Sustainability
Create New Products and Technologies
Under the technical division policy of “reinforcing fundamental technologies to generate innovation,” We engage in R&D activities with the spirit of venture, which has been passed down since our founding days.
In the areas half a step or one step ahead of our existing businesses, there are still many themes with hidden potential for unlocking the future. We will take a step further from there toward new fields for the future.
Indicators and Targets
Indicators | Scope | Unit | FY2021 | FY2022 | FY2023 | Medium- to Long-term Targets | |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
FY2024 | FY2030 | ||||||
R&D expenditure | consolidated | billion yen | 1.5 | 1.6 | 1.8 | - | - |
Numbers of patents applications | non-consolidated | cases | 8 | 8 | 19 | 45 (cumulative) (FY2022–2024) |
210 (cumulative) (FY2022–2030) |
Numbers of collaborations with external parties | non-consolidated | cases | 3 | 4 | 9 | 10 (cumulative) (FY2022–2024) |
35 (cumulative) (FY2022–2030) |
R&D Structure
As per the measures of the three-year medium-term business plan, we have sought to enrich our R&D efforts from a hardware perspective through efforts such as improving the environment of our R&D Center. As part of these efforts, we commenced full-fledged R&D operations at Buildings 1, 2, and 3 of the R&D Center (Tokyo) to further deepen our compound and film technologies. We installed film prototyping equipment in Building 3 and have a structure that would enable us to make films and sheets from the materials we developed as compounds and to perform sample work.
In FY2023, we completed a semi-commercial plant in Building 2 for new thermoplastic vulcanizate (TPV) elastomer which includes kneading machines for developing TPV compounds that can serve as vulcanized rubber substitutes. We are using this semi-commercial plant to further refine our production technologies and carry out research aimed at deploying mass-production equipment in the future.
Fundamental Technologies
Formula Design Technology
We make full use of various raw materials and create designs that respond accurately to diversifying and increasingly sophisticated needs. To further accelerate our product development and achieve greater formula design efficiency and speed by performing data-driven R&D. We are introducing materials informatics (MI).
Mixing and Kneading Technology
Through our multi-material morphology control and reaction reforming technologies, we are meeting growing needs for high-performance materials. We supply compounds kneaded into optimal condition to improve customer-side processing. We also leverage the technologies we have developed through our many years to provide recommendations regarding optimal molding conditions and solutions to problems customers face related to molding defects. These production and processing technologies have been passed on to the production sites of our overseas consolidated subsidiaries.
Film manufacturing and processing Technology
The film manufacturing technology used in our thermoplastic resins is world-class, and the surfaces of our films are extraordinarily homogenous, with extremely stable quality. Also, our wide variety of laminating technologies can be used to laminate films with different properties. Coatings can be applied to reform film surfaces, and our coatings can be used to produce films ranging from general-purpose products to high-precision items. Through our continued exploration of the joint possibilities of film manufacturing, lamination, and coating technologies, we can deliver high-value-added functional films.
Intellectual Property Strategies and Open Innovation
It is vital to formulate management strategies from multifaceted perspectives to respond to the recent changes in society, such as the promotion of sustainability and environmental, social, and governance (ESG) efforts. Here, intellectual property (IP) landscaping making use of IP information is effective, and the Intellectual Property Department is taking the lead to provide recommendations on our management issues.
The creation of IP through open innovation is also an important development strategy of RIKEN TECHNOS, and we are submitting patent applications according to our research results. We go about our activities, setting the number of patent applications and collaborations with external parties as our KPIs. We will use the knowledge gained through new discoveries and innovation from collaboration with external parties to enhance our ability to develop new products and technologies. Besides the development themes being undertaken currently, going forward, we will also focus on themes for the development of film products.
Development of Environmentally Friendly Products
We will expand the lineup and sales of RIKEBIO® series, which uses biomass materials. At the same time, major issues going forward will be to develop materials that contribute toward saving energy and to increase the use of thermoplastic elastomer (TPE)—which reduces CO2 emissions during production compared to vulcanized rubber—as a substitute for vulcanized rubber.
We worked on R&D of TPV—a vulcanized rubber substitute— with the recognition that it will be core to our elastomer business. Through formula optimization using materials informatics (MI), we established the basic design and made it possible to carry out small-volume production and sample work at the semi-commercial plant. Besides compounds themselves, we also plan to launch products that use them as materials, such as TPV sheets.
We do not see environmental issues as simply being constraints, but also as opportunities for taking on challenges that can be turned to our advantage. However, no matter how environmentally friendly a material might be, it cannot reduce environmental load if it is not used. We carry out development with a focus on making products useful and reasonably priced for customers so that our products are chosen by even more people.
Digital Transformation of Research and Development
To achieve the delivery of optimal solutions to our customers and to maintain sustainable growth of the Company, it will become increasingly important to also establish digital environments in the R&D field. Besides using MI and developing MI human resources, we also seek to achieve greater formula design efficiency and speed by performing data-driven R&D. We are also putting in place systems and environments for comprehensive digital management of accumulated technical information—such as test operations, equipment, and results—and effective referencing and use of such data. We will optimize the R&D flow and transform from tasks by individuals to a process that creates value as an organization.