2018_4q_omron_e
36/45 Technology Mgmt: Improving Innovation-creating Capability

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【ノート】
First, on the organizational front, we established the Innovation Promotion HQ from this spring. We are not merely reacting to the fact that innovation is now a key buzzword. This new department has an important role to play in managing the innovation process as a whole, starting from the development of strategies based on Near Future Design through to the evaluation of businesses that emerge from these strategies. This department is set up as a platform for all of our businesses. As an example, if a business unit sees an opportunity but lacks for resources, they can ask for support from this new department, which has the ability to allocate HQ resources in order to accelerate growth. It is a common platform that will support all of our businesses. As indicated in the lower left, we have established three new R&D facilities. The first is the Near Future Design R&D Company OSX (OMRON Sinic X), a dedicated institute to focus on Near Future Design. This will be an independent company, based in the Hongo neighborhood of Tokyo. We held a press conference yesterday, with more than 50 reporters in attendance. You may have already seen some articles about this today. The second is the Edge-type AI Development Center, also to be based in Tokyo. It will operate under the auspices of the Technology and Intellectual Property HQ. We are focused on AI but not on server-type, neural networks. Instead, our focus is on developing compact, high performance and high speed AI that can be embedded in robots, sensors or controllers. In order to develop leading-edge technologies, we chose to build a development center in Tokyo, bringing together resources from across the organization. The third is the Robotics Development Center. As alluded to by CEO Yamada, IAB’s robotics business is growing dramatically. As a result, many development themes have emerged; we would like to invest for future technologies in this area. This center will also operate under the auspices of the Technology and Intellectual Property HQ. It is located on the West Coast of the US, next door to OMRON Adept Technologies. As we show on the lower right, we will hire and cultivate high caliber engineering human resources to support our technology development and strategies. Last fiscal year, we hired more than 50 engineers in this field. Next slide please. This is OMRON Sinic X R&D company, which I referred to earlier. Currently we have 10 people on staff, of which 3 are OMRON employees. The remaining staff, reflecting our commitment to open innovation, are from outside OMRON. As indicated here, we have been able to attract extremely talented individuals, either as employees or advisors. Although the company is a part of the OMRON group, our aim is to have OSX focus on Near Future Designs without being bound by OMRON imperatives. We plan to leverage OSX’s academic network to hire another 10 people during the current fiscal year.