‘Japan’s Investment in the Auto Industry’

Date: Tuesday, 24th February 2008, 5.00pm to 7.30pm

Venue: Daiwa Foundation, Japan House, 13/14 Cornwall Terrace, London NW1 4QP

This research seminar is part of a series on the History of Japanese investment in the UK (the project is being funded by the Great Britain-Sasakawa Foundation). This follows on from seminars on the electronics, R&D, pharma and financial services sectors. This will be a topical and popular seminar. Much of the discussion will focus on the way the big Japanese greenfield auto investments have matured and put down strong roots into the British economy. Although the basic thrust of this seminar will be to look at the history of the past two decades, there will inevitably be some discussion of the impact of the current global crisis on the Japanese automotive sector and how policy-makers are responding to the challenges. We will aim to steer discussions so that they focus on the historical dimension for at least two thirds of the time.

Chair: Sir Robin Mountfield, former Permanent Secretary of the Cabinet Office.

Speakers: Professor Daniel T Jones, Lean Enterprise Academy and co-author of Machine That Changed the World - The impact of Japanese automobile investments on the wider British economy. Louis Turner, Chief Executive, Asia-Pacific Technology Network - The key developments since 1990

Third speaker (or commentator) from the Japanese automotive community (to be announced)This seminar is free.

To register please send your details (name, institutional affiliation, email address, phone number) to biz@aptn.org