Yamagiwa What do you value, as president of a well-established company, where the pioneering spirit of its great founders continue to be upheld?
Ueda I first and foremost value the health of our employees, followed by maintaining a workplace environment where they can comfortably communicate with one another and also improve their skills. I believe such environments are essential for new business ideas to be born.
At Shimadzu, Fridays are currently designated as "Communication Day," when employees are encouraged to leave early to enjoy communicating with non-Shimadzu workers. I believe communicating with people working in other industries helps us to broaden our views and notice things we would have otherwise overlooked. I also try to communicate more with as many of our employees as possible so that I can help them develop their skills by identifying their characteristics and assigning them to jobs that match them.
Yamagiwa How do you identify your employees' characteristics?
Ueda I try to seize every opportunity. I used to send out a president's message at the start of each term beginning in April and October, but this year I interviewed some of our younger engineers instead. I also hold regular meetings and social gatherings with our managers, which I plan to continue doing.
Yamagiwa That is impressive. While we live in a world of ICT, communicating in person usually proves more helpful in understanding one another. One thing that concerns me about today's students is that they lack opportunities to communicate through their bodies.
To help today's students become more extroverted, as they are often said introverted recently, in AY 2016 Kyoto University developed an Experience-based Overseas Travel Support System called "Omoro (interesting) Challenge." Instead of supporting conventional study abroad programs, this system provides scholarships to students who want to plan their own overseas activity programs. Last year, we fully recognized the significance of this program when we offered to recruit 30 students and received about 140 applicants, many of whom were female students or undergraduates.
Ueda Shimadzu also sends young employees to various countries overseas for a two-year training program designed to help them realize the importance and difficulty of communication by cooperating with people of different cultural backgrounds in overcoming communication barriers to formulate new business ideas. So far, the program has had 40 participants.
Yamagiwa I heard you also worked in the United States.
Ueda I worked in the Midwest at the University of Kansas. Dr. Higuchi, who was a world-renowned pharmacy scholar working at the University, contacted us, saying, "I want to build the best analytic center in the U.S." So, in collaboration with the University, we built the Shimadzu Kansas Research Laboratory, and I served as its manager.
Yamagiwa Did you encounter any difficulties?
Ueda Since my co-workers and I had different values, we needed to put extra effort into directing our energy toward the same goal.
In addition, Kansas has many tornadoes. One time, hailstones the size of baseballs hit my car and left dents. A dent in a car would upset a Japanese person, but some Americans I knew surprised me by just deciding to buy a new car, saying, "Replacing a car is not very expensive."
Yamagiwa I have spent some time in Africa and noticed that cars there were regarded as nothing more than tools for transporting people and goods and valued based on their sturdiness. The locals protected their cars by adding an extra car frame to their vehicles. So, just by examining one aspect of a country, like its cars, we can see that needs differ from one country to another.

Yamagiwa The need for innovation is greater than ever, and national universities are also highly expected to respond to this need. However, the question is how that can be done. National universities have long been forced to compete with one another. However, innovation requires stimulating student and research exchange by removing barriers between not only themselves but also them and universities overseas.
I understand that your company has innovation centers overseas for your employees to exchange information with external researchers. What are your thoughts on innovation?
Ueda Innovation is to create value by devising new methods that can help resolve social issues. Shimadzu's way of stimulating innovation is to develop new products and applications by making full use of its technologies or finding new uses for them. Therefore, to identify the needs of different regions, we established innovation centers in the U.S., Europe, China, and Singapore for our employees to collaborate with external people.
Yamagiwa So, your company built a global network to increase its sensitivity toward needs.
Ueda Yes. We first identify what issues people around the world are facing, figure out which ones our technologies could help resolve, and then we team up with external researchers depending on the theme. Now, issues of this sort cannot be found in conference rooms. So, I tell our employees to go out into the world to find them.

■ Shimadzu Foundation Memorial Hall ■
The building that today serves as the Memorial Hall was constructed in the Meiji period as a two-story wooden structure by our founder, Genzo Shimadzu Senior, who used it as his residence-cum-head office for about 45 years.
The Hall includes permanent exhibits of the various physics and chemistry instruments, medical X-ray systems, and industrial equipment that Shimadzu has manufactured and sold since its foundation, as well as other related historical reference materials and artifacts. Together, these introduce not only Shimadzu's progress over the years but also Japan's progress in terms of developing modern scientific technology.
In April 2011, the Hall was renovated to commemorate the 135th anniversary of Shimadzu's foundation. The renovation has transformed the Hall into a space where visitors can experience the atmosphere and history of the Company's early years through story- and theme-based exhibits.