Hitachi demonstrates the breadth of its expertise

Hitachi’s recent showcase, ‘Inspire Life Experiences’, demonstrated the full scope of the company’s technological expertise in CE, IT, medical systems, construction and broadcasting. In a specially constructed high-tech theatre, on semi-circular screens, the visitors were shown animations demonstrating Hitachi’s technological advances bringing significant improvements to personal and professional life in the near future. These efforts are key for ensuring sustainability of the globe in the future, claimed the company.
Hitachi spends annually 40 billion euro on R&D and these efforts were reflected at the showcase (which was accompanied by a series of conferences and briefings for specialist audiences). This included biometric identification technology, such as Mu-chips, soon to be used in banking or voting security systems. Some of the developments, such as an electric car with extensive navigation system alerting drivers to the presence of other road users and various dangers, are still some years from becoming a reality.  Others, such as digital pen and notebook which stores hand-written notes and facilitates their sharing is expected on the market in two years time.
Hitachi has also demonstrated the UT series of ultra slim and light TVs which are already 35mm thin and are to be reduced to 19mm in 2009 (see Product News on p11), and the world’s first Blu-ray disc camcorder able to capture and store images  in 1920 x 1080 full HD quality.