NIMS and Four Chemical Companies to Develop a Framework for Promoting Open Innovation
—Further Enhancing Polymer Material Performance by Addressing Issues Common to Chemical Companies, with NIMS Playing a Pivotal Role—
National Institute for Materials Science (NIMS)
Mitsubishi Chemical Corporation
Sumitomo Chemical Company, Ltd.
Asahi Kasei Corporation
Mitsui Chemicals, Inc.
NIMS, Mitsubishi Chemical Corporation, Sumitomo Chemical Company, Ltd., Asahi Kasei Corporation, and Mitsui Chemicals, Inc. signed a memorandum of understanding on the operation of the Materials Open Platform (MOP) on June 19, 2017. The MOP initiative is expected to promote open innovation in the chemical industry.
Abstract
Dramatic changes in the industrial environment driven by the development of AI, big data and IoT are making it difficult for individual manufacturers to engage in basic research leading to transformational innovations in materials ensuring international competitiveness. Chemical companies often share similar medium- to long-term issues that are difficult for them to address alone. The goal of the MOP is to respond to these common issues by developing fundamental technologies leading to innovation by facilitating large-scale collaboration across the chemical industry in Japan. The MOP will also support the global competitiveness of Japanese chemical companies by promoting the pursuit of bilateral collaboration to leverage research accomplishments produced by MOP initiatives for their specific needs. In addition, the MOP will work to resolve the various global issues Japan is facing.
NIMS and the four chemical companies aim to further enhance the performance of polymer materials in FY2017 under the MOP framework. To achieve this, they will jointly gather data on various aspects of polymer materials, such as their structures, physical properties and alterations. They will then analyze the data using materials informatics.
