective, how to enhance the quality and safety of products and services, and how to create systems that allow users to continue using them with peace of mind.

Our goal is not research for its own sake. Our goal is to bring technology into the real world, where it can improve people's lives and contribute to a more sustainable future. We will continue our efforts to contribute to solving global environmental issues and to each customer’s life-long health, safety and comfort. We will continue to pursue R&D with a strong focus on practical implementation, while engaging in ongoing dialogue with the operating companies on key issues such as proposals for new technologies and services.

The rapid advancement of AI utilization in society has led to improvements in operational efficiency in cyberspace. Looking ahead, we expect further progress through CPS (Cyber-Physical Systems) and Physical AI, bringing the power of AI from the digital world into the physical world.

The enduring strength of Japanese manufacturing, and of Panasonic in particular, lies in the deep expertise accumulated over decades on factory floors, including tacit knowledge, craftsmanship, and rigorous quality assurance processes. By embedding this knowledge into AI systems, we believe we can create distinctive competitive advantages and unlock entirely new forms of value.

To realize this vision, we welcomed Mr. Sakakibara as Group CAIO (Chief AI Officer) and established the AI & Robotics Research Laboratory. Through close collaboration between the Group CTO and CAIO, we will accelerate the fusion of AI with Panasonic's manufacturing expertise, driving practical AI applications and creating new value across the Group.

The future of AI will be shaped not only by advances in algorithms, but also by how effectively AI is integrated into the real world. By combining Panasonic’s manufacturing heritage with the power of AI, we are committed to helping shape that future and creating new value for society.

We look forward to shaping this future together.