The Nippon Kayaku Group has expanded its business by leveraging the strengths of “ KAYAKU Technology ” which have evolved from the core technologies passed down since our founding. The intellectual property created and utilized throughout this process is positioned as a source of corporate value for a company with diverse business domains. Under Long-term Management Plan “Evolution2035”, we are committed to creating value through the effective use of intellectual property and intangible assets.
The Intellectual Property Division promotes IP activities in a strategic and practical manner based on two key pillars: knowledge deepening and knowledge exploration.
Under knowledge deepening, we aim to further develop, expand, and optimize our existing businesses. To this end, we formulate intellectual property strategies and advance patent applications and rights acquisition. At the same time, we work to reduce intellectual property risks based on respect for the IP rights of other companies, and strive to enhance the Nippon Kayaku Group’s technological capabilities and competitiveness through close collaboration with our business divisions.
Under knowledge exploration, we utilize IP landscape analysis to proactively identify customer and societal challenges. We are committed to promoting research and development that leads to new businesses and products, as well as to the creation of new intellectual property.
Conceptual Diagram of Our Group’s Intellectual Property Strategy
We believe that skills such as “discernment” and “sensitivity”—which are difficult to quantify but are honed through intellectual property practice—will become increasingly important in the intellectual property strategies of the future, which will require ever greater sophistication. Currently, our Intellectual Property Department is staffed by numerous members who hold IP-related certifications, including patent attorneys, certified intellectual property management specialists, and librarians. Recently, we have also been focusing our efforts on obtaining the Intellectual Property Analyst certification. With many members coming from our research and development departments, we are committed to building a robust team of “IP professionals” who possess both specialized knowledge and practical skills, enabling them to proactively support our business and R&D operations.
To strengthen our intellectual property strategy, we have assigned dedicated IP managers to each business division. These managers work closely with R&D departments to promote the identification of inventions and the acquisition of intellectual property rights.
We are strengthening our IP activities in both the “defense” of core technologies and the “offense” of expanding our market reach. On the “defense” side, we secure a competitive edge by acquiring patents, trademarks, designs, and know-how to secure market advantages and reduce the risk of infringing on others’ rights, as well as through proposals for improvement. On the “offensive” side, we enhance the effectiveness of our intellectual property strategy by providing information that supports business and research through IP activities—including information gathering, overviews, and in-depth analysis (IP landscape)—and by involving IP from the early stages of development.
Moving forward, based on our Long-term Management Plan “Evolution2035” , we will aim to further improve the quality of our intellectual property activities through dialogue and discussion with business divisions, so that we can proactively provide information that supports business operations and management.
Conceptual Diagram of Business Growth and
Added Value Creation Through Intellectual Property
In the Catalysts Business, the Intellectual Property Department works closely with business divisions and research laboratories to formulate intellectual property strategies and optimize our portfolio. We achieve comprehensive intellectual property protection that extends beyond the catalysts themselves to include manufacturing methods, applications, plant operation methods, and even business models. This strategy, which safeguards the entire business, enables business activities that are difficult for competitors to imitate, thereby significantly contributing to the strengthening of our competitive edge.
These efforts have yielded several benefits, including the refinement of our filing policies, the enhancement of specialized knowledge through the sharing of industry dispute cases and non-patent intellectual property (such as know-how, trademarks, and designs), and the fostering of intellectual property awareness and the improvement of intellectual property skills. Furthermore, by regularly conducting an inventory of existing patents and striving to maintain patent portfolios with high deterrent effects, we are also improving the quality of our intellectual property.
As shown in the table on the right, objective evaluations confirm that our Group’s catalyst-related intellectual property portfolio holds significant value and underpins the stable earnings of our catalyst business. Looking ahead, we are also focusing on the development of next-generation catalysts, such as those for propylene production from bioethanol and for hydrogen production.
We will continue to provide strong intellectual property support for everything from existing products to new initiatives, contributing to the strengthening of the competitiveness of the catalyst business and the creation of new products by leveraging KAYAKU’s technologies.
Number of catalysts with TR≧2
In FY2025, we established the Intellectual Property Planning Team as an internal organization within the Intellectual Property Department to promote the optimization of intellectual property investment efficiency.
The Intellectual Property Planning Team fosters internal collaboration centered on comprehensive analysis and value assessment of intellectual property, thereby promoting the strategic utilization of intangible assets. Furthermore, with a view toward Long-term Management Plan “Evolution2035”, the team enhances intellectual property investment efficiency from a company-wide perspective, aiming to create and maximize added value.
