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Since its founding, Canon has developed original products based on its proprietary technologies and has achieved diversification of its business. This has been supported by a research and development framework known as "core competence management," which organically combines core competence technologies that create products, core underlying technologies that form the basis of our accumulated technologies, and core value-creation technologies that support product development, including production, information systems, intellectual property, quality, and design. This framework is one of Canon's major strengths.

At R&D sites, members of the Intellectual Property Division work together with engineers to promote technology and product development activities. In this context, work is being done on a daily basis, from the perspective of IP experts, to link to the acquisition of rights the buds of new technology which engineers tend to overlook. This link ensures our IP activities protect our technology and business effectively.

On the other hand, currently, in order to realize the "new normal" society, technologies are being combined in a complex manner to solve various social issues, and proprietary technologies are being used in fields that differ from those we have seen before. In future R&D, it will be necessary to promote technology development that satisfies the anticipated needs of the future, while at the same time considering the creation of new businesses through the use of the technologies to be developed creating the necessary intellectual property, and ensuring the freedom to develop technologies and businesses using the intellectual property. To this end, we will deepen the cooperation between R&D divisions and the Intellectual Property Division to continue to create innovations to solve social issues and satisfy the needs of the future, and aim to provide new value to future society.

It was in 2002 when "Canon Patent Unit" a book like a bible for us on intellectual property strategy was published . The two principles of Canon Intellectual Property that have been thoroughly carried out since the time of the publication of that book are "to win the battles in front of us" and "to predict the future and reflect a long-term, high-level perspective in the corporate management". The basic stance of our IP division in fulfilling its role is to always be conscious of these two different timelines, and to implement strategies one after another. I myself have been working with the obsession to "win".

As we entered the twenty-first century, "the cloud" was born. In order to respond to the era known as the fourth industrial revolution, we have been working to resolve IP issues with world-renowned ICT companies. We have also resolved IP issues with companies in different industries, which became relevant in the cross-industrial trend. Currently, major changes in society are anticipated due to social needs such as the SDGs, economic security issues, the COVID-19 pandemic and the arrival of the "new normal" era. So, what we need now is to read the signs in businesses where major changes are expected. It goes without saying that it is extremely important in terms of intellectual property strategy to grasp the signs of such changes as early as possible, and to consider and implement appropriate policies. However, it is not easy to implement policies based on a long-term strategy and bring them to fruition, as sometimes opinions differ within the company, not to mention when negotiating with other companies with conflicting interests: things never go as planned.

What is of help for fulfilling such goals is to keep winning the battles before us now. If we keep winning, potential business competitors will avoid IP disputes with Canon. Also, by continuing to win, the IP division will have a louder and more influential voice within the company, which in turn will support long-term management of the company.

Canon Intellectual Property is also determined to contribute to promoting whole Japanese industry as a representative IP organization in Japan, beyond the framework of a single company. Ultimately, I am convinced that promoting Japan's industry will strengthen Japan's voice, and lead the world in a better direction from the difficult situation we are facing now.

"The only constant is change."
Wars, disasters, pandemics, elections, artificial intelligence and other technological innovations.
These major world events and others impact our history and the way we do business, and seemingly occur all at once. Over the past decade markets, world politics, legal systems, lifestyles and the environment surrounding intellectual property all have changed dramatically, in some cases to such an extent that where we are today bears little resemblance to where we were.

What is required of us, now and going forward, is to respond and adapt to these changes. Reading all signs and recollecting our past and our knowledge of where we have been, we must accurately predict where we are going. It is the singular mission of Canon IP to manage and grow the valuable corporate resource that has been put into our care, so that our IP program is the best in the world, not just today but in the years and decades to come.

Intellectual property has two key aspects: as a weapon that provides powerful exclusion rights, and as an intangible asset that functions as an item of value. Each of these aspects is of equal importance, and any IP management approach that is unduly biased toward one side or the other is a mistake, especially for an operating company like us.

With this in mind, we will use intellectual property worldwide, to defend and develop our businesses and maintain exclusivity in those mission-critical areas where our IP offers us protection. At the same time, we will look to our IP to help us recover research and development costs through strategic licensing. We will also continue to consider and develop unique ways to utilize our intellectual property. We will make our investments with an unwavering eye towards the future, to ensure that we have strong IP rights available whenever and wherever necessary.

Since the Tokyo Stock Exchange revised its Corporate Governance Code in 2021, investors have become increasingly interested in intellectual property. On the other hand, information disclosure related to intellectual property presents some inherent challenges, as the true value of IP often can be difficult to see. To address these challenges, we plan to actively disclose to stakeholders comprehensive intellectual assets, including not only intellectual property rights per se but also the human resources and organizational capabilities related to them, under a new index. We welcome the participation of operating companies and media to support and standardize this movement.

Healthy competition leads to further innovation. At the same time, it is clear that collaboration across our industry can lead to breakthroughs that might not be achievable alone. We must compete in areas where we should be competing and collaborate in areas where we should be collaborating. As one of the world's leading IP forces, it is our duty to go beyond the boundaries of a single company and remain at the vanguard in developing a better intellectual property system worldwide.