Amid the emergence of a variety of environmental challenges for society, railways that provide intercity travel with low CO2 emissions and the elevators and escalators that move people around inside ever taller buildings have become essential for people’s lives. This issue of Hitachi Review describes the latest trends and efforts relating to Hitachi’s railway and building systems.
In choosing to pursue its Social Innovation Business, Hitachi has been active in providing better social infrastructure and the resolution of societal challenges. To address the acceleration of measures to overcome the societal challenges, Hitachi has restructured its business and has set out to enhance social, environmental, and economic value.
Hitachi’s Global Center for Social Innovation – Tokyo is undertaking its design work on the basis of an experience design approach that addresses such issues as user satisfaction and experience value. Hitachi Review spoke with designers to discuss such matters as the design concepts they use, how these are put into practice, and their plans for the future.
Amid all changes in people’s values and in the nature of societies and companies, the question arises as to what the buildings of the future will be like and how they will deliver value to global society. For this article, key people engaged in operations and R&D talk on the future of building systems.
Hitachi has a refocused approach on passenger-centric rolling stock design. Designing products that are adaptable to those with diverse usability issues is central to Hitachi’s vision for the future. By applying an “inclusive design” approach, new value can be added to any product or service that people interact with, while delivering benefits to society.
The impacts of global warming are becoming increasingly marked worldwide. This is causing expanding demand for railways as a highly efficient means of transportation resistant to environmental impacts. From 1921, Hitachi has created various types of products and services in the railway market. This section presents Hitachi’s railway systems using advanced digital technologies to support safe and secure mobility, together with rolling stocks and services to make train journeys comfortable.
The global population is expected to reach 9.7 billion by 2050, with more than 68% of this total living in urban areas. In developed countries, where aging demographics pose problems for society, the elevators and escalators that facilitate movement inside buildings have become essential. This section describes the latest technologies and activities of Hitachi relating to the elevators, escalators, and associated systems, including solutions that suit the lifestyle imposed by the coronavirus pandemic.