Sumitomo Chemical reorganises labs

Sumitomo Chemical is to start a full-scale study on reorganising three of its research laboratories in Japan. The company described this as “part of its efforts to accelerate the creation of next-generation businesses”.

The plan includes building a new facility at Osaka as a base for incubation and open innovation by Q3 2024. This has research capabilities in safety assessment, industrial technologies and business sector-led projects in ICT and life sciences.

The move will enable the firm to bring basic research, incubation and open innovation research functions to Osaka to establish “an integrated R&D system spanning the whole process from early-stage research activity to commercialisation and further accelerate the creation of new businesses”. It also plans to build ‘open laboratories’ to accommodate the increasing number of collaborations with companies and universities.

Another element of the plan is transferring the research functions relating to new materials at Osaka and the Tsukuba site to another at Chiba and integrating the research laboratories at Tsukuba site into Osaka and Chiba. Sumitomo Chemical had previously announced that it will begin operations at a new research facility at Chiba in March 2024, focusing on new materials and technologies for reducing environmental impact.