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Innovative R&D Report 2016Volume 65 Number 9 November 2016

In this age of uncertainty that we are living in today, there is a strong need for research and development (R&D) that, starting with the challenges facing customers, attempts to pivot as the circumstances demand while working with customers to develop hypotheses and test the market's reaction. To meet these needs, Hitachi undertook a reorganization of its R&D organization based on the three pillars of "collaborative creation with customers," "technology-driven innovation," and "exploratory research," and now, as we enter the second year of that effort, the benefits are already starting to emerge. This issue of Hitachi Review presents recent R&D work together with examples of solutions resulting from collaborative creation with customers, and also covers the ethos that researchers have handed down from the past in an unbroken chain.

    Technotalk

    The Role of R&D Focusing on Open Innovation and Collaborative Creation
    The True Innovation that Digitalization Enables

    The Hitachi Group undertook a major transformation in its research and development style in 2015, moving its focus to customer-driven collaborative research where researchers work in collaboration with customers to gain insight into issues and create solutions. Today, with the wave of digitalization transforming the role of business and society in significant ways, solving the myriad of complex issues facing customers and society demands new ideas and innovations that diverge from the path followed to date.

    Preface

    R&D Leading Social Innovation through Global Collaborative Creation with Customers

    In this age of uncertainty that we are living in, the linear model whereby technology is developed at a research center and commercialized by operational divisions for delivery to customers is becoming less and less viable.

    Overview

    Hitachi Group's R&D Strategy

    Yoshitaka Nishino

    HITACHI is working to expand its Social Innovation Business throughout the world. This business involves developing a common understanding of problems with customers and then mobilizing its technologies, products, services, personnel, and other business resources to work with them to achieve innovation and deliver solutions to those problems.

    Collaborative Creation with Customers

    Category Overview

    Achieving Innovation through Global Collaborative Creation with Customers —Global Center for Social Innovation—
    Yuichiro Nakaya

    Featured Articles

    Global Collaborative Creation with Customers on Energy Solutions
    Yasuo Sato, Tohru Watanabe, Hiroto Sasaki, Jun Yamazaki, Tatsuya Yamada
    Care Cycle Optimization Using Digital Solutions
    Toru Hisamitsu, Michio Oikawa, Kunihiko Kido
    Collaborative Creation with Customers for Predictive Maintenance Solutions on Hitachi IoT Platform
    Chetan Gupta, Ahmed Farahat, Tomoaki Hiruta, Kosta Ristovski, Umeshwar Dayal

    Technology Innovation

    Category Overview

    Groundbreaking Technologies Underpinning the Social Innovation Business —Center for Technology Innovation—
    Masahiro Aoki, Yuichi Yagawa

    Featured Articles

    Research and Development Driving Innovations in Global Railway Systems/Services
    Osamu Suzuki, Yutaka Sato, Nobuo Nukaga, Shuichiro Sakikawa, Keiichi Katsuta, Kiyoshi Morita
    Modular Power Conversion Technology for Global Manufacturing and Operations
    Yuichi Mabuchi, Daisuke Matsumoto, Hiroshi Kamizuma, Yukio Hattori, Tomonori Ichikawa, Ryohei Miyagawa
    Fundamental Technologies Driving the Evolution of Autonomous Driving
    Takeshi Shima, Takeshi Nagasaki, Akira Kuriyama, Kentaro Yoshimura, Tsuneo Sobue
    Robotics Solutions Opening Up New Service Markets
    Atsushi Baba, Tatsuhiko Kagehiro, Hisahiro Koshizuka, Masahito Togami, Hideya Yoshiuchi
    IoT Platform that Expands the Social Innovation Business
    Seishi Hanaoka, Yuichi Taguchi, Tomohiro Nakamura, Hiromitsu Kato, Tadashi Kaji, Hironori Komi, Norihiko Moriwaki, Nobuaki Kohinata, Ken Wood, Tetsuya Hashimoto, Yuuji Takamura
    Digital Sensing Technology for Visualizing Sites
    Takashi Oshima, Tsukasa Fujimori, Hisanori Matsumoto, Akira Kuriyama, Hideaki Kurata
    Using Operation Information in Reliability Design and Maintenance: Analytics for the IoT Era
    Norio Takeda, Yasuki Kita, Hiromitsu Nakagawa, Hideaki Suzuki

    Exploratory Research

    Category Overview

    Challenging Future Societal Issues through Open Innovation —Center for Exploratory Research—
    Shinji Yamada

    Featured Articles

    Innovative Functional Materials for Green Innovation
    Jun Hayakawa, Yosuke Kurosaki, Masakuni Okamoto, Hiroyuki Suzuki, Tadashi Fujieda
    Innovative Technology for Using Bioethanol to Achieve a Low-carbon Society
    Atsushi Shimada, Yuzo Shirakawa, Takao Ishikawa
    Realizing the Future that Regenerative Medicine Will Open
    Shizu Takeda

    Special Contribution

    R&D That Contributes to Human Beings and Society Creating New Ethics

    Hideaki Koizumi

    From the perspectives of physics and brain-science, the key to realizing future innovation is exploration with a comprehensive view of the world of nature, which consists of matter (energy) and information (entropy).