Innovation for a sustainable future
R&D initiatives
In our R&D, we aim to provide solutions to various social issues by maximizing the appeal of coating through our technological capabilities. We are also working to strengthen the collaboration between the comprehensive strengths of the Group’s engineers in Japan and overseas and our external networks. We will deliver unprecedented and innovative solutions to society by advancing strategic technology development.
Set up "Advanced Product Development" by calling in R&D engineers from the Group’s partner companies
In May 2020, NPHD set up Advanced Product Development, where excellent R&D engineers from the Group’s partner companies were assigned with a mission of “exploiting all the Group’s technologies in areas including paints, coatings, and surface treatments and forming collaborative relationships with universities, research institutions, and other companies as necessary in order to develop products that contribute to solving social challenges. In response to the social anxieties caused by the spread of the COVID-19 pandemic, Advanced Product Development was launched with the highest priority placed on the development of anti-viral products by identifying situations in everyday lives where the risk of infection is high. Led by this specialized team, we are accelerating research and development activities aimed at providing safety and security for people's lives and for maintaining social functions in the “new normal” lifestyles. Meanwhile, we need to promptly deliver new products thus developed to end users through the processes of production, distribution, and sales, which requires collaboration with each partner company. By monitoring such activities through the Anti-viral Product Development Technology Meeting, which was established as a company-wide organization, we are working on providing solutions to social challenges as a company-wide project.
Conclusion of industry-academia collaboration agreement with the University of Tokyo
On May 18, 2020, the University of Tokyo and NPHD concluded an industry-academia co-creation agreement aimed at high-level comprehensive joint research and the exchange of human resources. We decided to establish a social cooperation course titled “Construction of Innovation Coating Technologies” in the Graduate School of Engineering of the University of Tokyo. The period of the agreement will be five years from October 1, 2020, to September 30, 2025, with a total of 1 billion yen offered as research funds. Through this agreement, NPHD and the University of Tokyo will focus on achieving the development of technology that will help prevent the spread of the COVID-19 pandemic, including anti-viral technologies, and technology to solve new social problems that will emerge after the end of the spread of infections shaped around the concept of “paints and coatings.” This agreement will also bring new technologies to the table to both build a foundation for a smart/remote society and weave together the threads to create a beautiful, attractive, and sustainable society.