Innovation

SEKISUI CHEMICAL Group has adopted Innovation for the Earth as a vision statement for its Long-term Vision. We also emphasize innovation as an important driver for realizing our vision. With climate change and other extremely difficult and urgent social issues piling up, the importance of innovation to create new solutions to these issues is increasing.
Under the current Medium-term Management Plan, based on our Long-term Vision, "Vision 2030," we have identified enhancement areas in which we aim to further grow existing businesses in each business domain, and innovation areas in which we create a new business foundation, and are working to strengthen innovation in each of these domains.
In addition, we launched a Group-wide innovation roundtable initiative to identify business opportunities across business domains and to regularly examine the combination of technologies. Through these efforts, we are working to strengthen our ability to innovate as a comprehensive Group-wide strength.
With regard to strengthening core technologies, which are the source of innovation, we define technology platforms throughout the Group and are proceeding with technology enhancements over the medium to long term. At the same time, we will focus on collaboration and open innovation with outside parties to enhance our ability to resolve social issues by quickly creating new value.

The R&D structure for creating and promoting innovation is divided into two categories according to the time axis of the project. Research and development projects originating from the acquisition of customer needs will be undertaken at the laboratories of each segment to enable swift activities in accordance with the respective business environment. Meanwhile, the Corporate Headquarters is in charge of medium-to long-term projects. The R&D Center is responsible for the initial exploration and planning of R&D projects and the establishment of basic technologies. The New Business Development Department is responsible for the promotion of commercialization, and the system is designed to enable the rapid transfer of R&D to divisional companies once the business is launched. Each segment and Corporate Headquarters has an independent intellectual property department. The intellectual property divisions, business divisions, and R & D divisions of each segment work together at all times, and based on the characteristics of their respective business domains, we strive to gain a competitive advantage over our competitors, which in turn leads to the expansion and growth of our Group's business.

The status of innovation initiatives is monitored regularly by the R&D Committee. Discussions are underway with top management to further strengthen innovation.

SEKISUI CHEMICAL Group believes that collaboration with internal departments and external parties is important for realizing innovation. Based on this concept, we are actively working on technology collaboration inside and outside the Company, which we refer to as "fusion.”
Regarding in-house fusion, the Group's R&D Center works with related departments within the Company to promote fusion with each divisional company from the three perspectives of "fusion of core technology," "fusion of planning," and "fusion of development."
As far as fusion of core technology is concerned, we are promoting support for divisional company development themes using materials informatics in information science, one of the basic technologies integrated into the R&D Center, and are steadily building up a track record.
From a perspective on fusion of planning, we were able to create new development themes through collaboration between planning personnel from the planning departments of divisional companies and the R&D Center. As we work toward further fusion of planning, we are endeavoring to revitalize the Company through internal technology exchange events.
Turning to fusion of development, we are promoting integration through a mechanism in which Corporate Headquarters support development themes that cross divisional company boundaries.
We are also actively promoting the fusion of key development themes with external parties. The Group’s perovskite solar cell currently under development was selected as a national development project in collaboration with the University of Tokyo and Ritsumeikan University. We are also promoting a joint demonstration with the Tokyo Metropolitan Government, and plan to accelerate development toward practical application.
Moreover, we have entered into a partnership with ArcelorMittal, S.A., one of the world's largest steel companies, to pursue a carbon recycling technology project. In addition to promoting initiatives aimed at reducing CO2 emissions during steelmaking, we are also engaged in a joint study with COSMO ENERGY HOLDINGS Co., Ltd. to convert CO2 into valuable materials.

In 2021, SEKISUI CHEMICAL Group established the Innovation Promotion Group in the New Business Development Department with the aim of continuing to bring about innovation that helps resolve social issues as stipulated in the Group’s Vision 2030.
The Innovation Promotion Group is engaged in planning and creating new businesses, designing and operating an in-house entrepreneurial system, and fostering a culture of innovation. In fiscal 2023, we launched an in-house entrepreneurial system as a measure to strengthen human resources who can run projects by accompanying experts in planning themes to hone entrepreneurial skills. We received 206 applications from the Group as a whole, exceeding the target of 100 applications. We are pleased to see that there are many employees who want to take on the challenge of taking new businesses through to commercialization.
Furthermore, in cooperation with the MINASE INNOVATION CENTER, we are providing a place where human resources from inside and outside the Group can gain access to a wide range of information and knowledge and interact with each other as an opportunity for innovation.