Innovation management (intellectual property activities)

At the Idemitsu Group, business departments, research and development departments, and intellectual property departments work together to apply for, obtain rights to, maintain, and utilize intellectual property such as patents and trademarks, thereby contributing to the group's business development and brand value. We are working on improving it.
Additionally, we strive to prevent the occurrence of risks by designing and operating appropriate processes for intellectual property risks and compliance, such as respecting the intellectual property rights of other companies and managing confidential information.

Intellectual property activities are promoted through an intellectual property department and a system in which intellectual property personnel are assigned to each business division. Until now, we had adopted a centralized IP activity structure in which the Intellectual Property Department promoted the intellectual property activities of all divisions of the group, but we will accelerate the implementation of the division's intellectual property strategies. For this purpose, in July 2021, we changed to a decentralized intellectual property activity structure with IP personnel assigned to each business division.
The Intellectual Property Department is primarily responsible for corporate functions, tackling intellectual property issues across the group, proposing intellectual property strategies through patent information analysis, handling disputes with other companies, managing intellectual property risks, and managing intellectual property personnel. We are cultivating wealth. Intellectual property personnel in business divisions formulate intellectual property strategies tailored to the division's strategies and business characteristics, and aim to develop business through the prompt and efficient acquisition and utilization of intellectual property.

Our group is building a strong patent network in order to utilize patents to differentiate ourselves from our competitors and ensure business competitiveness. Patent applications are filed based on an application strategy that matches the business development, such as not filing domestically but only in specific countries overseas, depending on the market trends of each business. Therefore, in 2022, the number of domestic applications (publications) decreased compared to the previous year, but the number of foreign applications increased significantly.
Looking at the status of patent applications by business segment, Functional materials segment, which consists of technology-based business divisions, accounts for over 80% of all applications both domestically and overseas. In Functional materials segment, we have set the number of patent applications as one of the important indicators (KPIs) for evaluating our innovation efforts. We also use the number of patent applications to measure the effectiveness of R&D investments.
Looking at the number of patents held, the number of foreign patents held, which are necessary for global business development, is steadily increasing. Regarding foreign patents, we are strengthening our efforts to obtain patents ahead of our competitors in the countries where we operate. In addition, by effectively utilizing the knowledge and experience of overseas lawyers, such as by providing opportunities for direct discussions with lawyers from overseas law firms, we are ensuring that intellectual property rights that will lead to stronger business competitiveness are secured. Masu.

●Trends in the number of patent applications (published applications)/Trends in the number of patents held

The value of our patents ^* is increasing through continuous research and development investment. The value of all patents held is "1.89", which is much higher than "1". Furthermore, in FY2022, high-value patents will account for more than half of the patents held, an increase of about 2 points compared to FY2020.

* Patent value (Technology Relevance; TR): Value calculated from the number of citations (number of citations) in each country's patent office examination (the average value of TR is "1"). The TR data on this site is calculated using LexisNexis®'s patent analysis tool PatentSight®. Patents with TR > 1 are defined as high-value patents, and the ratio of high-value patents to total held patents is calculated.

●Value of patents held in Functional materials segment/ Functional materials business focus areas (2022)

Encouragement of inventions (employee invention rewards)

In order to increase employees' desire to invent and promote the creation of innovative inventions that lead to business growth, we have established a unique "employee invention performance reward system" to reward inventors who have made a particularly large contribution to business profits. I praise it.
In fiscal 2022, 51 inventors who achieved outstanding achievements in the fields of electronic materials (seven products) and Advanced materials & Performance Chemicals (three products) were honored with the "Invention Achievement Reward for Employees."

Patent application/acquisition

In the future, by steadily filing patent applications for research results such as open innovation and advanced materials projects at Advanced Materials Company, we will continue to apply for inventions that will strengthen existing businesses (existing themed inventions), and We will further accelerate the creation of inventions (inventions with new themes) that will become the fundamental technologies for new businesses that will become the pillars of our earnings. Through this, we will increase the number of applications in the high-performance business segment field, increase the proportion of applications for newly created theme inventions among applications, and strengthen the group of patents that support existing and new businesses.
In addition, with the aim of further strengthening the patent network in Functional materials segment, we have set intellectual property KPIs based on the number of applications and the value of patents held for each business field in Functional materials segment, and have applied for and obtained patents. We will continue to strengthen our activities.

Patent information analysis (IP landscape) activities

We analyze our group's high-value patents (technologies) and identify technological strengths (core competencies) that are the source of our competitive advantage. Going forward, we will consider and set candidate themes for new growth areas based on this core competency. We also consider third-party technologies and patents that can strengthen and complement startups and supply chains, and work to find partners that can help launch new businesses.

DX activities

We are gradually advancing the use of AI with the aim of improving the quality and efficiency of intellectual property operations. We have created an environment where researchers can use AI to conduct prior art searches that were previously conducted by intellectual property personnel. We have also started considering the use of AI technology to investigate registered trademarks and determine the patentability of completed inventions. We will continue to actively incorporate AI technology into our intellectual property activities and promote high-quality intellectual property activities that adapt to the changing business environment.

Developing intellectual property human resources

We view the development of intellectual property human resources as one of our important intellectual property issues, and are focusing on improving the expertise of our intellectual property staff and the intellectual property literacy of our researchers.
Regarding the training of intellectual property personnel, we took advantage of the change to a decentralized intellectual property activity structure in which intellectual property personnel were assigned to business divisions and reviewed our training system for intellectual property personnel. We have added training provided by patent offices in Japan and overseas to the training that has been conducted within the Intellectual Property Department to create a training system that allows employees to acquire the necessary knowledge and skills at each level.
Training provided by a domestic patent office is aimed at intellectual property managers in their first year at the company, and uses actual patent applications as subject matter to teach them how to apply for and obtain patents in Japan. We encourage early independence as intellectual property personnel through training in domestic patent affairs.
Overseas patent office training is aimed at mid-level employees who have been with the company for around 10 years, and provides one year of training in the United States and China, with the aim of acquiring a wide range of advanced knowledge and procedural skills regarding foreign patents.
To develop researchers, we will conduct training by rank (new employees, first-year employees in R&D/technical positions, mid-level employees, and executives) to strengthen researchers' intellectual property literacy.

Future intellectual property activities

Going forward, our intellectual property activities will focus even more on business fields where intellectual property is highly important in gaining business competitiveness. We promote intellectual property strategies to demonstrate high business competitiveness by preferentially allocating and maximizing intellectual property resources to business fields where intellectual property is highly important. We will also invest intellectual property resources in future business development and promote initiatives in new growth areas and innovative technology development.

Future intellectual property activities (image)