2019_1q_omron_e

21/36 Investments for Future Growth (R&D)

We are proactively allocating the increased profits to investments for future growth. We show here R&D expenses and R&D spending as a percentage of sales. It is our strongly-held view that revolutionary innovation which contributes meaningfully to society cannot be created in the absence of investments in technology. This is what prompted us to accelerate R&D spend, taking investments to a higher level from FY2017, the first year of VG2.0. We have increased R&D spend to around 7% of sales. We are committed to raising R&D expenses further to 7.5% by FY2020. Our investments in core technologies, including innovation in fields such as AI or robotics, will be around 1% of sales.