ExaWizards and Idemitsu to Announce a Business Alliance ～Realization of the Smart Yorozuya (One-stop Shop) Concept, DX of Existing Businesses, and Comprehensive Partnership in DX Human Resource Development~
ExaWizards Inc., a company that develops AI-enabled services to solve social issues (Headquarters: Minato-ku, Tokyo; Representative Director & President: Ko Ishiyama; hereafter, “ExaWizards”) and Idemitsu Kosan Co., Ltd. (Representative Director, President and Chief Executive Officer: Shunichi Kito; hereafter, “Idemitsu”) have agreed to announce a business alliance today. In conjunction with the agreement, Idemitsu will promptly acquire 354,000 shares (approx. 0.4% of the total number of outstanding shares) of the Company’s outstanding shares on or off the market.
☑ Background of the Business Alliance
Our mission is “Solving social issues through Artificial Intelligence for future generations”. Amidst the growing importance of data utilization globally, we are expanding our business into a wide range of sectors and a wide range of technological domains based on our AI Platform “exaBase”. We are also working to solve the problems of caregiving and shrinking laborforce due to the declining birthrate and aging population, to improve productivity in legacy industrial systems, and to create disruptive innovations.
Idemitsu’s management vision for 2050 is “Shaping Change” and presents two points: “Responsibility to support people and their daily lives” and “Responsibility to protect the global environment in the future”. In carrying out these responsibilities, Idemitsu is committed to fulfilling its responsibilities through three business domains: Steady supply of diverse, ecofriendly Carbon Neutral (“CN”) energy, CN solutions for industrial activities and regular consumers, and diverse energy and mobility centers that support regional lifestyles.
Idemitsu views the solutions to the issues it sets forth as being of high social importance. We have held various discussions about the future that both companies are aiming for and how to improve enterprise value, together with AI consultants who identify and work with CxOs (corporate management) on issues, engineers skilled in various technical fields, designers skilled in UI/UX construction, and a wide variety of domain experts who understand their clients’ business domains, which is the source of our strength. We have had various discussions about the future of the two companies and their efforts to improve enterprise value together.
☑ Outline of Business Alliance
Through this business alliance, Idemitsu and ExaWizards will mutually utilize Idemitsu’s business assets, including its extensive data and customer base, and ExaWizards’ technological and business development capabilities, human resource development know-how, and domain knowledge in the digital and AI domains.
Through this, we will work together to develop and socially implement the “Smart Yorozuya” (One-stop shop) concept, which is part of Idemitsu’s Medium-term Management Plan disclosed today, to enhance productivity through increased use of DX, and develop human resources to support DX.
In particular, for the “Smart Yorozuya” (One-stop shop) concept, we will implement the wealth of AI technology knowledge accumulated in our AI Platform “exaBase” to Idemitsu’s about 6,200 energy supply locations nationwide to realize higher value-added services centered on service stations. We will also look to build a broader ecosystem. In addition, with a view to building a broader ecosystem, we are considering to offer services related to nursing care and childcare in our AI Products business to solve region-specific issues.
Furthermore, by utilizing our “exaBase Assessment & Learning” service for finding and training DX human resources and our human resource development know-how, we will support the promotion of DX in Idemitsu’s existing businesses by more rapidly training DX human resources who will be responsible for Idemitsu’s data utilization.
Through the above, Idemitsu will further accelerate the promotion of DX through the utilization of data held by Idemitsu’s customers and contribute to the enhancement of enterprise value through the realization of DX.
☑ Messages from Both Companies
Yukio Saegusa: Chief Digital Officer, Chief Information Officer, and Digital & ICT Department, Idemitsu Kosan Co., Ltd.
Toward a carbon-neutral society, we are promoting various efforts to connect with energy one step ahead, diverse resource conservation / circulation solutions, and Smart Yorozuya (One-stop shop). At the same time, we aim to become a self-driven “DX native organization” and create new customer value through the creation of a digital ecosystem, with the aim of “DX that contributes to customers, communities, and society by accelerating human growth through the power of digital”. This business alliance is an important step in promoting such a strategy, and together with ExaWizards, which has made advanced efforts and achievements in AI and DX, we will realize new value co-creation.
Ko Ishiyama: Representative Director & President, ExaWizards, Inc.
By leveraging our AI implementation knowledge through data utilization, we will contribute to realization of “DX that contributes to customers, communities, and society by accelerating human growth through the power of digital”. Through this business alliance, we aim to realize our mission of “Solving social issues through Artificial Intelligence for future generations” by utilizing real contact points such as Idemitsu’s about 6,200 energy supply locations nationwide.
*exaBase is a registered trademark of ExaWizards.
[Corporate Profile of Idemitsu Kosan Co., Ltd]
Company Name : Idemitsu Kosan Co.
Location : 1-2-1 Otemachi, Chiyoda-ku, Tokyo
Establishment : March 1940
Representative: Shunichi Kito, President and Chief Executive Officer
Business: Fuel oil, lubricants, asphalt, oil and gas development, renewable energy, coal, petrochemicals, electronic materials, and other businesses globally.
URL : https://www.idemitsu.com/en/
[Corporate Profile of ExaWizards]
Company name: ExaWizards Inc.
Location: 21F, Shiodome Sumitomo Bldg., 1-9-2, Higashi Shimbashi, Minato-ku, Tokyo
Representative: Ko Ishiyama, Representative Director & President
Description of business: Industrial innovation and resolution of social issues through the development of AI-enabled services
URL: https://exawizards.com/
<Contact for public relations>
E-mail address of the Public Relations Division of ExaWizards Inc.: publicrelations@exwzd.com