CEO Today Hall of Fame

HALL OF FAME www.ceotodaymagazine.com 4 overall business portfolio. So, our vision for growth and our global strategic plan takes us into new growth areas where we already have expertise such as Network Video Systems and Healthcare. With networked cameras for example, the number of potential applications is enormous. Utilising a network of high-resolution cameras backed up by state- of-the-art image processing, facial recognition software and other analytics is a game changer in areas such as retail, factories and warehouses. This type of technology has the potential to massively improve productivity We are also a major player in the semiconductor business which supplies for instance OLED panels for smart phones, tv screens etc. That’s an industry at the sharp end of innovation and we’ve only just to begun to imagine the possibilities there. This has been the biggest change at Canon over the past several years and will continue to be so, well into the future; we must keep innovating if we want to continue to be successful. Finally, some things make for an easy transition; our global business is built on a specific philosophy - that what is good for society is also good for business. That philosophy is Kyosei, which means living and working together for the common good and is a deeply held belief is at the heart of everything we do. In my experience, a strong and consistent global culture helps with many things, including leadership transitions. Canon celebrated its 60th anniversary of operations last year – can you reveal some of the company’s long-term objectives and the future? That’s correct, we celebrated our 60th anniversary in Europe last year. We’ve been around just over 80 years in total. Our first president Takeshi Mitarai was a doctor whose primary motivation was to find a solution to help diagnose TB – the biggest killer of Japanese in the 1930s. In 1940 we developed a camera (x-ray) expressly for this purpose, and with that our company was born. As with any other technology-based company, we always have an eye on the present and one on the future. Our expertise is around imaging, we have a rich history that is leading the world in imaging technologies. With current industry trends, you don’t have to have a crystal ball to see that we live in a word where imaging is omnipresent in almost everything; helping to push boundaries and find solutions in everything from the medical field to the automotive industry. As such, we are excited about the future. Aside from cameras, what do the next 12 months hold for Canon’s newer businesses? I think it must be around the vision we are setting out for the future. We are a company well known for our core businesses; cameras, copiers, etc., and for many years we have been very successful in leading the field in many of these areas. We must continue to innovate in those areas whilst at the same time rethinking our Eye-Scanner EOS M50 black Lifestyle 22mm Kay Nambiar 11