Innovation Management

R&D Efforts Focused on Innovation

Efforts Focused on Creating New Businesses

At Sharp, corporate R&D divisions are accelerating the deepening of core technologies and the exploration of future technologies to foster innovation across a wide range of fields, aiming for renewed growth and future advancements. With the idea of putting ESG-focused management into practice, we are accurately identifying social challenges such as an aging society and labor shortages, as well as future market needs, and working to create technologies that will lead to their solutions.

Furthermore, we are pursuing technology and business strategies in an integrated manner and have built a system that seamlessly connects the discovery of technological seeds with commercialization through co-creation with partner companies, universities, and startups. This is accelerating the creation of growth engines and new businesses centered on distinctive technologies, as well as the development of uniquely Sharp products and services.

At the core of this initiative is I-Pro*, a company-wide project. In I-Pro, the R&D divisions and business divisions work together to consistently pursue everything from nurturing technological seeds to demonstration, verification, commercialization considerations, and product and service development. In addition, we are strengthening the operational foundation through continuous review of systems and evaluation processes, and evolving the system to connect research and development results with commercialization more quickly and reliably.

As a result, the technologies and ideas generated from I-Pro have been deployed in multiple initiatives, including those related to generative AI, and have already been incorporated into several products and services, as well as developed into new businesses. Furthermore, the cross-divisional collaboration and commercialization know-how cultivated through I-Pro have spread to further cooperation between the R&D and business divisions, accelerating the creation of new businesses that will serve as future growth engines and the development of products and services that offer value unique to Sharp.

Moving forward, we will continue to take a comprehensive approach, from creating core technologies to co-creating value and commercializing products, all starting from understanding social issues and market needs, thereby contributing to the realization of a sustainable society and the enhancement of corporate value.

• I-Pro (Innovation Accelerate Project) is a company-wide project to accelerate business growth.

Intellectual Property Protection

Intellectual Property Strategy and Management System

We regard our intellectual property strategy as one of our critically important management strategies, and we are promoting it together with our business and R&D strategies. By aggressively obtaining intellectual property rights, we are boosting the competitiveness of our businesses and strengthening our business foundation.

Sharp IP Infinity Co., Ltd. (SIPI), a spin-off of Sharp’s intellectual property division, is a team of specialists well versed in Sharp products, technologies, and businesses. SIPI offers a high level of specialized service while driving improvements in the quality and efficiency of intellectual property operations. In doing so, it is deepening Sharp’s intellectual property management and generating strong intellectual property rights and diverse economic value from Sharp’s state-of-the-art technologies.

Regarding patent applications, we define core technology areas with respect to each business and strategically file patent applications that are tightly coupled with business development. We are also seeking to protect useful patents invented in cooperation with other companies or derived from the activities of alliances, such as industry-university cooperation. In addition, we are filing applications and registering rights for designs and trademarks globally under our brand strategy.

Protecting Intellectual Property

We maximize the use of our intellectual property by linking it to our business and R&D strategies. We are also firmly committed to protecting our own intellectual property rights, while also respecting the intellectual property rights of others. While we take an amicable approach to resolving issues of infringement, it is our policy to seek the judgment of a third party, such as the courts, when our intellectual property rights are not respected.

We are also working to bolster protection for trade secrets and to prevent unauthorized disclosure of production technologies and manufacturing know-how, particularly those that are unique or critically important to Sharp. Further, counterfeit Sharp-brand products have had a growing impact in overseas markets in recent years, and we are taking measures to counter these imitations through cooperation with industry groups and with regulatory authorities taking enforcement actions.