According to the forecasts of PwC, the population of the Earth will reach 8.5 bln people by 2030. The primary task of mankind for the next 10 years is to overcome the global crisis which has deepened further due to the raging pandemic of coronavirus in the spring of 2020 and severe fall in the world oil price market at the beginning of the year, establish the principle of trust as the foundation for the sustainable development of society and solve pressing problems. The UN Millennium Development Goals in 2015 were replaced by the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), which quickly became a megatrend for the next decades as an ambitious roadmap for governments, businesses and society to solve the most pressing environmental, social and economic problems of our time.
These seventeen goals may seem somewhat abstract and detached from the major business goals and priorities that everyone is accustomed to. However, along with business leaders, the investment community, regulators, and other stakeholders that face the global development challenges in an unstable and uncertain world, the growth of opportunities associated with the SDGs are becoming increasingly apparent.
The 2030 agenda involves the development and implementation of global sustainable development policies and programs based on the SDGs in order to change the global development paradigm in the interconnection of economic, environmental and social aspects. Those initiatives are being worked out both at the government level, and in the business sector.
Anyway S 5.0 is Japan’s National Digitalization strategy concept targeting Sustainable Economic Development with resolution of social challenges by digital technologies, and also is Human-centric Society in which SDGs are achieved. That’s why we have slogan of Society 5.0 for SDGs. Japan was first to notice that the world is imbalanced. Historically, humanity has gone through four stages of development: hunters and gatherers, agricultural society, industrial society and an information society. Today, Japan is on the verge of entering a new society in which digital technologies are integrated into all spheres of life and help both individual personally and society as a whole to function in a balanced manner and without harm to the environment — the Society 5.0, in which social challenges are solved using 4th industrial revolution technologies (IoT, AI for Big Data utilization) with Sustainable Economic Development.
Japan has a long-standing advantage in the creation of high-end products using digital technologies such as IoT and AI (Artificial Intelligence) that can be implemented both into production processes, and in people’s lives.
It is difficult to imagine a large corporation focused on one type of activity only. Companies are turning into ecosystems and alliances expanding the value chain, which allows customers to receive higher quality services with maximum comfort. Given global trends in sustainable development, companies are moving away from the traditionally primary goal of business, which is to make a profit, to contribute to society. Without this, the value of the business disappears.
This principle integrates to Russia with great difficulty, the society is only adapting to them. This is largely due to the national mentality. During a discussion with Far Eastern Federal University students, Mitsubishi Electric representatives explained the Japanese approach to understanding business: “Despite the fact that the Mitsubishi Group is no longer a single conglomerate, all Mitsubishi companies have the same management philosophy, three main principles of which are: Honesty, Internationalism, Contribution to society. It is very important. This is why companies exist in society. Of course, we are an operating business, and profit is very important for us. However, profit is the key to continuing the business model, a mean of subsistence, and not its essence, because without profit we cannot continue the business. Nevertheless, ultimately, directly or indirectly, contributing to society is the primary goal of running our business. If a business does not bring benefits to society, society does not need this business. This is our major management philosophy.”
Society 5.0 is the era of harmony, humanity, the balance between man and technology. The previous four periods of the humankind evolution were distinguished by a significant advantage of one direction, whether it was industrialization at the expense of man or rapid technological development prevailing over humans, or the superiority of consumer society over nature. Society 5.0 is a balance point, a point of progress, where all of its components complement each other.
Society 5.0 is the path to the Sustainable Development Goals for the 2030 time period approved by the UN General Assembly resolution on September 25, 2015. This means responsible production and consumption, a humane attitude to the environment, and fighting the most critical social problems. The leading companies are ready to lead this process and are already transforming their businesses in favor of society. The goal of the strategy in Russia is to set the direction of technological development for solving socio-economic challenges. Digital technologies are a tool for achieving sustainable economic growth. For Russia, the development of the manufacturing sector of the economy is of a great importance. Japanese companies in general and Mitsubishi Electric in particular are ready to introduce the ideological and technological foundations of Society 5.0 in Russia to increase the global competitiveness of the Russian real sector and educate a new generation of professionals who are ready to work with smart systems.
At the XVI Joint Meeting of the Russian-Japanese and Japanese-Russian Committees on Economic Cooperation, a memorandum was signed under which the parties agreed to place Society 5.0 and the achievement of the UN Sustainable Development Goals at the center of Japanese-Russian cooperation in the field of socio-economic development and digitalization.
By Noritsugu Uemura, Corporate Executive, Government and External Relation Division Senior General Manager at Mitsubishi Electric Corporation