Technical Development for Realizing a Sustainable Society

Technical Development for Realizing a Sustainable Society

Policies and Basic Approach

The Taisei Group, in its Technology Development Policy, grounds its core strategy on realizing technological advancements based on the priority challenges, business strategies, and the medium- to long-term vision set out in its Medium-Term Business Plan. Under the Medium-Term Business Plan (2021-2023), a primary focus is to “promote the technical development to solve environmental and social issues through open innovation.” To this end, the Group is actively pursuing the development and application of next-generation, high-performance ZEB, exploiting carbon-recycled concrete, and spearheading technologies expected to invigorate industries benefiting from a harmonious cycle between the economy and the environment.

Risks and Opportunities

If we do not sufficiently engage in technological development for the realization of a sustainable society, there is a risk of not being able to provide our clients with high-quality, high-performance construction products and associated services that meet their needs.
Conversely, pursuing innovation through the development and societal integration of technologies—whether to establish new businesses and markets, address diverse sustainability challenges, or enhance quality, productivity, and safety—bolsters the Group’s competitive advantage. It also contributes to enhancing our corporate value but also elevating our reputation among our stakeholders.

Policy / Commitment

  • Action Guidelines for Taisei: Action Guidelines for Taisei: Striving to create value, fulfilling social responsibilities
  • Policy on Intellectual Property
  • Policy on Technological Development
  • Medium-Term Business Plan (2021–2023): Promote technological development to solve environmental and social issues through the use of open innovation

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Goals and Targets

KPIs

Number of patent applications

Performance

  • The number of patent applications filed in FY2022 was 283 cases.
  • To contribute to the development of industry, we are promoting management that emphasizes intellectual property. We are implementing strategic management and utilization of intellectual property in general, including copyrights and construction and business knowhow in addition to patent rights.
  • Based on our strategy for intellectual property, our proactive efforts in rights establishment and utilization have resulted in a patent assessment rate of 87.7%. This figure is notably high when compared to the average rate of 74.7% for all industry sectors over the past three years, as reported in the 2022 edition of the Annual Report of Patent Administration.
  • By creating intellectual properties with new value, we will contribute to society through the development of new technologies, technical support for workplaces, and the utilization of intellectual property through the tripartite integration of our business strategy, research and development strategy, and intellectual property strategy.

KPIs

Number of orders received for net Zero Energy Buildings (ZEBs)

Performance

  • Improving ZEB performance is one of the priority issues in the Medium-Term Business Plan, and we are making every effort to evolve and popularize ZEB/ZEF as an area where we can expect growth in the future. Thanks to our client’s appreciation and understanding of our initiatives in renewable energy and other decarbonization measures, we secured orders for 10 net Zero Energy Buildings (ZEBs) in FY2022.

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Initiatives

  • The Japan Intellectual Property Association

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Sustainability Governance and Oversight

Toward Realization of Innovation

Initiatives for ground-breaking value creation (innovation) are essential for corporate value to grow in the medium- to long- term. The mission of the Taisei Group is to contribute to the development of a resilient society where people can live affluent and cultural lives. Moreover, our goal is to grow sustainably along with society through creating value that will contribute towards resolving the issues that our customers and society face. This will be conducted through the priority measures in our Medium-Term Business Plan (2021–2023), which are “technical development contributing to industrial sectors expected to grow, through a virtuous cycle for the economy and environment” and “technical development where the Company has a competitive edge.”

Regarding the innovation activities on which we need to focus on over the next three years in the Medium-Term Business Plan, we are making efforts towards an investment plan which includes business-related investments, technical development, information, facilities, and human resources, which are decided at the Board of Directors. The investment plans for each category are formulated with a detailed implementation plan for each fiscal year, and the progression of the plans is monitored by the Management Committee and the Board to enhance their efficiency.

Additionally, the Advanced Center of Technology takes the leading role in research and development as well as the implementation of research results in “technical development,” which is the source of the Group’s competitive edge. For the consideration and planning of various measures to promote innovative technical development, deliberations are made by the division chiefs of civil engineering, construction, and other areas of focus along with sales and other related divisions at the Technical Committee. This operations committee is an advisory body to the Management Committee that has the President as the chairman and the Advanced Center of Technology as the coordinator. Reports from the Technical Committee are submitted to the Management Committee and Board for approval and promotion.

Furthermore, in addition to our Group’s own technical development, we also step outside of our existing value chains and promote joint research with different industries and collaborations with local communities. A special department within the Advanced Center of Technology takes on the lead role for joint research with different industries, and another special department within the Sustainability Division (Integrated) handles collaborations with local communities. With our sights set on future innovation of the value chain, we will continue to deepen productive relationships with our stakeholders, who share and empathize with our aspirations, in order to reinforce our foundations for the long-term and sustainable creation of value.

