In this age of uncertainty that we are living in today, there is a strong need for research and development (R&D) that, starting with the challenges facing customers, attempts to pivot as the circumstances demand while working with customers to develop hypotheses and test the market's reaction. To meet these needs, Hitachi undertook a reorganization of its R&D organization based on the three pillars of "collaborative creation with customers," "technology-driven innovation," and "exploratory research," and now, as we enter the second year of that effort, the benefits are already starting to emerge. This issue of Hitachi Review presents recent R&D work together with examples of solutions resulting from collaborative creation with customers, and also covers the ethos that researchers have handed down from the past in an unbroken chain.
The Hitachi Group undertook a major transformation in its research and development style in 2015, moving its focus to customer-driven collaborative research where researchers work in collaboration with customers to gain insight into issues and create solutions. Today, with the wave of digitalization transforming the role of business and society in significant ways, solving the myriad of complex issues facing customers and society demands new ideas and innovations that diverge from the path followed to date.
In this age of uncertainty that we are living in, the linear model whereby technology is developed at a research center and commercialized by operational divisions for delivery to customers is becoming less and less viable.
HITACHI is working to expand its Social Innovation Business throughout the world. This business involves developing a common understanding of problems with customers and then mobilizing its technologies, products, services, personnel, and other business resources to work with them to achieve innovation and deliver solutions to those problems.
From the perspectives of physics and brain-science, the key to realizing future innovation is exploration with a comprehensive view of the world of nature, which consists of matter (energy) and information (entropy).