2022 Nikkei Excellent Products and Services Awards Ceremony

The awards ceremony for the 2022 Nikkei Excellent Products and Services Awards was held at the Okura Tokyo in Tokyo, Japan on February 1, and approximately 110 representatives from 34 winning companies attended the ceremony. Representing Hitachi Energy, winner of the highest honors, Awards for Excellence for its OceaniQ™ portfolio for the offshore energy environment, was Claudio Facchin, CEO of Hitachi Energy, and Noriyoshi Nakao, CMD of Hitachi Energy Japan.

Hitachi Energy's OceaniQ™ portfolio was highly evaluated for reducing costs, increasing safety, and improving efficiency for the offshore segment. The OceaniQ™ portfolio will enable greater volumes of clean energy being efficiently harvested and integrated into the world’s energy system, a key to achieving carbon neutrality in 2050.

“We are delighted that our OceaniQ™ portfolio for the offshore environment was recognized at the 2022 Nikkei Excellent Products and Services Awards,” said Claudio Facchin, CEO of Hitachi Energy, Senior Vice President and Executive Officer of Hitachi, Ltd.”

Nikkei Excellent Products and Services Awards, now in its 41st year of honoring outstanding new products and services, is an annual ceremony sponsored by Nikkei Inc. The nominations are based on independently selected products and services from more than 150 candidates.

This year, 34 products and services were selected—twenty items for the highest trophy, Awards for Excellence; six for the Nikkei Business Daily Awards; six for the Nikkei MJ Award; one for the Nikkei Veritas Award; and one for the Nikkei Asia Award, highlighting new products and services that are contributing to the reduction and control of greenhouse gas emissions in the global trend toward carbon neutrality.

At the awards ceremony, “This year, decarbonization, AI, and the Japanese way were the topics. Japan is a so-called developed country with issues such as declining birthrate, an aging population and a labor shortage. To solve these social issues, excellent products and services unique to Japan have been developed one after another. We hope to promote these products and services from Japan to the rest of the world, and Nikkei will continue to support the development of these products and services,” Chairperson of the Jury, Hiroshi Komiyama, Chairman of the Institute, Mitsubishi Research Institute, extended commentary on the evaluation of the winners.

Winning companies, including Hitachi Energy, received the award plaque and a commemorative bronze statue. Three selected companies, including Mitsubishi Heavy Industries as representatives of the winners, expressed their gratitude for the award and their aspirations for the future of their business.

A commemorative party was held after the ceremonies. 

What is OceaniQ^TM?

OceaniQ™ is Hitachi Energy's innovative offshore portfolio of products, solutions, and services to meet the unique challenges of the offshore environment. Combining cross-industry competence from the power and marine sectors, OceaniQ™ addresses applications for fixed platforms, floating structures, and subsea power systems to help wind, marine and other offshore energy operators to harvest and integrate the vast clean renewable energy resources available offshore.

OceaniQ™ will help the offshore sector to reduce costs, improve safety and efficiency and include transformers for subsea and floating applications, offshore high-voltage hybrid switchgears and the Grid-eXpand™ range of modular and prefabricated grid connection offshore solutions.

About the Nikkei Excellence Products and Services Awards
The Nikkei Excellence Products and Services Awards, sponsored by Nikkei Inc., recognizes outstanding new products and services once a year since 1982. The evaluation criteria for selecting excellent new products and services are divided into the following six categories: technological development, price effectiveness, performance contribution, growth, uniqueness, and impact on industry and society.