Intellectual Property Strategy

Taisei Corporation has formulated the Policy on Intellectual Property, based on which we practice our Intellectual Property Strategy.
We strategically manage and utilize all intellectual property including patents, copyright, construction and business know-how to promote management that is focused on intellectual property. Regarding management of intellectual property, we intend to improve operational efficiency through building a search function for our own patents and preparing a database for managing patents.
We implement thorough risk management in all business processes to prevent and mitigate intellectual property-related risks that may cause a material impact on business management, such as infringement of our rights or rights of others, and technology leakage. We have established the Rules for Handling Intellectual Property Information to ensure the management of classified information. We also take measures to reduce the risk of infringing the intellectual property rights of third parties, such as making the technical departments and business departments thoroughly aware of other companies' patent information.

Activities / Efforts

Research and Development Activities

In the Group Infrastructure Development Plan: Technology Development of the Medium-Term Business Plan, the Group has identified as a key issue “To promote the technical development to solve environmental and social issues through open innovation.” We are strategically investing management resources in “technical development contributing to industrial sectors expected to grow, through a virtuous cycle for the economy and environment” as well as “technical development where the Company has a competitive edge.”
Specifically, we are pursuing the development, efficiency, and cost reduction of new technologies in the following fields: offshore wind power; logistics, people flow, and infrastructure; carbon recycling; housing and building, next-generation PV; lifestyle-related industry; hydrogen; nuclear power; foods, agriculture, forestry, and fisheries; and resource circulation.
We are also developing special technology for applying to large projects and technology contributing to higher added value and higher quality.

*Open Innovation refers to a methodology for innovation by mobilizing cross-organizational knowledge and technology.

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Patents That Contribute to the Resolution of Social Issues

Article 1 of the Patent Act states that the “purpose of this Act is to encourage inventions by promoting the protection and utilization of inventions, and thereby contribute to the development of industry.” Taisei Corporation promotes business management with a focus on intellectual property not only to secure its competitive advantage but also to achieve this original purpose, and strategically manages and utilizes all intellectual property including patents, copyright, construction and business know-how.
In addition, we have been further enhancing the intellectual property capabilities of the entire Group by establishing systems and exchanging information on intellectual property across the Group.
We also conduct training to ensure that employees are fully informed about this policy and utilize intellectual property strategically in order to strengthen our competitiveness and improve our corporate value. In FY2021, we conducted intellectual property courses for Group companies, technical departments in the head office and operations departments in branch offices of Taisei Corporation as well as e-learning for all officers and employees, including the utilization of application rights and a series of awareness raising campaigns about infringement.

For the Enhancement of ZEB Performance

A net zero energy building (ZEB) is a state-of-the-art building that achieves significant energy saving by using solar shading and natural energy through ingenuity in construction planning, high heat insulation, and high efficiency. At the same time, it greatly reduces annual energy consumption by generating energy through photovoltaic and other power generation systems. By achieving ZEBs and making them popular, the energy supply demand structure is expected to fundamentally improve. At the Taisei Group, we have set enhancement of ZEBs as a key issue in the Medium-Term Business Plan, and our ZEB initiative is positioned to lead to the achievement of SDGs. As a promising sector to become a growth market going forward, we will make full efforts to evolve and spread ZEBs.
Specifically, we are focusing on (i) the Message from the President development of ZEB (Zero Energy Building) and ZEF (net Zero Energy Factory), (ii) the promotion of green renewal ZEB initiatives, (iii) research and development for the commercialization of environmentally friendly concrete, including carbon-recycle concrete that fixes CO2 inside concrete, and (iv) the promotion of “T-ZCB (Zero Carbon Building)” (aiming to conduct Japan's first demonstration at the Group's facility), which will reduce CO2 emissions throughout the entire lifecycle of a building, from the procurement and construction stages to the operation stage,to net zero emissions in total.

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Taisei Corporation's Digital Transformation

In our Medium-Term Business Plan (2021-2023), we at Taisei Corporation recognize that we are heading “Toward an era where digital transformation determines competitiveness.” As one of the key issues, we set the target of “To innovate production systems, and reform workstyles through digital transformation (DX).” In this way, we are implementing company-wide DX initiatives. Since the activity satisfied the certification standards set by the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry, we obtained DX certification.
We will continue to working to achieve the medium- to long term vision TAISEI VISION 2030 “The Ever-Evolving CDE3 (cubed) Company: A pioneering corporate group contributing to the development of a resilient society where people can live affluent and cultural lives,” and accelerating activities.

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Data

Research and Development Expenditure (Consolidation)

  FY2018 FY2019 FY2020 FY2021 FY2022
Research and development expenses ¥12.4billion ¥13.5billion ¥14.2billion ¥15.2billion ¥16.8billion

Social Data

Sustainability

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