2025.02.14
Panasonic Group People
Aiming for a company where all individuals and teams keep going and taking on challenges: Elise Neel
Series:
Leading strategies and innovations at Panasonic Well
Elise Neel
Panasonic Well LLC
Global Head of Strategy & Innovation
After serving as an executive in multiple companies, including her role as CEO of a digital mapping company, Elise Neel as a Senior Vice President of Verizon spearheaded the transformation of one of the largest and most profitable telecommunications company in the world, successfully shifting its focus towards software and service offerings. Under her leadership, her team developed over 130 patents in five years, 80% in the areas of artificial intelligence. Elise is the author of three of the AI-based patents. In October 2023, she joined Panasonic Well and currently supervises a broad range of areas, including portfolio and business strategy, new business development, innovation, ecosystem development, corporate development, marketing, and branding.
Accelerating both internal and external collaboration, essential for innovations
At Panasonic Well, one of the strategies we have focused on is expanding innovations through collaboration within and outside of the Panasonic Group. We have an expat program where many members from Japan come to Panasonic Well in the US for multiple years to accelerate learning and sharing of technologies, strategies, and ideas. Some of those expats were involved in the creation of Umi, a holistic digital family wellness platform and coach unveiled at CES 2025. We also provide opportunities for sharing know-how and cross-learning through Dojo programs.*1 In FY2025, we hope to increase programs like these.
＊1: Programs for Panasonic Well employees to visit the Panasonic Group's global sites and disseminate state-of-the-art technologies from Silicon Valley in the US throughout the Group.
We have also been committed to building a business ecosystem.*2 A recent example is our global partnership with Anthropic, a leading AI safety and research company. We have tenaciously advocated for the adoption of ethical, safe and privacy-friendly AI tooling and platforms, not only for Panasonic Well but also across relevant departments in the Panasonic Group. Our efforts have led to the global strategic partnership with Anthropic announced at CES. Now under Panasonic Go, the strategic growth and transformation initiative announced at CES 2025, the Panasonic Group will endeavor to build a system to enhance the use of AI to drive increased efficiency and new revenue streams leveraging safe, reliable and ethical AI. Partnerships like Anthropic are just one example, of many, that we will have.
＊2: A large economic network of various companies and organizations that collaborate to create greater value.
You need not be ashamed of failure. Be ashamed to stop trying
I'm in a position to support our staff in bringing about innovations. As part of my responsibilities, I always keep in mind the need to mitigate their fear of doing something different from others or encountering failure. I try to encourage them by stating, "You need not be ashamed of failures. Be ashamed to stop trying." In Panasonic Well, there are people who started a company and those companies did not succeed. However, despite their past failures, they remain passionate and now lead our teams. They do not linger on disappointment but launch a counterattack. This is the most respectable attitude, and I hope to continue supporting such people.
As for me, I try to join hands with many positive people. Even when you face a challenge, you can move ahead if everyone else can help others move together. I also make a point of expressing my gratitude to my team. Meanwhile, to keep going, it is important to maintain creativity by activating the brain and relaxing. I encourage my team to have such opportunities. For me, one of the ways is by ‘dancing’. Actually, the people dancing to Steve Aoki's DJ performance right before the opening keynote at CES were me and my team.
Ensuring a harmonious balance between the introduction of advanced technology and human-centered AI
When I saw visitors and the media express understanding the opportunities we presented at CES, tears filled my eyes, recalling our hard work. However, it was only the beginning of our endeavor. I genuinely believe that Umi will prove quite effective in changing behaviors, including the activities and nutrition of all family members, because we created our service based on a comprehensive understanding of the problems and needs of families. I hope that Umi will expand globally.
Through the opportunity at Panasonic Well, I helped to lead initiatives to further improve the lives of families while using responsible, ethical, and safe AI. Now through Panasonic Go, I look forward to the opportunity to extend this work and apply my experience in business transformation. I believe the onset of AI can help transform Panasonic Group to deliver greater value to our customers and help us work more efficiently as a team, and am excited to support Panasonic Group’s efforts to change people's lives, communication, business, and society at large through the use of advanced technology and human-centered AI.
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