When I was appointed CTO in 2019, I delivered the technology strategy of "the creation of a future connecting people and spacetime" as my message. In order to achieve this message, in 2021 we established the technology development strategy of “R&D²”—Research, Development, and Design—together with New Medium-Term Management Plan VISION 2023. This strategy and plan are indispensable elements for the JVCKENWOOD Group’s value creation initiative of designing our research and development outcomes and introducing them to the world. 

The JVCKENWOOD Group has been introducing the world’s first and industry-leading products that create excitement and peace of mind one after another since its founding as an electronics manufacturer. However, it is also true that in recent years, there have been increasing activities focused on short-term results in order to address complex changes in the world’s needs and fierce market competition. The essential mission of our research and development is to create technologies that genuinely respond to people’s instincts and desires, and provide sustainable value to the world. In establishing R&D², we were conscious of returning to the origin of creating products based on a vision of the future. 

In July 2021, we established the Future Creation Research Institute as a cornerstone of R&D². While we have had a technology development department, the Future Creation Research Institute aims to be a more future-oriented, social problem-solving organization, as implied by its name. The topics addressed by the Future Creation Research Institute are all linked to SDGs, and a clear explanation regarding how contributions will be made to society can be provided.

Based on our core technologies of image, sound, communication and design, the Future Creation Research Institute will work on hypothesis testing more than ever before with an aim of creating new value that connects people, time and space without being bound by our existing business. While it may take time for our initiatives to take form, or we may at times fail, the accumulation of such efforts will become an asset. Making effective use of this asset is also a key point. I would like the Future Creation Research Institute to work toward achieving social prosperity, and to this end, we need to proactively consider how to enhance the market value of our accumulated technologies and intellectual property. We will not only focus on the implementation of products and services of our business but also consider utilizations in different domains as required, and as a research institute, strengthen collaborations with external parties, including industry-academia collaboration and partnerships with different industries. By securing multiple ways of utilizing new technologies and intellectual property, we hope that our engineers will be able to spread their wings for new creations without fear of failure. 

In order for the JVCKENWOOD Group to become an essential member of society, we will return to the origin of our foundation and promote research and development activities that genuinely address the instincts and desires of people. In order to solve social issues using technology while continuing to be an organization that constantly looks to the future, we believe that our greatest responsibility is to create an environment where all engineers involved, from the planning and development to the production and quality assurance of products, can hold free discussions and absorb themselves in Monozukuri, while achieving the goals we establish as a company.