While the digital revolution has transformed online spaces and office workflows over the past few decades, its economic footprint remains concentrated. Generative AI tools and large language models (LLMs) operate primarily in the digital realm. In its market framing, Archetype AI positions roughly 85% of global economic activity as rooted in the physical world (spanning manufacturing, construction, energy, and transportation), compared with approximately 15% in primarily digi

In an era where frontier artificial intelligence models and cloud architectures are no longer just drivers of corporate efficiency but critical instruments of national security, Japan is executing a quiet but ambitious revolution. At the recent IVS2026 panel titled "Domestic Cloud and AI as National Infrastructure — Sovereign Digital Foundations and Startups," key leaders from Japan’s public sector, infrastructure giants, and deep-tech startups converged to outline the nation

Introduction At the recent "AI Strategy for Business Development" panel discussion, industry leaders gathered to share raw, unvarnished insights into how artificial intelligence is reshaping corporate strategy, product design, and organizational culture. Moderated by Ohno-san, AI Strategy Advisor at DMM.com, the panel brought together diverse perspectives from high-growth technology companies and modernized legacy sectors: Kawahara-san, Board Director at Information Strategy

Generative AI has advanced rapidly in recent years, with adoption expanding across the business world. However, many companies remain at the experimental stage, having merely “tried out” AI without fully integrating it into their workflows or generating a clear return on investment. One company attracting attention for offering a concrete solution to this challenge is VCAT.AI, a Korean startup specializing in AI solutions for marketing content creation. The company provides c

Japan is currently facing an unprecedented demographic shift, often depicted in the media as an impending economic and social crisis. With a shrinking workforce and a rapidly growing elderly population, the sustainability of the nation's healthcare and social security systems is frequently called into question. However, a panel of pioneering entrepreneurs and clinical leaders argues that this demographic challenge is actually the gateway to a massive global business opportuni

Session: From pilot to production: How industrial leaders are scaling AI across global manufacturing. Speakers: CK Kumar — Director, Edge Marketing, Dell Technologies (Moderator) Jason Nassar — Vertical Enablement Leader, Product Management, Dell Technologies Ralf Schulze — VP Physical AI, HCLTech Jessica Bethune — Vice President Industrial Automation DACH, Schneider Electric Sean Young — Director, Enterprise Marketing, NVIDIA Headquarters Summary: This panel addresses the ma

Session: Realizing Industrial AI at Scale with AWS Speakers: Ozgur Tohumcu (AWS Representative) David Reger (Founder and CEO of NEURA Robotics) Florian Lechner (Head of Digital Production and Logistics at Volkswagen AG) Session Summary: This session explores how organizations can successfully deploy and globally scale industrial and physical AI to transform their manufacturing operations. Featuring practical use cases from NEURA Robotics and Volkswagen Group, the presentation

In a rapidly evolving manufacturing landscape, relying on delayed data has become a critical vulnerability. To successfully navigate this new paradigm and absorb supply chain shocks, manufacturers must surface risks early and immediately realign customer demand with operational commitments through instant replanning. Microsoft is addressing this challenge by shifting the industry away from passively providing insights on isolated dashboards. Instead, the strategic focus is on

The global economy has a hidden architecture, and it isn't found in the glass towers of Silicon Valley or the trading floors of London. It is built by the "deskless" workforce—the 80% of global workers who staff our factories, airports, retail floors, warehouses, and construction sites. Yet, for decades, a massive digital divide has persisted: while information workers received a steady stream of productivity tools, the frontline was often left with paper manuals and radio ch

Session Name: From Automation to Autonomy: How Agentic AI Is Redefining Industrial Operations Speaker: Jürgen Schön, Head of Manufacturing GTM, EMEA, ServiceNow Session Summary: This session explores the critical transition from basic automation to true enterprise autonomy using agentic AI. It highlights how ServiceNow's overarching AI platform orchestrates tasks across hundreds of disconnected IT systems to seamlessly resolve complex business problems. By acting as a unified

Session: Semantic Stack Unlocking Next-Gen Industrial Value Speaker: Dr. Birgit Boss, Senior Expert for Digital Twins and Standardization at Robert Bosch Session Summary: Dr. Birgit Boss explains how organizations can overcome the "data growth paradox" by adopting a four-step framework to create comprehensible, semantically structured data rather than blindly hoarding unstructured data. By leveraging the Bosch Semantic Stack to generate digital twins, companies establish a ha

Session: From Pyramid to Hourglass: How AI is Reshaping Industrial Automation Profit Pools Speaker: Adrien Bron: Partner and Leader of Advanced Manufacturing & Services for DACH, Bain & Company Michael Schertler: Senior Partner, Bain & Company Timo Kistner: EMEA Industry Lead for Manufacturing and Industrial, NVIDIA Dr. John Markus Lervik: Founder, Cognite Rainer Brehm: COO for Automation and CTO, Siemens Digital Industries Florian Dörrfuß: CTO, Schaeffler Special Machinery S