Nearly 150 representatives from Chinese and Japanese governments and businesses gathered for the Shenzhen-Osaka Innovation Cooperation Conference, which was held at the Imperial Hotel, Osaka, on May 12.

A sideline event of Shenzhen Week at the China Pavilion of Expo 2025 Osaka, the conference was themed “Better Life, Co-Creation by Shenzhen and Osaka.” Attendees discussed topics such as business environments, industrial collaboration, and cultural tourism cooperation.

Over 30 Shenzhen-based enterprises showcased their latest technological innovations at the conference. Leading companies such as Tencent, BYD, and Honor shared the stage with renowned Japanese corporations like Panasonic and Itochu, exchanging innovative ideas and exploring opportunities to strengthen economic and trade ties between Shenzhen and Osaka.

During his speech, Shenzhen Vice Mayor Luo Huanghao highlighted that since Shenzhen and Osaka forged their sister-city bond in 2010, cultural exchanges between the two cities have flourished and trade cooperation has significantly deepened.

Luo noted that Shenzhen is eager to further enhance collaboration with Japanese enterprises in areas including semiconductors, integrated circuits, intelligent connected vehicles, robotics, biomedicine, and new health materials. It also seeks to strengthen cooperation in service industries such as retail and tourism.

Data show that in 2024, Shenzhen’s trade in goods with Japan reached approximately US$26.4 billion, a 16.4% increase year on year. Furthermore, Japanese investment in Shenzhen surpassed US$3.8 billion, and Shenzhen’s investment in Japan totaled US$430 million.

At the conference, Riko Ogawa, from Panasonic Holdings Corp., stressed the company’s strong connection to Shenzhen.

“This year, Panasonic established its China headquarters for the projector business in Shenzhen. Additionally, Panasonic Energy has maintained a long-standing collaboration with Shenzhen-based BTR [a lithium-ion battery materials supplier]. In recent years, Panasonic has actively explored manufacturing applications for artificial intelligence in partnership with Shenzhen-based SmartMore.”

Hanson Liu, country manager of Tencent Cloud Japan, delivered a presentation on three core business areas — gaming, Tencent Cloud, and WeChat Pay — during a roadshow.

Discussing Tencent’s future plans in Japan, he said while its main operations in Japan are based in Tokyo, the company plans to expand into Osaka this year by investing in a new data center and opening a new office.

Liu specifically noted that Tencent has integrated AI into more than 700 products and aims to support the digital transformation of Japan’s manufacturing sector through collaborations that use DeepSeek, an advanced large language model (LLM).

He also stated that Shenzhen Week is a great opportunity for Tencent to better introduce its products to the Japanese market.

“Expo 2025 Osaka is drawing significant attention — both internationally and in Japan. We hope this platform helps more Japanese industries understand our solutions,” said Liu.

Shenzhen-based Guangdong Embodied Storm Robot Co. Ltd. demonstrated its self-developed intelligent physiotherapy robot at the conference.

Liang Shiyun, its chief engineer and co-founder, said, “This is one of our first self-developed robots. It was sold to Japan, and the one on display now is on loan from our Japanese customer.”

Founded in September 2023, the company has developed an independent six-dimensional sensing system. Liang said the company enjoys a robust domestic order pipeline and is expanding into overseas markets.