Osaka, Italy Pavilion with entrepreneurial and cultural traction

An Italian Pavilion with business and cultural traction. Two months after its inauguration, 79 economic events, 70 B2B meetings and 134 cultural events were organised in the Italian Pavilion at Expo 2025 Osaka. Events that involved more than 250 business entities, with 3,320 participants at the economic events held in the Auditorium and VIP Hall. Representatives of Italian, Japanese and foreign companies numbered 2,500, with 68 visiting delegations, more than one per day. Of these, 34 were business delegations, 20 Italian and 14 Japanese. Another 34 were the institutional and cultural delegations of which 17 were Italian, 9 Japanese and 8 international. The Auditorium, the centre of the conference activity of the Italian Pavilion, welcomed 2,100 participants in moments of dialogue between protagonists of Italian, Japanese and international civil, economic and cultural society engaged in dialogues on various subjects that constitute the privileged reference object of the 'Italy-Japan Action Plan 2024 - 2027'. This strategic document is the development axis along which all the activities to promote and update Italy's image at Expo 2025 in Osaka are determined.

"We are having a great success, exactly two months after the opening our pavilion is the most desired, the most mentioned at the Osaka Expo, with queues of up to five hours waiting," underlines Mario Vattani, Commissioner General for Italy, Expo 2025 Osaka, newly appointed ambassador for Italy in Japan. In fact, the Italian Pavilion was the most desired by the Japanese public, who have always loved Italy with its food specialities and Italian way of life, so much so that the weekly Josei Jishin ranked it first among all the Pavilions. A success with the public that is part of a strategic mission to promote and update Italy's image in the world, realised through events, both cultural and economic, and B2B activities, which see it as the centre of meetings between the main players of the Asian and global economy.

The fruits of this vision are not lacking because thanks to the synergic action of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation, the Italian Embassy in Tokyo and the Italian Consulate in Osaka in the Pavilion, million-dollar contracts have been signed between Italian and Japanese companies. Exemplary was the case of Danieli, which acquired two important contracts in Japan for a total value of about 200 million, thus consolidating its presence in the Japanese market and confirming itself as a strategic partner for the green transition of the local steel industry. The first project, awarded by Jfe Steel, Japan's second largest steel producer and a global leader in supplying the automotive sector, concerns the supply of a new steel plant at the Kurashiki site in southern Japan. The plant will be operational in early 2028. It will be the world's largest in terms of capacity for an electric arc furnace (Eaf) and will be equipped with a digital furnace and an advanced vacuum system for dedusting.

The second order concerns the modernisation of the bar rolling mill at the historic Godo Steel plant in Himeji in the Kansai region. A historic plant, it has been in operation for 87 years, and will be renovated with the aim of improving quality, productivity and safety, reducing cylinder change times and increasing the competitiveness of the plant. Both projects were entrusted to Danieli Engineering Japan, based in Yokohama, and testify to the Italian company's leadership in providing cutting-edge and sustainable technological solutions to the Japanese market. The two orders are part of the strengthening of industrial collaboration between Italy and Japan initiated with the elevation of bilateral relations to Strategic Partnership in January 2023. And bilateral investments between the two countries are thus central. Also for this reason, the Italian Pavilion hosted 7 events on investment attraction and the promotion of Made in Italy, including creativity, design, craftsmanship and innovation, organised in collaboration with Invitalia and the Ministry of Enterprise and Made in Italy.

In Osaka, all sectors of the economy, from the space economy to advanced air mobility, tourism, new technologies, National Research Centres, health, safety at work, seismic risk, and emergency management, are the protagonists. Reinforcing the dialogue between Italy and Japan was the participation in the 34th edition of the Italy Japan Business Group held in Rome at the Palazzo della Cancelleria.