The 2008 Deshima Award Ceremony and Reception was held on October 27, 2008 at TEPIA. The opening speech by Patrick van Oppen, Chairman of the NCCJ, was followed by a short introduction of the history of the awards by Leon Halders of DSM, 2006 Deshima Award winner. The Deshima Award is granted by the Netherlands Chamber of Commerce in Japan with support from the Embassy of the Kingdom of the Netherlands to recognize Dutch companies for their achievement of successful business development in the Japanese market. Two Awards are granted: one within the large company segment and one within the small/mid-size enterprise segment. NCCJ was honored to have H.E. Maxime Verhagen, Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Kingdom of the Netherlands, as the special presenter of the 2008 Deshima Awards. Mr. Verhagen’s visit in 2008 is in the framework of commemorating 150 years of diplomatic relations between Japan and the Netherlands.

The winner for the large company segment is ASML (www.asml.com). ASML is the world’s leading provider of lithography systems for the semiconductor industry and manufactures machines for the production of integrated circuits or microchips. ASML has its headquarters in Veldhoven in the Netherlands. The winner for the small and medium company segment is SENZ Umbrellas (www.senzumbrellas.com). The SENZ umbrella has won the Good Design Award 2008 (G-Mark), a prestigious design award in Japan. SENZ Umbrellas is located in Delft in the Netherlands.

The Deshima Award was established in 2000 to promote greater awareness of opportunities for export of goods and technology to Japan and for investment in Japan by companies and institutions in the Netherlands. The winners were selected by a joint Japanese and Netherlands jury.

After the ceremonies there was a splendid buffet. This turned out to be a visual pleasure with an excellent mix of Japanese and western food, decorated with a beautiful flower arrangement.