OPEN INNOVATION
In touch with the latest technology to expedite innovation
Situated in Osaka near its border with Kyoto, MINASE Innovation Center (MIC) works with external partners such as startups, large corporations, and research institutions to co-generate ideas to solve various social issues. Through these efforts, MIC strives to realize a sustainable society and create long-lasting peace of mind.
MIC is run by High Performance Plastics Company, which has been developing new technologies and new products centered around three areas - electronics, mobility, and industrial. In a hands-on approach with those core technologies, we develop projects in close cooperation with our partners. Our experts, including developers, marketers, and innovators, who have considerable experience in creating new projects, will work with you to suggest optimal solutions consistent with society’s needs.
Reservation
Click here to makeTeam Up
Flow Collaboration workflow with our partners
Deepening mutual understanding with our partners
The co-development of new projects and businesses starts with “People”. We begin by exchanging views in a purpose-built approach to get to know each other’s organization and corporate culture. Come visit us at MIC to experience our exhibition, showcasing the latest technology as well as a spacious area with an open atmosphere.
- Exhibition area showcasing global technology
- Products and prototypes developed and created by Sekisui Chemical with its domestic and international partners are exhibited. Serendipity can be triggered as you come in contact with technologies involving specific materials, functions, and processes.
- Facilities to promote collaboration
- We also have meeting rooms that can be used in various situations, and a lab to prototype and verify a newly generated idea. Pitch events and seminars are regularly held at our hall.
- Partner introduction events
- We have an event called “Creative☆Lab (C☆Lab)” that is held weekly. Our various workshops are designed to introduce partner companies, exchange collaborative ideas, and promote other activities that can lead to co-creative relationships.
- Creative space at MIC to advance ideas
- The open space designed with a well-hole structure from the 1st to 5th floors promotes internal and external interpersonal communication and drives innovation.
- Creative☆Lab (C☆Lab) to drive idea generation
- C☆Lab holds events designed to involve various partners in generating initial ideas and fine-tuning them. These activities are where ideas are generated as the basis for subsequent collaboration.
- Experience MIC virtually
- With 360° virtual images, you can visit the MIC facilities including our cafe, hall, and meeting rooms, as well as a wide range of technical exhibits. We invite you to experience the innovations made possible by Sekisui Chemical.
Exchange
Ideas
Understanding each other’s vision and expanding ideas
Through the process of sharing available technologies and management resources, our mutual understanding is further deepened, and we can confirm mutual points of resonance. Prior to the collaboration, to maximize business opportunities, potential ideas and thoughts are visualized at workshops to clarify what types of innovation and solutions to social issues are envisioned.
- Visiting each other’s organization to share visions
- Releasing each other’s resonating points at workshops
- Organizing management resources made available by both parties
To converge
Converging ideas
that have been
expanded together
This is where the ideas released in the previous process are examined and narrowed down. Here, the value to be provided to the market and the customers is researched, and scenario analysis is conducted with a technological perspective based on prototyping. The business model is fine-tuned by repeating this process of releasing and converging ideas.
- Excellent ideas narrowed down by C☆Lab
- A market scenario ascertained through various market analysis
- A technological scenario verified through prototyping
Team up Commencing collaboration
Representative
case Introducing typical open innovations by Sekisui Chemical
- Heavy-duty anticorrosive sheet that reduces both material and construction costs
- By combining Dai Nippon Toryo’s anti-corrosion technology and Sekisui Chemical’s adhesive technology, “heavy-duty anticorrosive tape” has been developed as a new method of repairing damage caused by clamps that are used when removing scaffolds.
This product can be regarded as a “sheet type of heavy-duty corrosive paint” with a level of durability equivalent to the Rc-I coating system, which usually takes five days to complete. It can take a minimum of one day for this new method to complete the process of surface preparation, application, and top coating, making it possible to reduce both material and construction costs.
- Transparent and flexible radio wave reflection film for 5G communications
- We developed a radio wave reflection film for use in 5G communications in cooperation with Meta Materials Inc. (Canada) and DOCOMO Innovations, Inc. (USA). This film has high transparency and high radio wave dispersion properties, covering a frequency range from 5G to 6G. High-frequency bands such as 5G are characterized by high straightness of radio waves transmitted, which creates susceptibility to interference by buildings and other obstacles, resulting in poor communication quality. By applying this film to walls and ceilings so that they reflect radio waves, such deterioration in communication quality can be prevented in an economical way.
- World’s first manufacturing technology to convert waste into ethanol
- We worked with LanzaTech Inc. (USA), the owner of a microbial catalyst, to develop a manufacturing technology to convert waste into ethanol. Waste collected and transported to disposal facilities comes in many different types and is highly mixed, and therefore has been difficult to be used as an industrial raw material due to its heterogeneity. Our technology was created to address this issue, and as a way to contribute to the establishment of a material recycling society by using it extensively as an alternative to fossil energy resources. Developed at a pilot plant jointly with ORIX Environmental Resources Management Corporation, this technology is currently being tested at a demonstration plant in cooperation with Kuji City.
Center
Information MINASE Innovation Center Information
- ADDRESS
- 〒618-0021
2-1 Momoyama, Shimamoto-cho, Mishima-gun, Osaka - ACCESS
- 8 minute walk from Shimamoto Station on the JR Kyoto Line 14-minute walk from Minase Station on the Hankyu Kyoto Main Line