Tokyo, November 27, 2025 – Nomura Research Institute, Ltd. (Headquarters: Tokyo, Japan, Chairman, President and CEO: Kaga Yanagisawa, “NRI”) began providing support in October 2025 to major Japanese auto parts suppliers enabling them to connect to the production network for Catena-X1 (the most advantageous European automotive industry dataspace2), which is essential for compliance with the mandatory data collaboration requirements for auto parts trades in Europe. This support makes use of NRI’s own EDC connector3 (“EDC Connector”), which NRI developed independently and for which it has received Catena-X certification. This makes NRI the first Japanese IT company to successfully provide Japanese enterprises with support for connecting to the Catena-X production network. This latest effort enables Japanese auto parts suppliers to navigate the Catena-X data ecosystem, specifically in terms of traceability management4 which is required by the European automobile industry.
The significance of Catena-X
Catena-X is considered to be an essential part of social infrastructure for solving social problems, including with regard to Europe’s efforts at decarbonization and resource recycling. Beginning with its use in handling meticulous traceability management tasks for minimizing the impact during recalls, the utilization of Catena-X is expected to gather even greater momentum going forward.
The initiative with major Japanese auto parts suppliers
NRI uses the EDC Connector that it independently developed and that has received Catena-X certification to support data collaboration between the overseas locations of major Japanese auto parts suppliers operating globally and European automobile OEMs. This data collaboration is conducted based on the concept of data sovereignty5 in line with Catena-X specifications. Accordingly, NRI has opened overseas locations for the EDC Connector which can be authenticated with Catena-X. When establishing a location abroad, it is important for companies to follow local laws and regulations.
For example, in order to comply with Europe’s stringent data usage regulations, NRI has partnered with Oracle Corporation and has achieved a framework for supporting the launching of sovereign regions6 and providing environmental and operational support.
As the core of this support, the EDC Connector is fully compliant with Catena-X specifications for achieving data sovereignty in Europe, and NRI plans to continue providing functional enhancements and support in accordance with Catena-X international standardization specifications.
Fig.: Features of NRI’s EDC Connector
Comments from Hanno Focken, Managing Director, Catena-X Automotive Network e.V.
Catena-X is a global data ecosystem that enables providers in every country and region to provide solutions to companies located there. I am delighted that NRI has pioneered the development of such a system in Japan, and to see regional companies be connected to our network.
Going forward, NRI will continue to take full advantage of the Usage Control7 and data management functions implemented in the EDC Connector, and to capitalize on the results of its research and development efforts, providing support for data collaboration and greater operational sophistication within the Japanese automobile industry using Catena-X.
- 1 Catena-X: For more information, please visit the following URL.
Column July 2022 “The impact of GAIA-X and Catena-X: The rise of a huge ecosystem through data integration” Naoaki Fujino
https://www.nri.com/jp/knowledge/blog/lst/2022/iis/fujino/0727_1 - 2Dataspace: A space on a computer or network for data collaboration and sharing between companies and organizations.
For more information, please visit the following URL.
Column March 2024: “Data sovereignty in the EU dataspaces” Shinichiro Otsuka
https://www.nri.com/jp/media/column/technical_engineer/20240329_1.html - 3Nomura Research Institute becomes the first Japanese Organization to receive Catena-X certification - the Most Important EU Dataspace for the Automotive Sector
https://www.nri.com/jp/news/info/20241016_1.html - 4Traceability: a mechanism for tracking where a part came from and where it has gone, which is essential for rapidly identifying and recovering the relevant part during a recall, and for minimizing the scope of the impact.
- 5Data sovereignty: For more information, please visit the following URL.
Intellectual Asset Creation May 2023 issue "Data sovereignty" contributes to solving digital social issues" Jun Odashima
https://www.nri.com/jp/knowledge/publication/cc/chitekishisan/lst/2023/05/01 - 6Introducing Oracle’s sovereign cloud regions for the European Union
https://blogs.oracle.com/oracle4engineer/post/ja-intro-sovereign-cloud-regions-for-eu - 7Usage Control: A key function for guaranteeing data sovereignty, used to ensure data integrity, lifetime, and other aspects of data usage control. Implementation of Usage Control is entrusted to the developers who use the EDC Connector.