The Spanish Chamber of Commerce in Japan (SpCCJ) announced the winner of its 7th “Spain Japan Business Contribution Awards (SJBCA)”, on Friday, 25 November 2022 at the Tokyo EDITION, Toranomon, in the presence of the H.E. Ambassador of Spain to Japan, Fidel Sendagorta Gomez del Campillo.

Established in 2016 by the committee of the SpCCJ to recognize successful business relations between Spain and Japan, the SJBCA has become one of the most important events among the Spain-Japan business community in Japan.

In the seventh edition, the Board of Directors of the SpCCJ is happy to announce that the 2022 award has been granted to NTT DATA, Inc., recognizing its contribution in four major fields of the commercial relationships between the two countries:

• The direct investment in Spain
• The role in the digital transformation of Spain
• The strategic value of Spain to access European and Latin American markets
• The quality of the jobs created in Spain

In 2014, NTT DATA put the focus on Spain with the acquisition of Madrid-based everis Group, looking to drum up business in Europe and gain a stronger footprint in Latin America.

The commitment with Spain was renewed in September 2021, when NTT DATA established NTT DATA EMEAL (Europe, Middle East, Africa, and Latin America) to integrate the entities of everis Group and NTT DATA EMEA, managing from the office in Madrid around 38,000 employees across 25 countries and a revenue of 3 billion euros.

In May 2022, NTT DATA announced to combine the overseas business of NTT, Inc. to develop the global business as a unified group of companies. Few days after this announcement, NTT DATA, Inc., continues its expansion plans by opening its first data center location in the Spanish market in Madrid.

The high-availability data center is located on the company’s Európolis Business and Technology Park site 20km northwest of Madrid and it will provide hyperscalers as well as enterprise clients with 3,600m2 of IT space and a maximum IT capacity of 6.3MW when fully built out.

But the commitment of NTT DATA, Inc. with Spain goes further than the investment and it has also helped to create a collaborative environment in which have teamed up with different Spanish companies in developing innovative applications based on 5G, AI, machine learning, automatization, and data analysis, with an invaluable impact in the digitalization transformation of the Spanish economy.

NTT DATA EMEAL has also been awarded for 7 years in a row as one of the best companies to work in, highlighting their diversity and inclusion policies, talent attraction programs and professional development opportunities.

NTT DATA EMEAL is currently part of NTT DATA, Inc., with headquarters in Toyosu, Tokyo, from where it handles governance, strategy planning, and implementation of measures for NTT DATA Group’s global business.

Mr. Kazuhiro Nishihata, Representative Director, President and CEO of NTT DATA, Inc.  collected the award in a ceremony and the reception held at the Tokyo EDITION, Toranomon, with over 100 distinguished guests from the Spain Japan business community. Guests enjoyed dinner inspired by the flavour of Spain accompanied by an acorn-fed Iberíco ham leg, extra virgin olive oil and excellent Spanish cava and wine provided by Spanish brands.

The SJBCA is supported by a wide range of SpCCJ member companies; CVNE, Freixenet, Felix Solis, Garcia Carrion, Sukoruni Wine generously sponsored excellent Spanish cava and wine, Solan de Cabras provided iconic Spanish mineral water, Aceites Maeva brought the innovative touch with the revolutionary Extra Virgin Olive Oil spray format and long-time supporter Lladró sponsored beautiful trophy of Gallop for the awardee.

Comments from award recipients

Kazuhiro Nishihata, Representative Director, President and CEO NTT DATA, Inc.

“It is a great honor to be the recipient of such a prestigious award, allowing us to join a group of recipients consisting of top corporations from Japan and Spain. This year marks a special transition for NTT Group, as we have inaugurated NTT DATA, Inc. to combine all the global business companies of the Group as one, and I am overwhelmed to see that our recognition in the market has been celebrated by such an award, in this memorable year. Spain continues to be an important hub for our business in Europe and Latin America, and we hope we can continue to contribute to the growth of our clients in the region, through our digital transformation capabilities.

List of SJBCA winners

2016 LaLiga

2017 Rakuten, Inc.

2018 Gestamp Autotech Japan

2019 FAST RETAILING CO., LTD.

2020 Japan Airlines and Amadeus IT Group S.A. (Joint Award)

2021 Sports&Life

2022 NTT DATA, Inc.

About the Spanish Chamber of Commerce in Japan

The Spanish Chamber of Commerce in Japan (SpCCJ) is a non-profit association of business firms and individual professionals belonging to different trades and industries whose goal is to further their interests in Japan and Spain. In line with these goals, the SpCCJ channels the activities of the Japanese and Spanish business communities in Japan, fostering commercial relationships as well as developing a network to help existing and new members, attending, and solving import/export and promotion queries through its service catalogue.