Open innovation activities
To expand existing business and create new business, ENEOS promotes open innovation to accelerate the development of technologies and business schemes that could not be created solely with in-house R&D and other resources.
Specifically, we aim to create value through co-creation by promoting collaboration between ENEOS research & business departments and outside organizations such as startup companies, universities, and research institutions.
Open innovation system
ENEOS is engaged in open innovation activities in which its R&D Department works together with its Corporate Venture Capital (CVC) Department focused on investing in startup companies. This system includes the dispatching of employees to Silicon Valley to promote the sharing of technologies and latest market trends.
Business area searching and information sources
ENEOS is searching for advanced technologies having the potential of creating synergy with ENEOS business toward carbon neutrality. In this search, we are targeting a wide range of technical areas including digital technologies, hydrogen, renewable energy, low-carbon technologies, energy management, chemicals and materials, and robotics.
Targeted technologies are in a very wide area, so we are collecting up-to-date information using a variety of information sources including M-Lab (an open innovation community)*, accelerators, venture capital firms, and research firms.
* An open innovation community founded by Mitsubishi Corporation in Silicon Valley in October 2016.
Consisting of 14 Japanese enterprises (as of March 2023) from diverse industries having expertise in various areas, M-Lab aims to create new business in mobility and healthcare, the environment, resources, etc. by collaborating and sharing information with overseas startups and promoting joint programs.
Collaboration Example
The cost and the personnel needed for conducting maintenance inspections at ENEOS refineries and chemical plants in Japan and overseas are increasing as facilities age and new facilities come to be installed.
An increase in maintenance inspections due to the installation of new facilities is also expected along with the spread of next-generation energy such as renewable energy and hydrogen. There is therefore concern about labor shortages in the future, which is driving a need for remote, automated, and low-cost maintenance inspections.
To deal with these issues, ENEOS is promoting collaboration between the Central Technical Research Laboratory and iXs Co., Ltd.
We are working with iXs to achieve advanced maintenance inspection services using robotics. Specifically, we are conducting: tests of “maintenance inspection tasks such as data collection and repair work by remotely/automatically operated robots” and “anomaly diagnosis/prediction by AI analysis of collected data”; developing robot hardware and software specialized for facility inspections; and developing a platform equipped with applications for data analysis, etc.