It is an honor for me to commence this quarterly newsletter for the first time as the - still quite newly elected - President of the IFR.

Dear Reader,

It is an honor for me to commence this quarterly newsletter for the first time as the - still quite newly elected - President of the IFR.

I took over this prestigious office in quite challenging times. The global economy is struggling, and global crises and geopolitical headwinds are perceived as a major risk and uncertainty factor that impact investment decisions. But we also see signs that awareness for the expansion of domestic production capacity in strategic industries is created, which should have a positive impact on our sector.

We hope for growth to accelerate in 2025 as is already indicated by rising order intakes.

At the end of November, IFR published the new robot densities. The big news - though not really much of a surprise to robotics experts - is that China reached the third position and overtook both Germany and Japan in the past year. Quite impressively, the emerging market has managed to double its robot density within four years. Korea remains at the top with by far the largest robot density globally of 1,012 robots in operation per 10,000 employees. The new global average robot density reached a record 162 units in 2023. This is more than double the number we measured only seven years ago.

As every year, the IFR is monitoring the big trends in our industry. We have already discussed them internally. The global robotics community has to be a bit more patient - we will publish our views in January 2025. And there will be plenty of opportunities throughout the coming year to see examples and new technologies at the various robotics trade shows. Once again, in 2025, the three major shows, Automate, automatica and last but not least the iREX will take place within the same year.

I will proudly continue the work of my predecessors. We are witnessing rapid change in the automation of industrial and service sectors around the world. Together with our new Vice President Jane Heffner, I look forward to our mission to create awareness of the positive impact of robots on our lives and society, to increase accessibility of robots and interaction with robotics, and to enable the robotics industry to collaboratively leverage trends and advancements.

The coming year 2025 will give us plenty of opportunities to do so.

One particular occasion certainly also will be the World Expo taking place in my home country Japan in Osaka from April to October 2025. It will give us a unique chance to bring robotics more to the attention to the general public and make visible how this technology supports our everyday lives. I am looking forward to the "Future Creation Robot Week" held in July 2025.

Wishing you a peaceful holiday season and a happy and successful New Year.

Best regards

Takayuki Ito