During his visit to Columbus for the 54th Annual Midwest U.S.-Japan (MWJA) Conference Sept. 9-10, Gov. Taizo Mikazuki of the Shiga Prefecture made a significant stop at Nexeris, a leading innovator in clean energy transition based in Lewis Center.
During his visit, Gov. Mikazuki met with Nexeris officials, learned more about its Adena Power, Fuel Cell Materials, Heat Path Solutions, Li-ion Tamer, and SOEC Development business units, and toured its extensive facility with Kyle Shen, Nexceris CEO and President/Managing Partner, and Scott Swartz, NexcerisChief Technology Officer.
During the MWJA conference, more than 300 top elected officials and business leaders from Japan and 10 midwestern states (Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, Iowa, Kansas, Michigan, Minnesota, Nebraska, North Dakota, and Wisconsin) convened to foster economic collaboration. The host country rotates annually between the U.S. and Japan. U.S. member states are honored with the opportunity to host the conference once every 20 years. Honda, Ohio’s largest employer, was the event’s title sponsor.
This year’s conference theme was “Building an Ecosystem for Innovation, Growth and Sustainability.” Since 2013, Ohio has won more than 130 economic development projects with Japanese-owned companies. For more than five decades, business leaders from the Midwest region of the United States and Japan have met annually to discuss the growth and progress of economic relations between the American Midwest and Japan. The first meeting occurred in 1967 when the Chicago Association of Commerce and Industry representatives welcomed a delegation from the Japan Committee for Economic Development in Chicago, Illinois. This initial meeting was designed to open a dialogue between executives from diverse business environments. Those attending decided annual meetings should be hosted to discuss economic relations between the Midwest and Japan. The meetings served as a principal forum for the growth of bilateral trade and investment between the Midwest and Japan.
