We Held an Engineer Networking Event with Mitsubishi Electric! #NetworkingEventReport
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👋 Introduction
Hello!
This is Inoyuri from BizOps, Manufacturing Business Technology Department at Classmethod.
On Friday, September 25, 2026, we held an exchange event between engineers from Mitsubishi Electric and Classmethod🎉
I was involved as part of the organizing team, from preparation through the day of the event! I'd like to record what we did and what we gained✏️
💡 How It Came About
This exchange event started from a conversation between a representative from Mitsubishi Electric and Classmethod engineers at the social gathering of an event hosted by Classmethod in June 2026, the Factory Creative Camp.
At Classmethod, internal exchange among engineers is lively, but external exchange is not that common, so we held this event with the goal of exchanging technical knowledge and inspiring each other by interacting with engineers from outside our company.
🏢 Venue
We borrowed Mitsubishi Electric's "Serendie Street Yokohama" as the venue.
Opened in January 2025, it is a co-creation hub for advancing the transformation into a "circular digital engineering company," where people, data, and technology from inside and outside the company gather, aiming to create new value from chance encounters.
On the day of the event, we were also given an office tour, where we saw areas for dialogue and workshops, areas for building prototypes, exchange areas designed to spark chance encounters, areas that can be used on a project basis, and more.
The space is designed with winding paths so that visitors take detours, which makes communication between visitors arise more easily. I could feel firsthand that it is an environment where new things are easily created✨
📅 Event Content
🎤 First, a Talk Session
Mitsubishi Electric and Classmethod each gave a 20-minute talk session.
The content of the sessions is not public, but I'll summarize what I, as a non-engineer, felt and learned📝
🚀 It's important to "show something working first"
From a vague request from the field like "Can you do something like this?", a prototype that could be tried out came back in just a few days. Because of that, it was easier for opinions to come out when talking while looking at the actual screen, and the speed of improvement increased greatly.
I thought that working at that speed is exactly Classmethod's strength, and that it is a very important thing that can be applied to other kinds of work as well.
🤝 "Doing only what you're told isn't enough"
It may seem obvious, but it means not stopping at just building things as instructed. It means understanding the reality of the field and thinking together about a form that is truly easy to use. Seeing up close how this attitude of walking alongside the customer was appreciated, I was reminded once again that delivering 120% or more leads to satisfaction.
🙋 "Ask questions about anything you don't understand"
In specialized settings, there are many unfamiliar terms and rules. I learned that not leaving things vague and carefully asking about the background leads to trust.
💬 Next, OST (Open Space Technology)
After the sessions, we held a free discussion in the format called Open Space Technology (OST). Participants brought topics they wanted to talk about and split into five tables to discuss.
At first there was some distance as everyone was feeling each other out, but the discussions heated up steadily, and in the end it became the most satisfying content in the survey after the event🙌
I found myself thinking, I envy the engineers who have the common language of "technology"...!
🍻 Finally... the Social Gathering!
Extending the excitement from the OST, I watched from the back as various exchanges took place.
Thanks to the connections made at this gathering, talk of holding another event has come up, new business conversations have arisen, and all kinds of ties have been formed, so I really feel the meaning of having held this event.
🌱 Closing
On a personal note, this was my first time being part of organizing an external event like this. Mitsubishi Electric helped us so much, from providing the venue to running the event on the day. Thanks to them, there was lively exchange between the two companies, and I feel it was a very meaningful event. Once again, I'd like to express my heartfelt thanks🙏
This time we borrowed Mitsubishi Electric's "Serendie Street Yokohama," but we've started preparing for the next one, to be hosted at Classmethod around February.
While cherishing the connections born from this exchange event, I want to make it an even more fun and educational occasion!
Coming into contact with the engineers' passion, I felt, "Connecting through technology is this much fun!" That's the kind of exchange event it was😊
📝 The Real Closing
This event was organized mainly by the Manufacturing Business Technology Department!
A standalone information session for that department, which does contract development for the manufacturing industry, will be held on Friday, November 6.
If you're interested, please do join us!