On Monday, February 2th, the Yokohama Mirai Organization's 26st Management Meeting was held at Yokohama Minato Mirai 1 Guest Room.
This meeting is an initiative aimed at promoting interaction among the executives of major companies that are members of the Yokohama Mirai Organization and exchanging opinions and ideas regarding innovation creation.
In the first session, the Yokohama Future Organization directors, who have an R&D base in Yokohama city, will be Vice Chairman of Yokohama Future Organization, Managing Director AGC Corporation Inoue, Director of Yokohama Future Organization, Managing Director JFE Engineering Co., Ltd. Baba, also Yokohama Future Organization. We welcome Fujimaki, Managing Director of Fujifilm Business Innovation Co., Ltd., to discuss topics such as what is necessary to create innovation in large companies, initiatives within the company, challenges that management should implement from now on, and the role expected of Yokohama Miraikan. They spoke passionately in a peaceful atmosphere.
As the top batter, Managing Director Baba spoke about JFE Engineering Corporation's efforts to encourage innovation within the company.
``JFE Engineering Corporation has an in-house venture system called ``FUN∞,'' in which employees can propose business ideas. Themes range from daily-life ideas to robotics, ICT, carbon neutrality, and more. Selected applicants will receive support from specialized departments and external consultants to consider commercialization. This year, we received 20 applications, the most ever, and were very popular. Since this system itself has only just started, concrete commercialization has not yet been implemented and it is still in the consideration phase. Furthermore, it is more likely to be realized in a situation adjacent to a business, and there are examples of ideas becoming concrete. For example, the idea of using waste plastic as a combustion aid material comes from an area adjacent to our business.
Also, about four to five years ago, the company president started focusing on cultural reform and began various initiatives. One of them is the "Failure Portal." Executives are required to share their failures on the company's intranet, which is viewed by many employees.
In addition, we are working to create a frank and open company culture while considering TPO when dealing with customers, such as san-zuke activities, self-biz (individuals are free to dress), etc. ”
After Managing Director Baba spoke, Managing Director Fujimaki also introduced the company's initiatives and issues.
"Fujifilm Business Innovation Co., Ltd. had a system for proposing business ideas called Virtual Hollywood in the past, which lasted for about 15 years, but it has now been discontinued due to a change in internal policy. So far, there have been cases where business ideas have been proposed to the establishment of a company. There are XNUMX-XNUMX.
We are conducting research on environmental friendliness by applying existing technology. We have also developed an object traceability technology called Yoctrace, and we are asking Yokohama National University and Yokohama Future Organization to intervene, and we are asking various companies to come up with ideas for its use, as to how it can contribute to society. Since we have the technology, the challenge is to find a partner who can utilize it. Since Fuji Xerox became Fuji Film, the company has started to emphasize its own technology, and is actively engaged in M&A in order to do new things. ”
AGC Managing Director Inoue had the following story.
``At AGC Corporation, we are developing our business based on two axes: ``exploration (strategy)'' to create innovation and develop new businesses, and ``deepening (core)'' to develop existing technologies. We are good at deepening existing technologies and products, but exploring them is challenging. Currently, he is mainly conducting research in the fields of life science, electronics, new mobility, environment and energy, etc.
Researchers are given free time of 10% of their working time, and are asked to use this time to explore new fields.The ideas that emerge are then examined using a tentative oriented planning method.
Until now, research and development had been conducted in-house in a closed manner, but many people, including the current CEO, have long believed that open innovation is necessary from now on. In addition, there are various research fields within the company, and each facility is scattered, making it difficult to integrate and utilize technologies, so we spent about 10 years and invested to consolidate these research fields at the AGC Yokohama Technical Center. Concentrated in one place. AGC's corporate culture has many employees who are enthusiastic about taking on challenges, and the company has an open culture that supports this. However, commercialization often ends in failure. In order to avoid these problems, we would like to promote collaboration with each company through Yokohama Mirai Organization. ”
The following talks were given regarding the future activities of Yokohama Mirai Organization.
“Start-up company members are thriving, but I feel like the major company members are not as excited.We have created a major company section as a layer, and while the major company members are working together, we are trying to figure out how to interact with the startup company members. I would like to discuss the issue of how to proceed.How about holding facility tours and social gatherings for major companies that are interested in innovation?By touring each facility, you can receive ideas from other companies on how to utilize the facility. Yes, and I think the people giving the explanations will be more motivated.Also, you can learn information about each company's products through these tours.Open innovation will progress even further if you include the research results of academic researchers. I think it would be a good idea to expand the target audience from management to researchers, young people, and mid-career people.
My challenge to the Yokohama Mirai Organization is that since Yokohama has a high concentration of R&D from large companies, I would like to see more places where people can gather and interact. ”
The next management meeting will also be planned to include a tour of the company's facilities.
We will report on the progress of the next meeting, so please look forward to it.