Environment Intellectual Property Management

To enhance our competitive advantages, we formulate and execute strategies for utilizing intellectual property, promote support for formulating research and development strategies in line with management policies, and strengthen and utilize the power of patents and engineering technology (know-how and other intangible assets).

Basic Policy on Intellectual Property

We utilize intellectual property to maintain and enhance our competitive advantages, ensure a degree of flexibility in our business, and expand our business domains.

1. We promote the acquisition of rights to our intellectual property.
2. We promote the confidentiality of engineering know-how, which is our intellectual property.
3. We promote the utilization of our intellectual property in our business.
4. We take strict measures against infringements of our intellectual property by others.
5. We use the intellectual property of others with proper authorization.

By positioning our Intellectual Property Management Office under our Corporate Planning Division and basing it at the Takasago Thermal Engineering Innovation Center, the location of our Research and Development Headquarters, we formulate and execute intellectual property strategies that are integrated with management and research and development strategies in terms of corporate planning. The office also serves to maintain and enhance our competitive advantages in the market through its involvement in operational processes—everything from creating to marketing new technologies—and considering potential applications of intangible assets and new business models.

Mission Strategy

As of March 31, 2023, we held 769 intellectual property assets (including patents, utility models, designs, and trademarks), the highest number in the air conditioning systems industry. Patents account for nearly two-thirds of the total (489 out of 769); we have 475 Japanese patents and 14 foreign patents. Including the number of patents pending (published and unpublished), we have 594 patents.
In addition to acquiring patents for quality improvement technology and energy-saving equipment for our core business of designing and installing air conditioning systems, we are also working vigorously to acquire patents for distinctive technologies for hydrogen, SIS-HF^®, and more, which has increased the percentage of new business-related patents to roughly 20% of our total. We not only use the patents we have acquired for our solutions, but also promote efforts to apply them in open innovation and license them to other companies.

Business process from new technology creation
to commercialization

Preventing Technology Leakage

For engineering firms, the intangible assets of technical know-how in design, procurement, and construction are important management resources. Our patent liaisons meet regularly and share with front-line workers important points for preventing leakage and misappropriation of technical know-how gained from daily operations. We have also established a system to share useful, actionable know-how via the company intranet.

Protecting New Technology

We acquire intellectual property rights for new technologies pertaining to materials, equipment, and practical tools to solve a persistent issue in the construction industry: improving productivity in design, procurement, and construction to compensate for labor shortages. In the construction industry, it is especially necessary to collaborate with component manufacturers, distributors, and other companies in the value chain. We proactively deploy technology licensing to maximize our revenues and achieve coexistence and mutual prosperity with companies in the value chain. We have licensed roughly 20 different technologies to more than 30 companies, and our revenue from licensing fees has increased year after year. To demonstrate our engineering capabilities and differentiate ourselves from competitors, we use divisional applications to provide multifaceted protection for technologies that solve various problems related to air conditioning systems.

Acquisition of patents for our proprietary SWIT^® technology