“Shenzhen, in my eyes, is far more than an innovative city but also a city that has potentials to lead the world in future,” said Tatsuo Igarashi at China Hi-Tech Fair 2019 when interviewed by a reporter with the Shenzhen Special Zone Daily Nov.13.

Igarashi suggested that he is looking forward for more cooperation between Shenzhen and Tsukuba.

Igarashi visited Shenzhen two years ago. “Compared to what I saw at that time, I feel that Shenzhen is now growing much faster, which is hard for us to catch up with,” said Igarashi.

For him, Shenzhen is not only an innovative city which owns the most comprehensive hardware industry chain but also able to integrate advanced technological innovations into people’s daily life and to solve social problems with the help of information technology.

Igarashi visited Haylion Technologies Nov.13 where he experienced driverless bus. “I am very positive about the future as I believe the cooperation between Shenzhen Haylion and Japan Hino Motors will make more convenient products get promoted in the global market.”

“Tsukuba has achieved many research results over the past decade while Shenzhen is renowned for its innovation ability. If two cities deepen the cooperation and take full advantage of each side to commercialize these research findings, we are sure to achieve a win-win result and mutual benefits,”said Igarashi.

Benefiting from the founding of Tsukuba Science City, a tenth of residents in Tsukuba take jobs related to research and development. Tsukuba has a high level of population quality, laying a solid foundation for the city’s innovation progress. So far, the city has seen four Nobel Laureates.

Tsukuba Science City has conducted several cross-industry researches including life science, high-energy physics, and material science. However, it lags behind Shenzhen in turning them into real products, said the report.

“My goal is to turn Tsukuba into a place where people have faith in its future. In this respect, Shenzhen has achieved a huge part,” said Igarashi.

Speaking of future plans, Igarashi maintained that unlike“Made in China 2025” and “Industry in 4.9 in Germany”, Japan launched its“Society 5.0” which covers the relation between industry and the whole society.

“Japan hopes to solve issues faced by the whole world through technologies such as Internet of Things, artificial intelligence, robot and big data, and to build a super smart city with wealth and vitality.”

Many young entrepreneurs from Japan care about Shenzhen's development, according to Igarashi. “This year also marks the 15th anniversary of the establishment of the sister-city relation between Shenzhen and Tsukuba. I hope that two sides can deepen cooperation, especially the one for young talents so as to inject new vitality in developing our two cities.”