■ Group Quarterly Meeting

We recently held the Group Quarterly Meeting (GQM) online over two days, on August 5th and 6th. In my presentation I communicated that "We can do more" in the areas of services, mobile and social as we take on our "1 Billion Challenge," and "We can explore more" around the wealth of technologies we have cultivated at Sony, to create a unique "social entertainment space."

■ Fill the world with emotion... "with you"

As we take on these challenges, our focus will be on using our own creativity and technology to deliver Kando directly to users. At the same time, we will also continue to value our collaborations with external partners, that enable us to deliver Kando to even more people.

For example, following our recently announced acquisition of Crunchyroll, we ourselves will be able to directly deliver emotionally impactful anime content to a wider audience around the world. Furthermore, the online distribution agreements Sony Pictures reached with Netflix and Disney will allow even more people to enjoy SPE's creative output. From a technology perspective, many smartphone manufacturers now use Sony image sensors in their products, which enable smartphone users around the world to themselves become creators. This is one of the many ways our technology is contributing to the creation and sharing of emotion.

Leveraging the full power of Sony's creativity and technology, I look forward to taking on the challenge of filling the world with emotion together "with you," which means with everyone across the Sony Group as well as the many creators, artists, and collaborative partners we will continue to work with outside of the Sony Group.

■ Contributing to the planet Earth through Technology

In my blog of March this year, I underlined our responsibility as a company to reducing our environmental impact on our important stakeholder, the Earth, and the contributions we can make through the added value generated by our technologies and businesses. In that blog, I mentioned there are a number of unique ways that Sony can contribute through our technologies, but there are also ways that we can contribute by sharing certain technologies and making them widely accessible.

For instance, the Open Energy System (OES), developed by Sony Computer Science Laboratories (Sony CSL), is a microgrid system that combines solar panels and storage batteries which can mutually exchange electric power via direct current (DC) within a small community. Following five years of feasibility tests in Okinawa, we started free licensing of the key technology at the end of last year. I hope that various partners will expand the use of this technology and accelerate its application and evolution in the future.

OES Project "Make electric power more accessible, more flexible and greener"

Another technology that will help us contribute in this way is Triporous, a new material made from rice husks, of which more than 100 million tons are discarded globally every year. Triporous was born from Sony's discovery of the unique microstructure of rice husks in the course of our R&D work on battery electrode materials. The material has high antiviral properties and great potential for applications such as securing safe water in areas without electricity around the world.

So that we can contribute widely to the global environment, I also intend to take a "with you" approach to these technologies, and not confine their use to Sony alone.

At the recent GQM I wore a black polo shirt made from Triporous material in collaboration with ISSEY MIYAKE
Photo location: Sony HQ 13th floor, SSAP (Sony Startup Acceleration Program) Open Innovation Village

Triporous concept video

As always, I look forward to receiving your feedback.