NEC seeks to create social value in a world where technology is rapidly evolving, placing an emphasis not only on cutting-edge technology development but sharing knowledge of the opportunities that technology can create with the world. This can be clearly seen through NEC Latin America’s involvement in “Conexões JHSP” (hereafter referred to as “Conexões”, Portuguese for “Connections”), a thought-leadership panel discussion run by Japan House São Paulo, an organization founded by the Japanese Ministry of Foreign Affairs, in collaboration with NEC Latin America and Rádio Eldorado. Key figures across Brazil’s government and enterprise environment participate in Conexões, where potential technological solutions to social issues are discussed across themes such as Smart Cities, Healthcare, Finance, and more. This initiative is one way that NEC is creating social value in Latin America.

Communicating Social Value Creation Opportunities to Latin America and Beyond

Japan House, the owner of “Conexões”, was founded by the Japanese Ministry of Foreign Affairs as a means of “increasing knowledge about contemporary Japanese culture” outside of Japan. São Paulo was the first branch to be established in 2017, which was appropriately chosen as Brazil is home to the largest Japanese population outside of Japan in the world. There are also branches in Los Angeles and London.

NEC has been present in Brazil since 1968, and since Japan House São Paulo was established, both organisations have had a close relationship. One way that Japan House São Paulo and NEC Latin America work together is through NEC providing its biometrics technology to Japan House São Paulo for their business needs, such as in their exhibition space where the technology allows them to gauge what sort of customers are visiting their facilities.

Conexões is another example of collaboration between NEC Latin America and Japan House São Paulo. The initiative began in June 2019 after NEC suggested to Japan House to hold a panel discussion exclusive to in-person attendees, however this switched to a hybrid format after seeing success with using a virtual format during the COVID-19 pandemic years.

The partners of Conexões – Japan House São Paulo, NEC Latin America, and Rádio Eldorado – brainstorm together to identify a topic relevant to the audience and define the theme and strategy for each session. Japan House São Paulo promotes and hosts the event, providing the venue, interpretation (into Spanish and Japanese) and streaming on its official YouTube channel. NEC leverages its technological expertise to assist with theme selection and often provides a speaker on the panel, and Rádio Eldorado, a radio and podcast platform operated by O Estado de S. Paulo, a well-respected media company with over 150 years of history in Brazil and better known locally as “Estadão”, is the content leader who invites the panelists, ensures each session’s topic reflects a broad perspective from local institutional and business leaders, helps facilitate the sessions and broadcasts them across its media platforms. The themes are varied, ranging from urban mobility, finance, smart cities, healthcare, digital payments, with the most recent discussion held on November 26, 2025, about 'Sustainability’.

Conexões sessions are held once a quarter, with up to forty people attending in-person, hundreds watching via YouTube, and tens of thousands of people listening via radio and podcast per session. By collaborating on Conexões, NEC is addressing social challenges in Latin America with technology-driven solutions.

NEC Latin America’s role in Conexões does not end with providing expertise and a fresh perspective on the technology market for each session. We asked three different individuals about their thoughts on this.

Starting the Conversation: A First Step Toward Solutions

The first person we spoke to was Kenjiro Maetani, the CEO for NEC Latin America.

“Conexões is not a technology-based Think Tank. It is a panel discussion run with an in-person and online audience, so we are aware that we need to communicate in a way that anyone who is listening can understand what we are trying to do. This ties in very closely with NEC’s Purpose; that is ‘to create the social values of safety, security, fairness and efficiency’.

“We gather with senior people from various business sectors, including many C-Suite level executives and government officials, because the message that we share through these discussions is very strong and has lots of credibility.

"Of course, a panel discussion doesn't solve a problem on its own. In today’s world, collaboration between stakeholders is more critical than ever. Our goal with this initiative is to bring these vital conversations to the table—sparking public interest, sharing insights from seasoned industry leaders, and identifying the real issues we face. By doing so, we aim to trigger a movement within industry and society, connecting the right people to accelerate the solutions our world needs."

“Ultimately, it is about fostering an ongoing dialogue. By introducing key challenges and presenting ways through which NEC can help solve them, we open ourselves up to a continuing conversation with the attendees who are interested in looking together at co-creating solutions.”

Carlos Augusto Roza, the President of Japan House São Paulo, shares a similar sentiment about creating this spark for dialogue.

“The process of value creation needs to begin with an awareness of what is possible, and attendees to Conexões become aware of these possibilities and how NEC can contribute its expertise on potential solutions.

“To give you an example, we had the Vice Governor of São Paulo attend the Smart City panel discussion – this is significant as São Paulo is the state with the largest population in Brazil – and afterwards he mentioned how surprised he was at the possibilities that technology could bring to aid in the management of the cities in the state. He left the meeting with various bright ideas that he wanted to consider implementing.”

Reflecting on NEC Latin America’s collaboration with Japan House São Paulo, he says:

“One of our pillars is ‘business and technology’, and we have always sought to be a hub for connecting companies and people with the common objective of technological innovation, so from the very start it made sense to partner with NEC in running Conexões.”

Daniel Gonzales, a journalist and presenter from Rádio Eldorado who facilitates the panel discussions, shares thoughts with us about the fruit that Conexões has been bearing.

“Through driving this initiative via radio, podcast and video, we have strong visibility to spread a very clear message which is provided free to the market. 

“I have always been a huge fan of NEC. NEC’s position in Conexões is important because we try to align the topics we raise in these panel discussions with market trends in Latin America, which covers various domains that NEC is involved in like biometrics, cybersecurity, smart cities, and others.

“It really is a win-win situation as NEC builds relationships with various stakeholders and Rádio Eldorado gains strong content. I hope to keep collaborating with NEC for a long time into the future, as there still so much ground to cover in technology and the list of topics is never ending.”

Going forward, NEC and its partners are confident that the social value they help create in Latin America will continue to grow through the collaboration fostered by Conexões.

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