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Panasonic E.W. is engaged in research and development (R&D) with the aim of achieving the dual goals of creating "Comfortable Living Environments" and "Coexistence with the Global Environment."
Research themes include comfort technologies that underpin prosperous lifestyles, such as lighting and air-conditioning control, security and safety, and beauty and health, as well as environment-friendly technologies that help conserve energy and resources.
Panasonic E.W. is pouring its efforts into R&D so as to provide comfortable living environments for individual residents that are optimal for increasingly diverse lifestyles and changing life stages.
As the world moves toward a full-fledged ubiquitous network society, Panasonic E.W. has developed Lifinity, an electrical facility networking system that creates a safer home by linking various home equipment, like lighting fixtures and sensors, as well as IT appliances. Since this development in 2006, Panasonic E.W. has continued proposing attractive living spaces by building various systems based on Lifinity that are comfortable, convenient, secure and safe, and energy efficient.
Moving forward, in order to offer even more comfortable living environment propositions, Panasonic E.W. is working to improve the energy efficiency of individual products such as lighting fixtures. At the same time, we are enhancing our environmental technologies, as we strive to help deliver comfortable lifestyles that are also ecoconscious.
One example is ongoing development of hybrid housing, which utilizes AC electricity supplied by power companies and DC electricity generated by homes themselves using solar cells, fuel cells and other facilities, as the case demands.
To this end, Panasonic E.W. is strengthening R&D in a number of priority areas to build up technologies. These key areas are core facility networking technology; microfabrication process technology and highly functional materials technology, all of which will accelerate the creation of advanced devices; and vital sensing and bioactivation technologies that help create peoplecentric environments.
During the past year, Panasonic E.W. developed the world's first* lightemitting device that causes a phosphor to fluoresce using a nanocrystalline silicon cathode without electric discharge. This light-emitting device is much more energy efficient than conventional fluorescent tubes, which discharge a mercury-containing gas. It is expected to be used in new environment-friendly lighting such as high-efficiency, high-luminosity, and flat-panel mercury-free lighting fixtures.
In other news, Panasonic E.W. developed an energy-saving lighting control system for Beijing Olympic Park for the Summer Olympic Games in August 2008.
This wide-area lighting control system combines nextgeneration network IPv6 technology and Panasonic E.W.'s energy-saving lighting control technology, enabling the integrated management and control of some 18,000 lights at the Beijing Olympic Park.
The system enabled various ambient lighting programs and the detailed measurement and management of electricity usage, which led to a comfortable and eco-friendly environment at the Beijing Olympics.
Panasonic E.W.'s R&D framework consists of corporate R&D laboratories, which are responsible for developing advanced technologies that support the creation of new products and businesses and anticipate market needs. There are also divisional laboratories, which develop new products and technologies that reinforce Panasonic E.W.'s core businesses. Together, corporate and divisional laboratories conduct seamless R&D activities from technology development to product development and final commercialization.
Panasonic E.W. brings together people with the necessary skills from across the Group through joint efforts by the laboratories mentioned above, as this ensures the rapid and accurate translation of research into new products and businesses. Doing so also improves core technologies and fuses different technologies and skills.
Panasonic E.W. is attempting to accelerate R&D by actively working with universities, research organizations, and companies the world over that have cutting-edge technology, particularly in priority technology fields, as well as leveraging its overseas operating sites. The ultimate aim is to continuously create new products in a timely manner.
Furthermore, to ensure highly efficient production with highquality workmanship, Panasonic E.W. is working to improve the common technologies that form the basis for manufacturing operations, including analysis and evaluation technologies, production technologies, and processing techniques.
Moreover, Panasonic E.W. is involved in medium- to long-term R&D activities. These activities start by envisioning where society will be 10 years down the road. Based on this, Panasonic E.W. specifies cutting-edge technological domains that leverage its strengths and will form the backbone of next-generation businesses optimized for future societal and market needs. R&D activities seek to ensure that Panasonic E.W.'s core technology is at the industry forefront so that the Company can meet these future needs.
R&D expenses in fiscal 2009 were '60.6 billion, down 4.1% year on year, and accounted for 3.8% of net sales.
R&D expenses have held steady at approximately 4% of net sales in recent years and Panasonic E.W. intends to maintain this level going forward while investing in priority technology fields.
To ensure that R&D activities result in high-quality intellectual property rights that further boost business competitiveness, Panasonic E.W.'s R&D division teams up with business units and the Intellectual Property Department. This grouping analyzes the ability of each business unit to create intellectual property and launches strategic intellectual property activities with an eye to the competition.
In addition, Panasonic E.W. is taking aggressive steps to create new businesses by promoting strategic intellectual property activities prior to the start of actual R&D in the areas of high-priority and advanced technologies.
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