Hitachi hosts CSR activities, plans move into infrastructure

Hitachi has been the sponsor of the Christmas Light display at the Saigon Tax Trade Centre for nine years as a symbol of its commitment to Vietnam and improving the quality of life of its people through the company’s products and solutions. This year’s ceremony was held on December 6. 

Hiroki Nakano, managing director of Hitachi Home Electronics Asia officiated the event 

In addition to the Christmas light display, Hitachi is also igniting the passions of Vietnamese students.

Opened up for Vietnamese Student since 2007, Hitachi Young Leaders Initiative (HYLI) is a key component of Hitachi’s long-term corporate social responsibility (CSR) efforts in the region.

HYLI is a community relations programme that aims to identify and nurture up and coming young leaders by bringing them together to discuss regional issues with influential government officials, prominent business leaders academics and NGO representatives.

Deputy Prime Minister Hoang Trung Hai spoke at the 11th Hitachi Young Leaders Initiative held in Hanoi in January 2012

Since it was inaugurated in Singapore in 1996, HYLI has successfully brought together the best and brightest students in Asia. Seven countries participate in the programme at current, including Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand, Vietnam and Japan. The initiative offers students participants a unique platform to broaden their outlook on regional and global issues while promoting Asian values and cross-cultural understanding.

Additionally, Hitachi and FPT Software, a major Vietnamese IT company, recently inked a strategic partnership for providing universities with core systems that use cloud computing.

The two companies will jointly localise UNIPROVE/AS, Hitachi’s academic affairs information system for universities. A trial at FPT University will use the SaaS model, established by FPT Corporation, the parent company of FPT Software. Thereafter, plans call for the launch of sales to local universities from fisical 2014 (April 214 to March 2015)

Hitachi’s UNIPROVE/AS is widely used in Japan to support student information management from entrance examinations to graduation, for faculty administration, and for university management.

For their part of the partnership Hitachi will provide technical support, while FPT will be responsible for service provision and sales. Hitachi and FPT will look at extending services to universities in ASEAN nations from fisical 2015 (April 2015 to March 2016), depending on the service and sales knowledge built in Vietnam in the first period.

“We are hounoured to team up with FPT Software to provide core systems for universities in Vietnam using the SaaS model. I believe UNIPROVE/AS can hlp make university management more efficient in Vietnam from an IT perspective,” said Nobuyuki Toda, president of the Government & Public Corporation Information Systems Division at Hitachi.

“This project is the manifestation of the strategic partnership in cloud services for universities between FPT Software and Hitachi. In the future, we are aiming to extend services in ASEAN countries with Hitachi,” said FPT Software CEO Nguyen Thanh Lam.

Boosting investment in Vietnam

Hitachi Asia Vietnam’s general director Nobuyuki Nakamura told VIR that the company’s planned projects for Vietnam range from power transmission & distribution and railway systems to water, urban development and healthcare. These projects would be new to the company’s Vietnam operation.

Vietnam’s efforts to become an industrialised nation is an opportunity for us, as infrastructure development is vital to this process,” Nakamura added.

Hitachi will cooperate with the government and Electricity of Vietnam to supply equipment and machines for power projects and improve the country’s power distribution networks.

In June 2013, the company entered into 37 billion yen ($376.85 million) Urban Railway contract with Ho Chi Minh City to build the country’s first 19.7km Line 1, connecting the city’s Ben Thanh-Suoi Tien areas.

Urban Railway Line 1 in Ho Chi Minh City contract signing ceremony

The project is scheduled to become operational in early 2018. Hitachi will deliver subsystems including 17 sets, total 51 cars, a signaling system, a telecommunications system including a wireless train radio system, power supply system, platform screen doors, automatic fare collection system, and depot facilities.

“Preparations for the project are now underway. We are also working with authorities to possibly engage in Hanoi’s metro line 1 and 2. The capital is available as it comes from Japan’s official development assistance,” Nakamura said.

Hitachi’s studies show that Vietnam’s water treatment technology is poor and the company is now conducting a feasibility study to install such a facility in Binh Duong and another in Danang city. Capital for the two projects has yet to be fixed. “We want more projects like these in Vietnam,” he said.

According to the company, it is now also seeking investment opportunities in urban management and healthcare projects. To this end, it plans to cooperate with the Vietnamese and Japanese governments.

“We also want to find investors and partners to co-implement these projects,” Nakamura noted.

To deepen its business in Vietnam, in August Hitachi Asia Vietnam was formed as a subsidiary of Hitachi Asia in Ho Chi Minh City with a chartered capital of around $500,000. This will allow Hitachi to further expand its social innovation business in the country.

Hitachi is famous in Vietnam for its home appliance products.