JAPAN – Daikin Industries have announced that they have completed their Technology and Innovation Centre (“TIC”) at its Yodogawa Plant located in Settsu City, Japan. Operations began at the plant yesterday and Daikin hope that the new facility will serve as the core base for technology development of the globally expanding Daikin Group.

The construction of the new plant has seen engineers, who had previously been located in three separate Daikin bases in Japan (Sakai, Shiga, and Yodogawa Plants), move to TIC to promote technology development in a facility of approximately 700 people. The group hope that the plant will function as the centre of the technology development that Daikin plan on expanding to every region of the world, while the TIC will actively promote global cooperation with industry, government, and academia and, Daikin claim, attract people, information, and technology from around the world.

Daikin have bullishly declared that they are building what they consider to be the world’s No. 1 technology in core technologies including inverters, heat pumps, and fluorochemicals through the collaborative creation of innovation from both inside and outside the company. Daikin hope that the plant will enable them to will leverage new and advanced technologies to expand business with differentiated products and create new value and business opportunities.

Recognising that the speed of progress and change in technology centring on telecommunications and software continues to accelerate, Daikin hope to stay ahead of the curve by enhancing each core technology in the businesses of air conditioning, chemicals, oil hydraulics, defence systems, and electronics, while also striving to fuse leading technologies in fields such as telecommunications, advanced materials, processing, sensors, and medical equipment and healthcare. The group hope that the new facility will not only help them to expand their business but also contribute to society by providing products and services that may help solve social issues, including those related to the environment, energy, and health while impacting positively on the lives and lifestyles of people.

Daikin believe that the recently constructed TIC will help them to accelerate the implementation of “collaborative creation” on a global level through alliances and collaborations with various companies, universities, and research organizations which possess distinctive technologies in a different field or industry. Daikin already has close links and comprehensive alliances with Kyoto University, Osaka University, and Nara Institute of Science and Technology as well as joint research and development with home builders, manufacturers of electrical appliances and materials, and architectural firms. In the future, the company plans on inviting experts to TIC from every field for long-term residencies in a bid to provide guidance in technology and proposals on strategy for mid- to long-term technology development involving Daikin engineers.