Sustainable Technology and Product Development
Proposing Solutions that Leverage Core Technologies

Achieving Sustainable Growth

With the aim of realizing its vision statement, “We improve the human condition by safely delivering color and comfort for sustainable prosperity— Color & Comfort,” the DIC Group strives to add depth to its existing basic technologies in the areas of optics and color, organic materials design, polymer design and dispersion, and to foster new technologies in the areas of inorganic materials design and biomaterials design. The Group also actively promotes the use of AI and materials informatics (MI), as well as the training of AI specialists.

To build a portfolio of next-generation products and new technologies and drive sustainable growth, the DIC Group continues working to integrate Groupwide technological resources, as well as promotes open innovation by, among others, collaborating with industrial concerns, government bodies and academic institutions and making use of CVC.

Specific Initiatives and Achievements

The DIC Group is advancing the development and use of clean technologies. This includes promoting the development of materials for use in such areas as sustainable packaging, color science and smart living that improve the environmental performance of the products in which they are used, making the use of DIC products a way customers can contribute to addressing global environmental issues. In Japan, the Group devotes approximately 52% of its technological resources to the development of such products.

Sustainable Packaging

In the area of printing inks, DIC launched a new highly sensitive UVcurable ink that is compatible with light-emitting diodes (LEDs) and delivers improved printability. New heat sealants included a waterbased offering for pharmaceutical press-through packaging (PTP) film and a product that exhibits stable strength at low temperatures, commonly used for polyvinyl chloride (PVC) container film. The Company also began rolling out an overprint varnish that delivers the same level of heat resistance as conventional products despite containing no nitrified cotton or formaldehyde.

In easy-peel films, DIC expanded its track record in products that contribute to the reduction of food loss, including sealant films for the lids of prepared food containers used by convenience stores and molded containers for home-delivery frozen lunch boxes, as well as developed a film for the lids of highly heat-resistant crystalline polyethylene terephthalate (CPET) containers for high-temperature cooking.

Guided by its own sustainability strategy, the Sun Chemical Group promotes the development of inks, coatings and adhesives that accommodate an increasing concern for the recycling of packaging materials. These include barrier coatings, release agents and heat sealants made with naturally derived raw materials that comply with the EU’s Single-Use Plastics Directive. Sun Chemical also developed a new water-based ink for printing on film used for retortable pouches that delivers significantly improved printability and a water-based ink that enables high-speed flexo printing on shrink labels.

Color Science

Efforts in the area of organic pigments continued to focus on the development of pigments for color filters used in displays. DIC also succeeded in developing new pigments for jet inks. Highlights in other countries and territories include the Sun Chemical Group’s launch of a series of small particle–size effect pigments with high image clarity and outstanding brightness, which were developed to expand the color space for automotive stylings and other coating applications. In addition, the Sun Chemical Group developed a line of easily dispersible pigments for waterbased coatings that do not contain biocides, including preservatives and antifungal agents, as well as naturally derived colorants with antioxidant properties that are suitable for makeup and skincare products.

Smart Living

R&D in synthetic resins led to the development of low-dielectric materials for electronic circuit boards for next-generation 5G/6G-enabled communications devices. DIC also launched an environment-friendly waterborne polyurethane resin for use in the production of synthetic leather that will help reduce odors, greenhouse gas emissions and volatile organic compounds (VOCs) associated with finished products, as well as being comparable in efficacy to solvent-based resin. In the area of surfactants, the Company succeeded in developing a series of environment-friendly PFASfree products that are suitable alternatives to fluorosurfactants for diverse applications, including displays, semiconductors, automobiles and coatings. Newly developed additives include a series of algae oil–based sulfurized products that are more environment friendly than conventional offerings and help lower friction and increase the oxidation stability of lubricant oils, which are expected to see particularly high demand for use in the production of automobiles (notably electric vehicles (EVs)) and metal processing. In industrial adhesive tapes, the Company expanded its lineup of toluene-free tapes that boast high removability and peel off without leaving adhesive residue and commenced mass production of tapes that can be peeled off using UV light.

