Behind the Scenes of Shimadzu Nurturing Technology and Development
Annual Festival “Technofair” for Engineers
Along with the passion overflowing from the event hall, many posters and exhibits also flowed out and were on display in the lobby. This Technofair event provides a single forum for engineers from throughout the Shimadzu Group to present results from their day-to-day research and development work.
Of all the technology being developed at Shimadzu, only about 30 projects are released and take center stage. The Technofair shows how some of those technologies are being cultivated behind the scenes.
To make it easier to imagine the value offered by the technology from the customer’s perspective, the exhibits are separated into different areas based on the target market and industry.
Technofair 2024
Within Shimadzu, many people have commented that it is difficult to see what research departments are doing. That is why the Technofair was started as a technology networking event only for Shimadzu personnel to inform people in other departments about measures the research departments are implementing.
About 100 exhibits were displayed from research, business, design, and manufacturing departments and from five Group companies. Over half of those exhibited an actual demo unit. In addition, various events were held, including presentations on seven topics and showroom tours. These activities provided an opportunity to see technology from other departments and generate communication within the company.
Over 1,200 people participated during the 2-day period. Not only engineers, but also sales and administrative personnel, corporate officers, and the President participated. For exhibitors, it provides a valuable opportunity to speak directly with executive management to obtain their opinions about the exhibitor’s research. Interactions begin with the question “What type of technology is it?” and continue with exchanging views, such as “Could any Shimadzu technology contribute to society?” or “Can this technology be used for collaborations within Shimadzu?”
The Technofair originally started as the Key Technology Presentation Exhibition, with the current one being the 23rd time it has been held. In 2009, it was scaled up to the Technofair events held today.
Those who appeared in the NHK television show “Night of the Makaizo Society” displayed an exhibit entitled “What We Learned from a Focused Short-Term Cross-Organizational Project.”
Presentation by the Project Leader of the “Night of the Makaizo Society (First Night) Dinosaur Can-Kicking” Project
Young Engineers Waiting for Day to Stand on the Center Stage
At one exhibition booth for biometric systems, we asked Yasuyuki Uraoka and Masamitsu Kamon, who were in charge of hardware, and Kotaro Ryu, who was in charge of software, about the exhibition they entered in the Technofair.
Exhibition Members (from left: Kamon, Uraoka, and Ryu) Checking System Behavior
“When involved in research and development, there is an unavoidable tendency to see systems in development from only one perspective, but I appreciate getting feedback from new perspectives from employees participating in the fair.” We even received feedback from employees involved in confidential research, such as “We are developing systems worn by people. Due to the importance of how it feels when worn, the Technofair provides a valuable opportunity to have many different people try the systems and has resulted in discovering unexpected things that should be improved” and “It also is fun to show other employees who joined the company in the same year what I am working on.”
The Path of Engineers Also Traveled by Organizers
“Networking within Shimadzu is important for achieving progress toward developing technology or conducting research” said Ichiro Oda, General Manager of the Research & Development Management Department that organizes the Shimadzu Technofair. Based on his own experience traveling his path as an engineer, he noted that “listening to the opinions of non-experts is extremely valuable.” In addition, he said “In order to generate innovation, I hope young engineers will actively participate in academic conferences and take charge of driving those conferences.”
From the time Oda joined Shimadzu, he was engaged in joint research and development work with Osaka University on a living organism imaging system based on using near-infrared light that became the prototype for the OMM-2001 series released in 2001. Currently, that system has evolved into the near-infrared spectroscopy (NIRS) brain function imaging system sold by the Medical Systems Division.
Fostering Technology for the Benefit of Society
Shimadzu has a culture of taking a long view toward carefully cultivating technologies and products being developed. Consequently, a strength of Shimadzu is being able to quickly commercialize products whenever society needs those technologies. One example is when Shimadzu released a novel coronavirus detection kit in April 2020. We were able to establish a schedule for releasing a commercial product within only one month after starting development due to the norovirus testing reagent technologies available that Shimadzu developed more than 25 years earlier. By steadily fostering and accumulating technologies, we have been able to continue generating new products and technologies.
Founder Genzo Shimadzu’s strong will to contribute to Japanese society by promoting the spread of scientific knowledge and his strong desire for taking on new challenges has helped generate innovation and sustained Shimadzu businesses for 150 years. Therefore, employees have inherited a similarly strong will and spirit of inquiry and engage in solving challenges based on the corporate philosophy “Contributing to Society through Science and Technology.”
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