Japanese chemical firms to collaborate on materials innovation

Tokyo – Japan’s National Institute for Materials Science and chemical makers Mitsui Chemical Corp, Sumitomo Chemical Co., Asahi Kasei Corp., and Mitsui Chemicals Inc., have joined forces to work on a materials open platform (MOP).

The companies issued a joint statement, saying that a memorandum of understanding was signed by the team expecting to promote ‘open innovation’ in the chemicals industry.

“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,” said the statement.

Chemical companies, it added, often share similar medium-to-long-term issues that are difficult for them to address alone.

The goal of MOP is to facilitate large-scale collaboration across the chemical industry to make development of fundamental technologies possible.

The platform also encourages bilateral cooperation between companies to support global competitiveness of Japan.

The parties said they expected to further enhance the performance of polymer materials in the current financial year under the MOP agreement.

To achieve this, they will jointly gather data on various aspects of polymer materials, such as their structure, physical properties, and alterations. They will also analyse the data using materials informatics.