A Global R&D Configuration that Underpins Product Development

The DIC Group’s R&D organization in Japan comprises the Technical Management Unit, which is responsible for product development and modification connected directly to businesses; DIC Graphics’ Technical Division; the R&D Management Unit, which is responsible for adding depth to existing basic technologies; and the New Business Development Headquarters, which is charged with creating strategic new businesses and commercializing business units’ next-generation products. Overseas, the Group’s R&D is conducted by the Sun Chemical Group’s research centers in the United States, the United Kingdom and Germany; Qingdao DIC Finechemicals Co., Ltd., in the PRC; printing inks technical centers and polymer technical centers in the PRC and the Asia–Pacific region; the Solid Compound Technical Center–Asia Pacific; the Pigment Technical Center–Asia Pacific; the DIC/Earthrise Algae Research Center in the United States; the Tape Technical Center–China; and the 3D Printing Materials Laboratory–Korea. These facilities are working as one to promote the global development of products and technologies.

Product Stewardship

The DIC Group views product stewardship as a key aspect of its operations. The Group has established a global product stewardship team for printing inks, adhesives and other products used in food packaging, which it supplies to customers around the world. The team shares information on regulations and relevant topics from various markets, as well as advances awareness thereof and provides training. Knowledge thus gained is incorporated into product design and is used to produce compliance certificates across the supply chain, which are sought by customers worldwide.

The DIC Group also strives to maintain a solid grasp of laws and regulations in different countries and territories, and of trends in environmental initiatives, to ensure its ability to design products that comply with diverse controls on the use of chemical substances. In addition, the Group conducts environmental assessments on a continuous basis.

Intellectual Property

Basic Approach

To achieve the goals of DIC Vision 2030, the DIC Group is promoting Value Transformation and shifting its focus to promising business areas by capitalizing on its intellectual property—a key management resource—in a manner that conforms with its business strategies.

With the aim of fulfilling management strategies and improving corporate value, the DIC Group will work to create a framework for the effective use of its intangible assets that is worthy of stakeholder confidence. The building blocks of this framework include strategies for building a competitive intellectual property portfolio, an intellectual property risk management system and technology intelligence (TI) tools.

Strategies for Building a Competitive Intellectual Property Portfolio

In advancing Value Transformation, the DIC Group will focus its allocation of management resources in chemitronics and other smart living businesses that are expected to generate profits swiftly and reliably and will build an intellectual property portfolio that gives it a competitive advantage in this area.To this end, the Group will use a method to analyze the external environment surrounding intellectual property and envisage a network of top patent applicants in a particular area to ascertain its competitive position in that area and identify competitors. This makes it possible to promote a portfolio building strategy designed to secure a competitive advantage in unique technological spheres in which there are no competitors.

As an analysis of the potential for realizing new applications for its core technologies internally, the DIC Group can subdivide its technologies and explore applications based on a wide range of information, including intellectual property–related information, for each element thereof.

The DIC Group’s patent strategy is highly evaluated by external observers, underscored by its position in the ranking of companies in the chemicals industry in Japan in terms of patent assets owned conducted by Patent Result Co., Ltd., and the global ranking of patent value growth conducted by LexisNexis. 

TI Tools

TI is value-added intelligence obtained by analyzing intellectual property information and diverse technical information, and combining it with business information as necessary, to facilitate the most competent decision making. By extending TI to individual business groups and creating a business promotion–related TI function within its Intellectual Property Center, the DIC Group makes it possible to narrow down measures implemented to those with a high probability of success and help prioritize the balanced allocation of management resources. In particular, in the early stages of promoting a new business or technological development theme, this means providing core information, including a basic intellectual property landscape detailing competitors, customers and risks, facilitating the selection of themes that are most likely to be successful. The Company has also established a process for confirming whether efforts to realize new businesses based on these themes proceed appropriately using intelligence derived at the technology development, commercialization and mass production stages. This framework ensures the Company’s ability to effectively leverage TI across its businesses.

Intellectual Property Risk Management System

In line with its basic policy on compliance, the DIC Group conducts exhaustive patent clearance searches in new markets and for new technologies, promoting contract management, meticulously managing confidential information and advancing initiatives to prevent counterfeiting, patent infringement and the use of similar trademarks. The Group also established the Risk Management Working Group, a subordinate entity of the Sustainability Committee, as part of its effort to strengthen its comprehensive framework for risk management, which also includes minimizing intellectual property risks.

The IP Portfolio Committee, which seeks to ensure the DIC Group’s intellectual property portfolio aligns with its businesses, and the Patent Reward Council, which deliberates on the use of patents as an incentive for technological development, are the Group’s principal bodies for the management of intellectual property. This, combined with effective management supervision that facilitates the promotion of intellectual property–related initiatives that respond to changes in the operating environment and appropriate disclosure regarding investments in intangible assets and other matters, has enabled the Group to realize a configuration for leveraging its intangible assets that has earned the trust of stakeholders.