In order to link the products and technologies owned by the company with the needs of our customers and society at large, we use our own personnel as well as external experts and others hired from outside the company to conduct research and identify needs from a novel perspective. Specifically, we plan and undertake basic research on future technologies, such as technology for converting to new biomass materials through an environmentally-friendly next-generation chemical conversion process aimed at contributing to a society committed to recycling. While conducting a number of joint research projects with universities and other organizations, we look five or ten years ahead as a means of exploring new possibilities. We employ the results of this research in our development and business divisions.

We create businesses that provide value in our core business domain in support of our long-term vision. In order to accelerate this trend, we actively communicate with our related strategic business units (SBUs) and group companies to identify needs through customer-focused initiatives that are closely linked to customers. In addition, our Analysis Service Center within the Innovation and Business Development Headquarters consolidates the assessment technologies cultivated to date in a wide range of fields and promptly responds to requests from within the Group. In addition to undertaking analysis, evaluation, and expanded cultivation centered on conventional elemental technologies, it is responsible for promoting commercialization.

The Biomass Innovation Center is focused on developing the technologies for creating high-performance, high-value-added products from surplus biomass obtained from Japan’s rich forest resources and agricultural waste. Working in collaboration with local primary industries, the Center is adopting these environment-friendly processes and technologies in an effort to incorporate the Biomass Value Chain Concept to develop a co-creation value chain. In 2023, we collaborated with Kanazawa University to establish the Biomass Green Innovation Center as a research and development hub on the campus of Kanazawa University. This initiative is intended to pursue open innovation through co-creation among researchers spanning industry, government, and academia. Our goal is to contribute to the emergence of a society committed to recycling by developing rare metal adsorbents and plastic products derived from biomass materials such as cellulose. At the same time, we are working on the social implementation of a technology to melt wood under normal conditions.

In response to the increasingly sophisticated demand for development of functional innovations, we have focused on inorganic/organic composite materials and are engaging in a wide range of activities from exploration and basic research to applied research and development based on customer needs. We are achieving this not only in-house but also through collaboration with universities and manufacturers that possess relevant elemental technologies. In particular, we are promoting materials and functional design through evaluations of implementations in an effort to develop next-generation power devices and materials required for the next-generation 6G communication standard, which is expected to grow significantly in the future. By promoting early implementation among the public, we are contributing to the emergence of a society committed to sustainability.

When developing new businesses, it is necessary to create products with the functions that customers want through a rational and sustainable process. Working in collaboration with researchers at the initial stage of development, we support the establishment of industrialization technology and process control technology. As professionals in the manufacturing technology sector, we work with an eye toward mass production by pursuing rational manufacturing processes that take cost and quality into consideration while making full use of simulation technology. Furthermore, by clarifying necessary elemental technologies from a new angle without being bound by convention, and by pursuing and implementing the ultimate process that simultaneously satisfies cost, quality, and energy conservation targets, we are building a sustainable manufacturing system that is friendly to both customers and the planet. This is how we are accelerating the businesses development.

The equipment required for making things is an important asset that is indispensable in our corporate operations. As professionals in this area, we are actively involved from an early stage of development and strongly support the establishment of production technology for new products. With our many years of experience and the expertise we have accumulated, we are contributing to rapid business development with professional judgment and active communication.

We are actively exploiting the value of the intellectual property rights (patent rights, utility model rights, trademark rights, design rights, etc.) held by the company to drive innovation that leads to new business development and enhancement of Daicel's brand power. In each specific R&D theme and business planning theme, we play a role in business decision-making while working in close coordination with related departments.

• Utilization of simulation technology
  • Virtual Lab

    This is a new mechanism for identifying issues from the R&D stage to the production stage using simulation technology and deriving the optimal method. By utilizing our virtual lab as an alternative tool for experiments from the initial design phase, the time required for design is reduced and development costs are minimized.

    

  • Materials Informatics (MI)

    By combining enormous amounts of data and knowledge through simulations, we can design materials through a molecular approach to satisfy an intended purpose. We are accelerating research and development while utilizing artificial intelligence (AI) and other technologies.

    

• Encouraging communication with a flexible workstyle